Pregnancy Meditation -- Connecting with your Baby

Deepening your connection to your baby during pregnancy is not only fulfilling in itself, but has benefits for both mother and baby. This new podcast meditation helps you to relax deeply, tune into your body and connect with the baby in your womb. When deeply relaxed, everything flows more easily in your body, circulating blood with its nutrients and oxygen to nourish both you and your child. Your breathing becomes deeper and more regular. The physical benefits of this for both you and your baby are obvious. Mentally your mind becomes more settled and open and you are able to focus on your baby. Emotionally, you are more available to bond with your child and tune into your child's presence and energy. Being more tuned in will automatically guide you in your eating and lifestyle choices.

As you continue to use the meditation, your connection will deepen. You may also want to share the meditation with the baby's father. When the guidance is to become aware of the baby "inside you", he can also connect with the baby inside you. Listening together will enhance your connection with each other, harmonize your intentions, and help you bond with each other as you bond with your baby.

This meditation was born of many requests by pregnant women over the years. Most of them have had their babies by now, but they did help birth this meditation. I would love to hear about your experiences with the meditation!

People are all the same...

The Cheers theme song has been playing in my head today ever since meeting a podcast listener while doing my grocery shopping today.

"You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name."

When you have an online presence, or people hear your voice on a podcast or CD, they can imagine all sorts of things about you. The person I met today thought of me as a "celebrity", "movie star of the meditation set", someone larger than life. I'm sure that that all changed in our meeting! It was the most delightful, funny coming together of two people, and I wanted to share it with you.

I called out hello to Karen who studies hula with me. She said "Mary, do you have a minute? I have someone for you to meet." I said I had a little minute, but it stretched out to many enjoyable minutes. I was introduced to Carol who has been listening to the podcast for over a year. She immediately held up her hands and said "Mary Maddux, I think of you as way up here, a movie start of meditation!" All three of us were soon laughing as Carol recounted how she had assumed I lived in New York or LA, and was amazed when Karen told her that I live in the same small town with her. Apparently yesterday, Karen spotted me walking on a local bike path and called Carol to say "You want to see Mary Maddux, move quickly -- she's walking on the bike path in pink!" Carol lamented that she was in another town and missed the great opportunity ;-). The whole situation was so heart-warming and fun, we were soon laughing and hugging near the checkout aisles. I suppose for Carol this was an unusual "celebrity sighting", in which it was revealed that the celebrity was woman much like herself. Hence the "people are all the same" line going in my mind.

It just so happens that tomorrow is our local guided meditation, and they will both join us. It feels like a coming full circle. My journey with teaching meditation and leading guided meditations was an "in-person" on for years. Reaching people through our podcast, CDs and apps has been an amazing and wonderful experience, but sometimes I miss the in-person part. This will be the second podcast listener to join our monthly meditation. At a time when our reach is growing so much that I have to cut back on answering emails, Facebook comments and so on, it's wonderful to have this personal contact. It's wonderful to be in a "place where everybody knows your name".

Meditation in a wired world

Our podcast has connected us with thousands of people all over the world, and yet none of this would have been possible when I first started meditating. Years ago I couldn't have imagined that meditation could be shared through technology. I would never have pictured people listening to our meditations on mp3 players and computers, much less on a smart phone. What a blessing! Our international meditation group is growing, all thanks to this "wired world". Caroline left a wonderful comment on the website today. I wanted to share it here -- I found it fascinating that she started meditation to escape the wired world, only to find meditation through it.

"I started meditation a year or so ago to find some peace from the incessant demands of information-overload in our wired world. When my employer provided us with Smart Phones I saw it as just one more intrusion. Then I discovered your podcasts and your wonderful Simply Being app...When I sit with Mary’s calming voice, all the cares of the day just fade away. THANK YOU!"

Meditating in the London tubes

Today Mike MudIsland Mike let me know that he'd blogged about our podcast. The post was so much fun to read that I thought I'd link to it for you to read (read the post). He writes colorfully and with a great sense of humor about listening to the podcasts on his daily London commute. Everyday I hear from people about their experiences with the podcast. It's so fulfilling to be connected through meditation with so many people all over the world. I love hearing about the many ways and places people enjoy the meditations. Chances are most people are simply sitting or lying down with eyes closed while listening, but I've heard from people listening while exercising, walking, traveling, watching a pond and more ways than I can remember.

I can't tell you how fulfilling it is for Richard and I to hear from all of you. Sometimes your stories are so heart-warming. Often what you share is so full of wisdom and the enthusiasm of your own inner discoveries. What an adventure this podcast has been! Thank you everyone who is taking this journey with me. And thanks to the techies who have created this incredible thing called the internet and all the software that allows us to meet in this way across the world.