The Environment of the Womb: video/audio version.
The Environment of the Womb: text version.
This week marks the end of our examination of the first transition of our Soul into a human body and life in the womb. In this weeks live call we will be clearing any lingering impacts of your experience of the environment of the womb and any sub optimal conditions during your time in the womb energetic or physical.
The womb is designed to house you safely. The placenta nourishes you and also protects you by forming a barrier against many substances and keeping you and your mother’s bloodstream separate. But it cannot protect you against all substances nor the energetics of the environment. Some physical substances cross the placental barrier. And you are at all times present in the energy field of your mother.
Your mother’s experience of life during your pregnancy is one of the most significant factors that influences the environment of the womb. Her living experience includes emotions but also physical conditions and her own physical environment, as well as her own inner world of beliefs and imprints that she is living by. All of these impact the womb environment which is the primary shaper of foetal development and growth. Stressors experienced in the womb can trigger inflammatory responses and epigenetic alterations to your body and systems impacting immediate growth and long term health.
To be clear, day to day living with ups and downs is not an issue when it is in balance with a loving mother. This builds normal functioning of a nervous system that protects you in difficult situations and can aid resilience in life. It is not damaging to you for your mother to be living a full life and occasionally feel emotions at the lower end of the spectrum including anger and sadness as well as happiness.
However, where there is low level stress on a longer term, or continual basis or specific high intensity trauma experienced by your mother, this can sometimes get lodged in your system create a stuck set point. We have been working towards you reconnecting and embodying a steady energy of your Soul in physical form that allows you to weather natural ups and downs of life. A well balanced nervous system moves in and out of different states – the parasympathetic counterbalancing the sympathetic nervous system by bringing the body back to calm and rest in between times of action or stress.
Examples of the types of stressor that may have shaped your relationship with your mother and the world include:
Nutrition- Both under and over nutrition may have an impact on your developing system and growth and your baseline metabolism.
Toxic exposure – Substances such as tobacco, alcohol, illegal and in some cases legal drugs.
Environmental Pollution Air pollution, heavy metals (like mercury and lead), and pesticides can disrupt organ development and cause neurodevelopmental delays. In our modern world micro plastics are atroubling and ubiquitous new pollutant. Plastic additives like phthalates and Bisphenol A (BPA)are endocrine disruptersand play havoc with your natural hormone levels. Hormones are vital to our development at all stages. We all have levels of microplastics in our blood as shown by numerous studies. There is a lot of current research into this subject and clear indications that the level of plastic pollution in our bodies is contributing to fertility issues. Microplastics are small enough to cross the placental barrier and reach the growing foetus. Studies have shown particles in placenta tissue, blood and meconium (the first poo a baby does is within 24 to 48 hours after birth. It is thick, tar like and consists of ingested materials from the womb, including amniotic fluid, lanugo (fine hair), bile, and cells shed from the skin and intestinal tract.
Infections/Immune Activation: Maternal immune activation (MIA) can affect foetal brain development and increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Maternal Stress
Ordinary life with a balanced system is not an issue, if there are some day to day challenges this is fine. Low level sustained chronic stress is more likely to have an impact with high levels of cortisol crossing the placenta barrier. Link to study around stress
Loss experienced by the mother during or just prior to pregnancy appears to be a contributing factor ( from my sessions) to people who have trouble feeling safe or secure and happy in life. I believe this is partly because loss in the form of miscarriage is so common, and often not spoken of. There are figures that suggest that between 10 and 25% of known pregnancies end in loss, with 80% of these being lost in the first trimester. Most of Western culture is encourage not to disclose pregnancy until at least 3 months. This means that many go through loss and grieving in a hidden way. Pregnancy after a loss can feel precarious and lead to increased stress levels as the mother fears another loss The mother is often reluctant to bond and connect in the womb in case she loses you again. If the previous loss is an abortion the mother may secretly feel she does not deserve another chance. The energy of death can linger and influence the environment of the womb the new baby comes into. Another factor that can place added pressure on this type of dynamic, is anxiety around the work place reaction once it is known you are pregnant. This is exacerbated in countries without laws to protect the employment of the mother and without proper maternity leave that sees women working right up to the birth of their baby. With current pressure around finance and changing cultural pressures it is now common even in countries with maternity leave to work until the last minute.
Even more likely to be kept hidden are past abortions. These can sometimes have a long lasting impact on the mother who may feel guilty when next pregnant or have other internal stressful dialogue related to her previous experience of pregnancy.
Another common example of loss is losing a family member either during pregnancy or just prior so the grieving process is still ongoing. This can sometimes lead to a lack of felt connection as the mother is full of grief.
Reflection:
1. What conditions were present for you in the womb from each of the categories discussed above? You may feel into this intuitively if you do not know.
2. Tune in intuitively and ask “What remains alive in my system that still needs to be dissolved from my time in the womb?