“Happiness is a very serious business” says Jigme Thinley, the Prime Minister of Bhutan.
Children’s well being plays a major part of his country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) policy. When asked what they wish most for their child, parents invariably reply: “health and happiness.” Few, however, are really aware that neither of these happen by chance. They are the result of empowered, happy and healthy parenting. This is probably the most important yet most undervalued job, or, dare I say, vocational career on this planet.
As a pioneer and founder of the Holistic Parenting Programme®: Preconception to Birth & Beyond… I have often been asked how much time one should prepare before conceiving a child. One month, three months, or perhaps even six months, are common guesses. While most people find it quite normal to spend three years on the university degree they need to prepare for a career, not many realise the importance of preparation before becoming a parent. Yet, when asked about the impact our own parents have had on our happiness and well being many people recognise that if their parents would have had real help, support and the empowerment to give the unconditional love, nurturing, intimacy, protection and wisdom that they needed as children to grow up health and happy, today their quality of life would be so much greater.
Over the past three decades research in the “primal period,” which covers from preconception to the first year after birth, reveals abundant evidence that parents hold the keys to their children’s life-long health and happiness. It is during this period that we “download” into our subconscious mind our perception of life, ourselves and our environment. Our behaviour and our ability to love and be happy is largely determined by whether we live our lives mostly in fear and protection or in love and growth, and this depends on this very early programming.
The seeds for life-long happiness, health, intelligence and well being are sown in the womb.
Contrary to popular belief we are NOT ruled by our genes! Research in the field of epi-genetics confirms that genes do not determine our life. More accurately, this inheritance provides us with a start-up capital. Studies show that the genes are “turned on” by their environment. This includes a person’s actual thoughts and feelings as well as the more obvious external environmental influences.
“Recent advances in cell biology now reveal that parental attitudes and beliefs profoundly influence the genetic programming of their offspring” writes cellular developmental biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton in his best selling book “The Biology of Belief.”
It is now time to wriggle out of those weary old genes and begin turning on the ones that facilitate health and happiness.
The State-of-the-Art Holistic Parenting Programme®
During a thorough preconception programme, such as offered in the ground-breaking Holistic Parenting Programme (HPP), both future parents have the opportunity of healing their own emotional wounds and limitations stemming from their childhood, birth, prenatal experiences and even conception. This facilitates empowerment, greatly improves the couple’s relationship and stops the transmission of unwanted family traits such as violence, fear, lack of self-esteem and even self-sabotage amongst other hereditary enemies of our desired outcome.
Both future mums and dads are also encouraged to gain their optimal health as this also affects the quality of the egg and sperm. In our highly polluted world it is not uncommon for a woman to have over three hundred non-organic substances present in her womb. This “womb ecology” includes the detoxification of heavy metals as well as changing any unhealthy habits such as smoking or other addictions. Couples learn that their bodies are intelligent and unconditionally loving and begin consciously communicating with and supporting the health of their cells.
The combination of state-of-the-art methods, used to communicate directly with the sub and super-conscious minds, with a lively holistic approach to nutrition makes this quick, easy and effective for everyone. HPP teaches preparation for a conscious conception, pregnancy and natural birthing experience just as Mother Nature intended.
“Evidence of intelligent life in the womb is overwhelming. The new knowledge gives both mothers and fathers an unparalleled opportunity to help their unborn children. Now they can contribute actively – before and during birth – to give their children happiness and security for the rest of their life…From the moment of conception, the experience in the womb shapes the brain and lays the groundwork for personality, emotional temperament and the power of higher thought.”Thomas Verny, MD, Psychiatrist, author “The Secret Life of the Unborn Child.”
During the thirty years I have dedicated to the quest of how to inform, support and empower future parents to heal so they can give the best possible start to their children, I have met and worked with some amazing pioneers. I have had the honour of being a friend of a great American neonatologist and associate clinical professor of paediatrics who was the doctor for the very first test-tube baby. When the late Frederick Wirth was faced with the greatly increasing numbers of premature babies, the enormous suffering this caused both babies and their parents as well as the huge financial burden, he turned against the tide and began devoting his life to preventing this undesirable situation.
“Your fetal love messages teach your developing child to expect love from her environment. Her brain will organize itself around the anticipation of receiving love. Later in life as her brain and behaviors become more complex they will build on a foundation of love.” says Dr. Wirth in his pioneering book “Prenatal Parenting.” He taught that when the mother takes regular “fetal love breaks” this helps maintain the baby inutero until he or she is fully developed.
Birthing Comfortably
A tremendous paradigm shift is taking place. For many birth is no longer an emergency situation full of drama, blood and pain but rather increasingly mothers, fathers and their babies are experiencing birth as a joyful, natural and comfortable moment to be remembered. Thanks to Marie Mongan’s amazing work, HypnoBirthing® The Mongan Method emphasizes what the great British obstetrician Dr. Grantly Dick Read observed and wrote about in his book, ChildBirth Without Fear, nearly a century ago. In the absence of both fear and stress there is no physiological reason for pain to accompany birth. When a mother is completely relaxed, is able to let go and feel safe, supported and in love, she naturally secretes the well being hormones oxytocin and endorphines. Oxytocin is needed
for the birth process to unfold in its own time and the endorphins supply what amounts to two hundred times the powerful effects of morphine. This is the bodies own anaesthetic which allows the mother to stay in a drowsy, yet highly conscious, “trance” like state during the birth. Both parents are fully engaged in the process of welcoming, in love and joy, the first precious experiences of their child’s life outside of the womb. After such a birth, the unmedicated newborn, when laid on his mother’s belly, can head upwards and latch on to a breast without any help. This vital time of undisturbed bonding that takes place between the mother, father and baby in these first few minutes are now known to turn on a cocktail of hormones and physiological processes in both the newborn and the parents.
Thanks to Dr. David Chamberlain, a psychologist, hypnotherapist and author of “The Mind of Your Newborn,” we know that babies are having a very powerful and important experience at birth that will imprint on them for the rest of their lives. It is incredibly important for humanity to understand this. The famous French surgeon, advocate for more than half a century and author of dozens of books on natural childbirth, Michel Odent, says ”we cannot change the world unless we change the way we are born.”
We know that a baby, infant and child until the age of seven lives in a trance like state, also called Alpha. They record everything directly in their subconscious without it passing through the normal adult faculty of the critical mind. In other words, children live in hypnosis and their parents are their first hypnotherapists. It is up to the parents to learn the skilful art and power of words as well as how to use expressions and gestures that will participate in the formation of a positive happy subconscious programme in their child.
If we are to transform our violent unhappy families and societies and stop the actual “unmerry-go-round” we must create a global family that will assure not only the survival but the thriving of its members. Just as the womb is a school that all babies attend, so is The Holistic Parenting Programme a must for all future parents.
For more information on The Holistic Parenting Programme please visit: http://holisticparentingprogramme.com
