When I was pregnant with our first child, my husband and I took classes to guide us through a natural childbirth. We chose the Bradley method a 3-month long class, meeting once a week, to go over breathing and massage. I thought this was a great gig, of course, I was the one getting the massage.
As the due date neared, then passed, my doctor set up an appointment for me to get induced. I knew that getting induced would intensify the contractions, and this was not part of the plan. To be clear, I don’t have anything against epidurals, but as crazy as it might sound, I wanted to experience the pain, provided there were no complications. I believed the pain was my guide, and I probably read somewhere that it would shorten my labor, again, good plan.
When the day finally arrived, and the first big contraction hit, my husband cracked his knuckles and puffed his chest. This was the moment we had all been waiting for—his well-rehearsed massage. But the moment he touched me I spewed profanities at him, all of which I do not remember. To this day when he tells the story I think he’s making it up.
Instead, what I did do, to manage the pain, was spontaneous and without provocation, unless you consider the drip of Pitocin provocation, I began to hum. This was my body’s natural response to pain, it provided relief, a moment of sanity, enough so that I didn’t find the need to spew anymore profanities at my husband, or anyone else for that matter. The relief it provided was not as strong as an epidural, but it helped me relax enough to let my body do what it instinctively knew what to do.
Later, when I became a yoga teacher and learned about chanting, I remembered this episode. It turns out humming, chanting or singing trigger the vagus nerve. A nerve that turns on our parasympathetic nervous system, the system in charge of our reproductive organs. When we are in fight, flight or freeze mode our vagus nerve shuts down, so does our parasympathetic nervous system.
In fact, Time.com reported that singers had lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Furthermore, group singing (or group humming, um, chanting) released endorphins and oxytocin, the bonding hormone.
So, if you’re feeling a little stressed or blue this holiday season and don’t trust your vocal abilities to belt out a tune, no problem, next time you have the opportunity to “om” in yoga give it a try and see if you have an extra zing in your step as you leave the studio.
Jill Griffiths