Set up your position
Comfort matters more than form. Sit on a chair with your feet flat and your back supported, or cross-legged on the floor with your back against a wall and a cushion under your hips so the knees sit below hip level. From the second trimester you can also practise side-lying on the left with pillows under the head, between the knees and supporting the bump. Do not lie flat on your back after 16 weeks.
Rest your hands on your bump or on your thighs. Let your jaw and shoulders drop. Eyes closed, or softly open looking down if closing them makes you sleepy.
Four techniques to start with
1. Extended exhale (start here). Breathe in through the nose for four counts, out through the nose for six to eight. Ten rounds. The long exhale directly slows the heart rate through the vagus nerve, so you feel the effect within a minute or two. This is also the breath you will use between contractions in labour.
2. Body scan. Move your attention slowly from the crown of the head down to the feet, pausing at each area and consciously releasing tension. Ten minutes. Best in the evening, and excellent for getting to sleep.
3. Bonding meditation. Hands on the bump, breathe slowly, and direct your attention to your baby — picture them, speak to them silently or aloud, notice any movement. Five to ten minutes. This is the practice closest to traditional garbh sanskar, and the one mothers most often keep up.
4. Sound focus. Choose a simple sound — a chant, a mantra, a bell recording, or just the word "so" on the in-breath and "hum" on the out-breath. Repeat it silently and return to it when the mind wanders. Useful if silence makes your thoughts louder.
What to expect in the first two weeks
Your mind will wander constantly. That is not a sign you cannot meditate; noticing the wandering and coming back is the entire exercise. You may also find that sitting still brings up worry you have been outrunning all day. This is normal and usually eases by the second week. If it does not, switch to a moving practice — slow walking with breath counting — and speak to someone about the worry itself.
Building the habit
- Same time, same place. Attach it to something you already do — after your morning tea, before bed.
- Five minutes counts. A five-minute daily practice beats a thirty-minute weekly one.
- Phone out of the room unless you are using a timer or a guided track, in which case put it on aeroplane mode.
- Do not measure success by calmness. Some sessions are restless. Showing up is the metric.
- Guided is easier to start with. A recorded voice removes the question of what to do next. Move to unguided once the habit is set.
What to avoid in pregnancy
Breath retention and forceful breathing practices — kapalbhati, bhastrika, long kumbhaka — are not appropriate in pregnancy. Avoid meditating in a hot room, avoid lying flat on your back after 16 weeks, and stop any practice that makes you dizzy, breathless or nauseated.
Why it is worth the five minutes
Trials of mindfulness in pregnancy show reductions in perceived stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, better sleep, and in several studies less fear of childbirth and better labour coping. The breath control you build is the same skill you will rely on in labour, which is why every P101 prenatal programme teaches it from the first week rather than the last.