Maybe you are beyond stoked and confidently flaunting your bump in crop tops for your upcoming maternity photos. But maybe, you don’t love the feeling of meeting up with someone you don’t know that well and seeing their eyes disappear behind the camera as they snap away without giving you direction. Ahhh! That sounds nerve-racking.
Mamas, have no fear. First, I always recommend meeting your photographer before you shoot with them. You’re about to trust them with some of your most intimate memories, you should kind of know them, right? I always make an effort to get to know my mamas before they even step in front of my camera.
Beyond being comfortable with your photographer, you can also find ways to calm your parasympathetic nervous system, by stimulating your vagus nerve. Uhm… what? Simply, you can calm the symptoms you get when you’re nervous--raised blood pressure, racing heart, sweating palms and pits… And here are a few ways:
Deep breathing
Sit comfortably criss-cross applesauce or in a chair with your legs uncrossed. Elongate your spine by imagining a string is pulling the top of your head to the sky. Breathe deeply in for 5 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds until you fully empty your belly. With each new breath cycle think of expanding your belly, chest, and upper back. Extra points if you hum as you breathe out.
A cold splash
Cold water exposure stimulates the vagus nerve as well. You can take this as little as splashing some cold water on your face before putting on your make-up or a quick taking a cold shower. I am a lover of getting in the water for my maternity sessions, so just know those splashes don’t only make beautiful memories, but could be calming to your bodily systems, too!
Prenatal yoga
Take deeper breathing to a physical practice on your mat. A gentle prenatal yoga flow the morning before your session allows you to get the breath practice, as well as some movement to help your body’s circulation. Overall, it usually helps to wake up the muscles a bit and get some gentle stretching in before a photo shoot. If yoga isn’t your thing, maybe you unplug and go for a walk with your favorite tunes and do some stretching after.
Treat yourself
This might mean getting your hair done or getting a massage. Rather than worrying about what you have to get done to look good for your photos, what can you do to feel good during your photos. Let’s put it this way. I can photoshop, pose, direct, and style all I want, but I can’t photoshop discomfort.
The most awesome thing about these practices, is that you have to look inward and tap into your intuition to know what you truly need. Beyond your maternity photos, that practice is going to be important for labor, birth, and motherhood in general. It doesn’t hurt to try some of these methods out before your maternity shoot. I’d love to know if any of these worked for you. Let me know!!
