Is this meditation safe during postpartum?

Yes. This is gentle guided practice with no breath-holding or physical exertion. Listen in any comfortable position. If a practice increases distress rather than easing it, stop and speak with your midwife, GP, or a mental health professional.

Do I need the app to listen?

No. Press play on this page for the full guided audio and transcript. The My Maternal Mind app adds offline caching, ambient sound mixing, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

Letting Yourself Be Held

Postpartum week 8

0:00−6:08

Background sound

Duration:: 6 min
Stage:: Postpartum · Postpartum week 8
Best for:: When you need help but find it hard to ask for or accept

How to practise

The fourth trimester asks a lot of a person in a short time. This episode holds permission to ask for and accept help; the difficulty of receiving, without asking you to perform gratitude or bounce back on cue.

Many new parents believe they should be able to manage on their own, and feel they are failing when they cannot. But humans were never meant to raise children in isolation. This practice gently dismantles the do-it-all-alone myth and helps you let yourself receive, the help, the support, the care, that you so readily give to everyone else.

Find a position that supports you (seated or lying down). Press play and let the guidance move at its own pace. There is no correct way to feel, and nothing to visualize on demand.

This episode is written for postpartum week 8. It fits best when you need help but find it hard to ask for or accept, though you can return whenever the week feels heavy or unfamiliar.

Each week in the series stands alone. Listeners often join at their current week and circle back later; the arc rewards continuity, but nothing here assumes you have been listening since week one.

Full transcript

Welcome to your eighth week.

There is a stubborn idea that a good parent should be able to do it all alone, and that needing help is a kind of failing. So many people carry far too much because of it, quietly drowning rather than asking.

But no one was meant to do this alone. So today is about the harder side of support: not giving it, but receiving it. Letting yourself be held. Let's begin.

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Let's begin by letting your body settle.

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Find a position that supports you. Let the surface beneath you take your full weight. Notice how it holds you without any effort from you.

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Let your eyes close, or rest them softly open.

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Take one slow breath in.

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And a long breath out.

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Let's steady the breath together. In… one… … two… … three… … four…

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And out, longer. Out… one… … two… … three… … four… … five… … six…

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Let the counting go.

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Notice, right now, how the surface beneath you is holding you. You are not holding yourself up. Something else is taking your weight, and you are letting it. That is what being held feels like, and it is allowed.

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Receiving help can feel surprisingly hard. You may be wonderful at giving it, and yet flinch at accepting it, as if needing help made you weak, or a burden. But letting someone help you is not weakness. It takes a kind of strength to be open, to say I cannot do all of this, and to let someone in.

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For a long time, humans raised children together, surrounded by hands and help. Doing it alone is not the natural way. It is the modern, isolating exception. So if some part of you is buckling under the weight of carrying it all, that is not a personal failing. It is a sign that you were never meant to carry it all by yourself.

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So let yourself be held. By the people who love you. By the ones who offer, and the ones you can ask. Picture leaning back, just slightly, into support that is there, and letting it take a little of the weight. You do not have to earn it. You only have to allow it.

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Now, three quiet truths. Let each one land in the body.

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The first. I do not have to do this alone.

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Notice where you feel that, if anywhere.

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The second. Accepting help is a strength, not a failure.

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Let it settle.

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And the last. I am allowed to be held, too.

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You do not have to be certain. Just let these be true.

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Stay a little longer, breathing, letting yourself be held.

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And when you are ready, begin to come back. Feel your weight, still held.

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Let your eyes open slowly, if they were closed.

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And let someone in a little more today.

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That is the end of this practice.

If you are feeling unsupported or isolated, please tell your health visitor; they can help connect you with real, practical support, and with others going through the same season. You do not have to carry this alone, and there are more hands available than it can sometimes feel.

We will meet again next week.

FAQ

When should I listen to Postpartum Week 8?: This practice is designed for when you need help but find it hard to ask for or accept, though you can return any time during postpartum.
Is this meditation safe during postpartum?: Yes. This is gentle guided practice with no breath-holding or physical exertion. Listen in any comfortable position. If a practice increases distress rather than easing it, stop and speak with your midwife, GP, or a mental health professional.
Do I need the app to listen?: No. Press play on this page for the full guided audio and transcript. The My Maternal Mind app adds offline caching, ambient sound mixing, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

Related practice

The Thoughts That Visit, Postpartum week 7
Finding the New Normal, Postpartum week 9
Read the full guide

Practise with the full toolkit in the app

This episode is one of fifty-one in the Pregnancy Weeks series, with ambient sound mixing, streak tracking, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

Download now

My Maternal Mind supports your wellbeing during pregnancy and birth preparation. It does not replace medical advice, midwifery care, or mental health treatment. Discuss your birth plan and any concerns with your care team.

Last reviewed: 2026-06-30