What is Hypnobirthing?
A Hypnobirthing course is more than just an antenatal (birth preparation) course.
First thing’s first, Hypnobirthing can be used for ALL births. It is not just for ‘home births with no pain relief’, this is a myth! It CAN be for this type of birth, of course! You can absolutely reap the benefits of Hypnobirthing if you:
Are classed as a ‘high-risk’ pregnancy
Are planning a Caesarean birth
Are planning to have an epidural or pain relief during birth
Are planning a home birth
Are planning a hospital birth
Are planning a birth centre birth
Anything in between!
I’m going to get a little bit science-y now, so stick with me!
So how does Hypnobirthing work?
Studies suggest around 95% of our mind is unconscious. That meaning we’re unaware of what’s going off in there. This is where all of our deep rooted beliefs and fears live! A lot of women are fearful of birth due to the beliefs in our mind we have made since being a child. This comes from things such as watching birth on TV (women screaming in pain on their backs on a hospital bed) or stories we hear from others of their traumatic experiences.
I like to describe Hypnobirthing as a toolkit. It isn’t just ‘one thing’ that you ‘do’. It’s a whole set of different skills, knowledge and techniques that you can draw upon depending on where you are in your labour and birth journey. You learn everything else an antenatal class covers, but what other antenatal classes do not cover, is the big part of Hypnobirthing that focuses on positive mindset and removing fear. By this, I mean targeting that 95% of the unconscious mind, where deep-rooted fear around birth lingers, ready to pop out when you go into labour. It can need a little bit of help budging and Hypnobirthing is designed to do this.
The mind and body are connected. Our thoughts influence our body. There is little point knowing all about the birth process if when it comes down to it you are so full with fear and panic you can’t put it into practice or what I hear a lot is ‘that it went out of the window’.
Let me introduce you to the Fear, Tension and Pain Cycle. Discovered by a British Doctor who had worked with hundreds of women in childbirth, he came to discover that:
When we are fearful, we become tense.. and if we are tense and our muscles are trying to work (e.g. trying to birth a baby), we experience pain. This leads to more fear, more tension and more pain. This is what most women giving birth end up in! Women are scared of birth - they become tense, their muscles can’t work as smoothly as designed so feel pain, this confirms all of their beliefs and they feel even more fearful, tense up more and guess what.. feel more pain!
This cycle makes birth a lot more painful and scarier than designed!
Hypnobirthing works by breaking you out of this cycle, which can lead to a much more calm. positive and comfortable experience.
Of course, a Hypnobirthing course (the right one, do your research!) teaches you all of this via lots of methods, including self hypnosis. But it also covers absolutely everything you need to know about labour and birth, so you feel fully prepared and informed in all areas. It is a full course, meaning you won’t need to do this one and then go somewhere else to do another course! It is all in one! Equally, you could do this course on top of another antenatal course, as Hypnobirthing courses are unique and special. They will only add to any other courses you have done before.
I wish it wasn’t the case and that we could just hand over all our worries and fears over to the healthcare system to look after us during labour and birth. But what is happening time and time again, is that less preparation can lead to traumatic and negative experiences. Less preparation can lead to making decisions in the panic of it all, that you later regret. Less preparation means it’s more likely you have long-lasting negative feelings and association with birth. It leaves women wishing they had prepared and wishing things could have been different for them.
I don’t want this for you. You are worthy of preparing for the birth you want. What could be more important than that?
What’s the ‘HYPNO’ bit all about?
Hypnobirthing utilises the power of self-hypnosis. But remember, this is only part of the course. Now this isn't the kind of Hypnosis we see on the TV, where people suddenly go to sleep and start acting like chickens when told to. Maybe you imagine a pendulum swinging and someone say ‘look into my eyes!’
I can absolutely assure you it is nothing like that. There are no pendulums, you aren’t put to sleep, you aren’t suddenly going to be doing something you don’t know about. During self-hypnosis you are in complete control at all times and can choose to stop being in hypnosis any time you want!
What’s interesting, is that we are all in self-hypnosis at some point during the day. Do you know that feeling where you are engulfed in a film, or a book? You are focusing on this one thing for a period of time rather than anything else? Or when someone turns and says.. wow you were deep in thought then? Maybe describe it as ‘you were daydreaming’. During that moment, if someone spoke to you, you could easily respond if you chose to, or you could equally chose to ignore them a while longer whilst you finish thinking.
If you are more aware of what meditation is, it is very similar to this in terms of the state of mind, but the difference is that Hypnosis works at putting new ideas INTO the mind, whereas meditation tends to work at CLEARING the mind. Self-hypnosis is the next level from feeling relaxed, a bit like the moment before falling to sleep! I will repeat, you are in control at all times.
Self hypnosis is completely safe. There is no right or wrong way either. It works by me guiding you through a lovely script during your sessions (you just get comfy, relax and listen to me). You then go on to listen to them via downloadable audio tracks as often as possible throughout your pregnancy.
Most people find it completely enjoyable, some even fall asleep because of feeling so calm and relaxed, and that’s okay too! We do this at the end of each of your sessions. Most people love having this time to relax and switch off after a busy day. And when our body and mind are completely relaxed, we can work at removing the fear and worry that festers there, and put in new, positive, ideas and beliefs. This practice is so powerful and over repetition, reprogrammes your mind to hold new beliefs about birth. Hypnobirthing is backed by science!!
Not to mention that when you are in this state and so deeply-relaxed, it is so beneficial for you and your baby. It has the most powerful effect during labour and birth. It is also a great bonding experience, it can help you sleep easier at night, it can make all of your body feel calmer, work more efficiently and really resets your body, eliminating stress.
