All About Hypnobirthing!

Over the last few weeks, a lot of people have asked me whether I’m taking any birth classes. When I tell them that I’m taking The Marie Mongan Method Hypnobirthing Classes with Alisha Tamburri from ClearMind HypnoTherapy. It seems like a lot of people also ask ‘What is Hypnobirthing?’ and want to know how I like it. Well, to answer everyone’s questions, I’m finding that so far the class has been a great experience for me, I feel it connects so much of the mind/body philosophies which I practice @theyoupower and applies them to labor, birthing and becoming a mum. 

(Note: I haven’t done any other birth classes, so I have nothing to compare Hypnobirthing with (and I haven’t given birth yet- so I can’t say how effective that part is yet,lol)

The Hypnobirthing method really seems to match my mindset and I’ll share how, with a little list of some of my favorite parts so far:

EMPOWERS MOTHER & MOTHER NATURE: The class and Hypnobirthing Book describe how giving Birth is one of the most natural things that our female bodies have been designed to do. Think of all the people in the world, everyone has come into this world, being birthed by their Mother. There’s so many miraculous processes occurring from the moment of conception to implantation, placenta forming, baby growing, digestive organs moving, etc that happen automatically without need for control, force or coercion. Naturally the body just does it’s job.

So likewise, during birth, the body and baby instinctively know what to do. Look at the animal kingdom, giving birth is inherent within all species as our primal nature, the less we do the better as we trust the female body to do what it intuitively knows from when we ourselves were born.  Hypnobirthing teaches techniques to quiet the mind, so emotions like fear or anxiety don’t get in the way to interfere with the birthing process, empowering the mother to trust her body and her natural instincts. 

It also empowers the Mother with freedom of choice. Hypnobirthing gives you relaxation techniques and helps improve mindset, it offers natural methods to help and assist Mother through the different stages of labor, however, it doesn’t tell you it HAS to be a certain way or put any shame on the useage of medical intervention. Whatever else you need to assist along the way is entirely your choice. You choose to do what is right for you!

EMPOWERS BIRTH PARTNER: The Birth Partner is respected as an important role to help Mother during each stage of labor and is taught many techniques to help the Mother relax, tools to deepen the Mother’s relaxation and to help bring calm and relief into process, whilst remaining calm and stress-free themselves. There are many different exercises that the couples practice together which are a bonding experience, both with each other and with baby during the pregnancy, with the purpose that all will enter labor feeling confident, trusting and empowered.

 

 

EMPOWERS MINDSET: Hypnobirthing teaches Mothers and Partners many exercises to reduce previous beliefs that might contain fear or anxiety; whether from past experience of labor, other peoples birth stories, what’s been seen in movies, etc, and aims to replace those beliefs with trust, positivity, relaxation and empowerment. Hypnobirthing understands that when the body is scared, it reacts in fight, flight or freeze mode, our bodies get tense, our muscles contract, and this constricts blood flow to the vital organs and baby, which in itself can add stress, make harder work and perhaps lead to complications down the line. By readdressing the root of fearful emotions with positive affirmations, Mama learns tools to put the chatty, negative mind at rest and help bring more of a relaxed state to mind, body and baby. This creates a calm meditative and hypnotic state where trust and empowered surrender overcomes panic.

EMPOWERS OTHER AREAS OF LIFE: The techniques taught in Hypnobirthing can be applied to all other areas in life where there may be stress; whether it be work related, family, finances, career, etc. Fundamentally it is about calming the mind and thus calming the body, breathing to reduce stress in the mind and body, shifting thoughts and language to uplift and empower rather than cause fear or panic, and allowing you to acknowledge your own power, to trust yourself and to allow nature to take it’s course.  This is in total alignment with everything @theyoupower!

So, in summary, I am approaching our due date with an open mind. Hypnobirthing has helped me to release most of the fearful emotions I had about labor and replaced them with empowering tools to relax my mind, calm my thoughts and reduce stress in my body. Then I will just allow the Birth of my baby to teach me what it will as we go through the process together, whether I am able to surrender completely and let nature run the show or whether I require some medical assistance to get me through, I have no judgement or pre-conceptions. I am prepared to go with the flow, work with my baby, and whatever happens on the day will be the right birth for us. 

If you enjoyed reading this blog you can find out more about My Pregnancy Journey here, and if you’re into Health, I also share My Health Journey here. Also, don’t forget to check out The 15 Natural Products that have helped me through the second trimester, these are some of my favorite things!

Love, Colette xo