A major holistic trend is taking over many birthing classes: hypnobirthing. Many mothers who use this technique describe the labour experience as feeling pressure instead of pain. Many use words like “waves” or “surges” instead of the clinical term contractions to describe the feeling of giving birth. How do they do this?
What Is Hypnobirthing?
Hypnobirthing is using self-hypnosis techniques to reduce anxiety and fear during labour while holistically managing the pain. It’s also about educating and training women to give birth confidently, calmly, and without stress in any environment.
The technique was developed by Dr. Grantly Dick-Read as a way of breaking what he called “Fear-Tension-Pain syndrome,” which he believed makes labour more difficult. With the help of hypnosis techniques, some women can enter a state of deep relaxation. This state lets the muscles work how they’re supposed to during childbirth instead of tensing up and drawing blood away from the uterus.
To enter self-hypnosis, the labouring woman uses positive affirmations, suggestions, and visualizations to relax her body, guide her thoughts, and control her breathing. A hypnotherapist or trained birth partner can also assist her, and many women will play recordings of verbal affirmations to help them enter a calm state of self-hypnosis.
How Does It Work?
Hypnobirthing isn’t hypnotherapy, though there are many similarities. It’s more of a natural form of pain management, and it frees more women from the need for medication and all the potential side effects that come with it.
- The first technique is deep, controlled breathing. Deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth can help you stay calm and reduce discomfort in labour.
- Visualization is next, and it works by imagining the birth and what the mom wants to happen. It can be a specific visual or something more general, like a feeling. It’s akin to a rehearsal in the mind, and it can help women feel more positive and prepared for birth.
- Finally, there’s meditation. Meditating may help women concentrate on their bodies and babies during labour, letting them ignore any noise or distractions to better focus on labour.
For many women, strengthening their aura and feeling spiritual energy surging through their bodies makes hypnobirthing and the meditation easier. Monatomic Gold is a supplement that is known to strengthen the chi and improve the flow of physical and mental energy. It’s also safe to take during pregnancy, and will not affect other supplements.
Why Is Hypnobirthing So Popular?
The obvious answer to why hypnobirthing is so popular is because giving birth is a very painful experience! The ability of hypnobirthing to reduce pain is a definite plus. When a mom feels this, she’s more likely to feel safe and empowered during labour, which for new moms can feel surreal.
It also helps moms enter labour with tangible tools and working knowledge of what their bodies can do, even when the labour doesn’t go according to plan. If medical intervention becomes necessary, mom can use the relaxation and comfort techniques that hypnobirthing teaches to stay calm and present during a time that may become emotionally difficult.
Despite this, hypnobirthing is a way to combat the over-medicalized clinical approach to giving birth. The hospital setting can turn birth into a procedure rather than a beautiful, natural life event. Hypnobirthing is a way of reclaiming birth from the medical establishment and controlling a woman’s experience!