What is Hypnobirthing?

The word “hypnobirthing” can sound intimidating or airy fairy and you might be sceptical about it. But don't worry, it has nothing to do with hypnosis or being put to sleep! Hypnobirthing doesn’t let somebody else take control from you - it actually does the opposite. It gives you control over the progression of labour and birth. It gives you the confidence to stand up for yourself and claim the birth that you’re dreaming of. It gives you the chance to prepare for birth. Many parents-to-be start off being sceptical about hypnobirthing and once they experience it, they end up being positive and enthusiastic about it.

But what exactly is hypnobirthing? It’s simple. Hypnobirthing takes away the element of fear using positive thoughts and by helping you understand, using evidence and logic based facts, why labour is not meant to be dramatic and painful as movies normally show us. 

There is also a relaxation element to all of this which is what is referred to as “hypnotherapy”. For us, it is more like meditating. You may already be doing a variation of this when you’ve had a tough day. Maybe you dim the lights, light a candle, pour yourself a drink, take deep breaths and say to yourself that tomorrow will be a new and better day. The objective is the same, to learn to manage your thoughts and be calm. Midwives are often blown away by the calmness of hypnobirthing mums during labour, as they have a different attitude towards birth. That’s why a lot of midwives have also started looking into hypnobirthing, because they’ve seen that it works and they want to be able to help mothers during labour using hypnobirthing techniques. 

Hypnobirthing is nothing new. It’s existed for decades and originated from Dr Grantly Dick-Read’s work who, in the 1920s, noticed that women who had positive expectations of birth and who were calm, tended to experience less pain than women who were frightened. Fear creates tension, which in turn creates pain. In this course you will learn how to achieve deep relaxation through visualisation and concentration. You’ll also learn breathing techniques that are so important for the first and second stage of labour. 

There is a lot of interest in hypnobirthing at the moment in the world, especially in the UK. It’s helped thousands of women through labour. Why the popularity? Births are becoming more and more medicalised and people are becoming aware of this. More medical professionals are practising what is called “defensive medicine” where medical interventions are used more often because it's an easy option and at the end of the day it’s what the doctor specialised in. Of course, we are thankful for all the medical advancements - it is truly amazing how much medicine has moved on in the last 100 years. But, giving birth is such a natural event and medical interventions are not always necessary. We are all on a hunt for a more natural way of living. We look for organic food, organic cotton for our baby’s clothes, so why not an organic and natural birth too, the way nature intended.