Mentally Preparing for Birth with Hypnotherapy

As you prepare for the journey of bringing new life into the world, it's completely natural to have concerns about the experience ahead. Many women find themselves focused on physical readiness and seeking pain relief, often influenced by the narratives we encounter in movies and from friends.

It's important to remember that these portrayals create a sense of fear and anxiety, leading us to believe that birth is solely a painful and horrifying experience. This perspective is what I refer to as 'our programming'.

What we think, manifests. In the labouring and birthing process, our minds are so powerful it can stop labour in its tracks.

These fears and doubts remain in our subconscious mind which always bubbles up to the surface during labour and birth - creating tension in the body and therefore pain.

The aim is to trust your Body

For our bodies to work as nature intended, you have to believe and learn that your body is designed for this incredible process. You might wonder how you can embrace the experience when it is going to be so painful. You might wonder what benefit is there to tolerating the pain even if you think your body can work?

The benefits of naturally birthing

I would like to invite you to open your mind up to the possibility that birth was meant to be a wonderful, connected and bonding process in which you and your baby journey together. Your baby is an active participant of birth and requires your support in his first challenge in life. The way your baby births is remembered in his subconscious mind; imprinting his beliefs about the world he is about to come into. Knowing that he is loved and supported at birth will provide a great start to his receptivity to life's challenges.

You already know that there are multiple health benefits in natural vaginal birth. Your baby's microbiome starts healthy and this self-started process eliminates breathing issues, lowers risks of allergies and even moulds his skull bones optimally.

As for you, recovery is simple and easier. Your ability to breastfeed easily is increased and your hormones for motherhood is optimised.

Knowledge Empowers you

A good childbirth education is your first step to empowering yourself. A good childbirth education focuses on your body's natural processes and shows you what tools you have within yourself to work through the process of birth. I recommend a subconscious focused childbirth preparation class such as Hypnobirthing The Mongan Method.

However, despite your new empowering information, it is very common and normal to have persistent fears. After all, childbirth preparation works on your conscious mind whereas our fears and beliefs continue to live in our subconscious.

What is hypnotherapy and how it works

Hypnotherapy is a safe process that helps you access your subconscious and induces suggestibility through a process called Hypnosis. Hypnosis is merely a brainwave state, one which you naturally go into several times a day. You are usually in a hypnotic state when you are very relaxed. Despite the narrative in popular media, one cannot be controlled or get stuck during hypnosis.

While you are in hypnosis, you can do an exercise of releasing these limiting beliefs and fears. In another session, a powerful exercise of visualisation allows you to experience labour and birth in future with ease. Sometimes, there are non-birth related anxieties that need to be addressed. Sometimes a woman may feel unready for parenthood which creates tension during the birth of her child and after as postpartum depression; this may be addressed in Hypnotherapy too.

When the negative program in the subconscious mind changes, the person responds differently to labour allowing her to enjoy the process of labour better.

You can relax in labour with the right mind tools

Interested in learning more? Find out if you're a candidate for Hypnosis here.

Hypnosis during birth

To remain relaxed during labour, you might be provided with soundtracks of guided meditations and affirmations to keep you feeling encouraged, strong and relaxed so that you can beautifully ride the natural waves that are bringing your baby to you. Doing nothing but relaxing and releasing tension will be the greatest skill you will pick up for labour and birth.

All the best on your journey