What is HypnoBirthing?

HypnoBirthing is more of a philosophy and approach to birth rather than any set method or technique. It centers around the belief that birth is an instinctive, natural, and normal process of the body that women can trust and surrender to rather than be afraid of and resist. HypnoBirthing teaches women to trust and embrace their body’s natural birthing instincts, to relax deeply so that their body can do what it’s designed to do, and to work with their body in a state of trust, calm, and serenity.

HypnoBirthing provides an alternative to the cultural belief that birth is a horrible, painful ordeal that women must endure and suffer through. It rejects the notion that birth is something women need to fear and provides women and their partners with a clear path to better, easier birthing. I used HypnoBirthing for my three births and cannot imagine birthing without its foundation (the image above is during my third birth with my sweet son by my side). 

Why does HypnoBirthing make birth easier? It’s all in the state of mind. 

When it comes to birth, a woman’s state of mind is of the greatest importance. Think of our mammalian counterparts in nature: if a wild, birthing animal is scared, perhaps she perceives a nearby threat, her body is going to shut down the birthing process until she feels safe (fear and birth are not a good combo!). We are no different: if we are in a state of fear (which most women are due to the overwhelmingly negative cultural messages we receive around childbirth), our bodies will go into the fight-fight-freeze response, a woman will hold tension throughout her body, she will resist her contractions with the mantra of “no”, the physiological processes of birth will be impeded, pain will be created and exacerbated, labor will be longer and more difficult, and a woman will struggle and potentially suffer through a long, slow, and painful birth, likely peppered with a variety of medical interventions.

On the contrary, imagine a woman who believes that her body is perfectly designed for birth, who trusts her body and baby, and who welcomes the process of birth. Imagine a woman who relaxes deeply through each contraction, allowing her body to soften so that it can do what it is designed to do. She seeks trust rather than fear, she is calm and relaxed rather than stressed and tensed, she works with her body rather than against it, and as a result, her birth is much more likely to be an empowering, smooth, and significantly easier experience. This is the typical HypnoBirthing woman.

Why hypnosis?

We use hypnosis in HypnoBirthing as one of five techniques to help women achieve a deep and complete state of relaxation, harness the power of the mind-body connection, and release any conscious or subconscious fears they may hold about birth. We use lovely guided relaxations to help women become comfortable and conditioned to relax easily and quickly, so they can relax easily and quickly when they are in labor. Hypnosis is simply a means of inducing a level of consciousness that is characterized by relaxation and suggestibility. It is a lovely state! 

What do you want for your birth? 

Birth is one of the greatest rites of passage. It is something you will remember for the rest of your life. Doesn’t it make sense, then, to anticipate it with excitement rather than trepidation, to surrender to its power rather than to resist it in fear, and to seek to experience it fully with empowerment and confidence?

As a Birth Doula and HypnoBirthing Practitioner, my hope for every woman is that they learn to trust their bodies, silence the culturual fear, surrender to the beauty and intensity of birth, and embrace the full experience of birthing, knowing that if they do, they will access a strength and empowerment that will remain with them forever. 

Check out the HypnoBirthing page and reserve your spot in the next group class!