You hopefully know already, after looking through my website content, that Your Birth Your Baby is a complete antenatal and hypnobirthing preparation program, led by a midwife and hypnobirthing teacher, for you and your choice of birth partner and designed to help you to approach your birth feeling confident, knowledgeable, prepared in body and mind, and empowered to make the right choices for you as your birth unfolds.
So what actually is that hypnobirthing bit?
Firstly – let’s look at the ‘birthing’ bit – we’ll come to the ‘hypno’ shortly!
Most good antenatal courses will help you to gain a level of understanding of the physiology of birth, and lots of those will also consider what actually happens within your body on both a muscular and hormonal level.
The added value provided by a great course, is that you will also learn how you can support and enhance your birthing experience by using the powerful combination of tools and techniques learnt on the course and practiced daily for the rest of your pregnancy.
And this is the ‘Hypno’ bit!
‘Hypno’ is the Greek word for sleep and in this case when joined to the word ‘birthing’ it refers to the ability to enter into a deeply relaxed state of mind in pregnancy and birth. This isn’t mind control or stage hypnosis. No pocket watches will be involved! It is not something that is done ‘to you’ but something that is done ‘by you’ and together with your birth partner. It is simply a way to quieten the noise of your busy, conscious mind (the part responsible for rational and analytical thinking) especially during surges, or times of stress/change, thus enabling you to tap into your instinctive (subconscious) mind that is so necessary for birth to unfold.
What! There’s also a ‘practice’ bit?
Why is practice necessary? Basically, whether we are aware of it or not, our subconscious minds hold onto all of the birth information, opinion, hearsay, myth, stories, thoughts and beliefs, portrayal in the media and perceived drama of birth that the largely negative societal conditioning around birth feeds into our subconscious mind throughout our lives, thus shaping our inner thoughts and fears about birth.
You may not be consciously thinking about this in any given moment and you may not even be aware that it is there and clouding your judgement, but at certain times, for example when you become pregnant or approach your birth, these thoughts stored in your subconscious that unknowingly underpin your belief systems can infiltrate and undermine the thought process happening within your conscious mind, thus affecting your perceptions and expectations of birth.
So put it all together and what have we got? Hypnobirthing!
Informing your conscious mind to give you the knowledge, choices and confidence to prepare for birth, whilst also engaging in gradually and consistently reframing your subconscious mind (which is susceptible to positive suggestion/triggers when in deep relaxation) is indeed a powerful combination of support for all birth.
Taking personal responsibility for your birth preparation by reinforcing the mindset message, actively seeking out positive birth stories for every type of birth, protecting yourself from the many sources of toxic negativity and engaging in regular practice of the relaxation scripts, techniques and frameworks together, from now on and throughout your pregnancy, will strengthen your mindset and further balance the odds in your favour as you prepare for your best possible birth.
So a comprehensive antenatal AND hypnobirthing course can provide a much more thorough preparation for birth, by not only acknowledging how your body is designed to birth your baby, but by instigating and perpetuating a mindset change to support the process of birth.
Jo (Mum, midwife, certified hypnobirthing teacher, experienced antenatal educator and founder of Your Birth Your Baby Complete Antenatal and Hypnobirthing course)