“The premise that birthing, by nature, had to be a painful ordeal was totally unacceptable to me. I could not believe that a God who had created the body with such perfection could have designed a system of procreation that was flawed,” said Marie F. Mongan, a hypnotherapist and founder of Hypnobirthing. By using hypnosis techniques like deep breathing, positive thinking, visualization and self-conditioning, mothers can ensure a smoother birth for their baby.
Pregnant women may need to find a hypnotherapist to help assist with the painful birthing process. Sure, everyone knows how to breathe, yet in times of great peril or pain, these psycho-somatic techniques can quickly be forgotten, leaving many women gasping for air or hyperventilating. Lamaze Breathing Techniques conjure up images of husband and wife in a yoga classroom setting, with the wife practicing healthy breathing patterns and the husband supportively going along with it. Similarly, one of the most common hypnosis techniques used to induce people into a state of trance is, in fact, relaxation breathing. Therefore, it makes sense that women would adopt some hypnotherapy training methods to help them relax through deep breaths of fresh air.
Often times, when running a race or getting toward the end of a tough workout routine, we fixate on certain phrases to help us through. “Must keep going, must keep going,” “Almost there, almost there” or “No pain, no gain” are common thoughts to help us push ourselves through just a little bit longer. Similarly, the pain of childbirth can be managed with the assistance of a hypnotherapist who plants positive images and phrases in our minds that we can come back to in the difficult hours of labor. “Breathe up, up, up, up and now down, down, down,” the husband may repeat to help induce relaxation breathing techniques. “Trust your birthing instincts,” is the main premise of pre-birth hypnotherapy training. Mothers will learn to create a mental place of peace they can come to when the pain gets severe.
To find a hypnotherapist specializing in hypnobirthing, one can go to www.hypnobirthing.com/findaprac.htm to search for practitioners by state or even by country. Another good site to check out is www.natboard.com, which lists licensed, certified hypnotherapists of all types, including those for childbirth. Women may also choose to buy a hypnosis CD to guide them in the comfort of their own home. At www.gentlebirth.org, there are a number of resources to read up on hypnobirthing. The “Hypnobabies Home Study Course” (www.hypnobabies.com) for $139.99 is also highly recommended for mothers who cannot afford $400 for a course.
