How Does It Work?
Athletes and other sports people are well aware of the mind's influence on the body's performance. They use sports psychology to train their minds to work with rather than against their body. A woman's body is designed for childbirth. Unfortunately stress, fear and tension inhibit the body from carrying out this natural activity. On the Enjoy Your Birth™ programme you'll learn a number of techniques, which will allow the muscles responsible for giving birth the freedom and support to work at their best, while you conserve your energy for the weeks ahead with your baby.
Isn't childbirth supposed to be absolute agony? How can anyone control that level of pain without drugs?
It saddens me that so many women have been led to believe that their only choices in childbirth are excrutiating pain or an array of chemical pain relief. Yet by learning a few simple, specific techniques you can give yourself a third, more empowering choice.
Pain is not a given. You can control the level of pain that you feel.
Neuroscientists have found that when a person is injured, the sensory messages announcing the presence of injury pass through cells that are influenced by fibres descending from the brain. These fibres carry messages from the brain telling the cells to amplify, diminish, or ignore the pain signal. In other words, your brain naturally mediates pain - it's something that we all do, like our own internal TENS machine! On the programme you'll learn techniques to mediate pain and to increase your endorphin levels - the body's natural pain relief. Many doctors will tell you that hypnosis is the only known no-risk pain reliever
So will the birth will be pain-free?
There is no guarantee of this but it is possible. Hypnosis CAN be used to completely remove pain - many people have had surgical operations purely under hypnosis, with no anaesthetic at all. They've remained comfortable throughout and recovered remarkably quickly. It's been observed that plenty of practice increases the depth of trance - so if your goal is to have no discomfort at all, sign up early and be prepared to spend plenty of time learning to really relax! You may find it makes your pregnancy that much easier too.
Can anyone learn self-hypnosis?
It's surprisingly easy. You go in and out of trance all day long so your mind knows how to, even if you're not aware of it. When you daydream or become absorbed in a film, music or a book, then you're in a trance. When you imagine yourself on your next holiday or relaxing in the bath, you're taking yourself into trance. You'll simply be learning to do this on purpose and learning how to deepen it quickly and effectively. Attaining even a light depth of trance means any discomfort is likely to be lessened; you can relax more between contractions and so conserve your energy; and the birthing is likely to be shorter so both you and your baby recover more quickly.
I don't want to be "out of it" during the birth!
You won't be. You'll be in control, communicating clearly with your partner and medical staff.
I'm going to yoga classes, isn't that enough?
It's great that you're practising Yoga. In combination with self-hypnosis you can be even more in control. And then you can use your self-hypnosis to cope more easily with family life (like getting effortlessly back to sleep in the disturbed nights to come…). Remember too that you'll also be learning specific visualisation and breathing techniques (quite different from what you may have learned in a yoga or Pilates class), and tried and tested methods of pain management.