Hypnobabies® does not teach birthing people to manage pain.
Allow me to explain…
While there are people who have pain-free births without much preparation or just through deep breathing and relaxation, a great deal more is needed for most birthing people <physically, mentally, and emotionally> to have a truly comfortable childbirth experience. Hypnobabies’ success at helping people achieve more comfortable births involves much more than “deep relaxation”, breathing, or other pain management techniques. With appropriate practice and use of our deep hypnosis techniques, pain can be greatly lessened and even eliminated.
Real talk: Pain-free birth?
For most people, the concept of a “pain-free birth” experience is steeped in mystery or akin to science-fiction. Few mothers have experienced one, and those who have and attempt to tell others about it are rarely believed, even if they have video or witnesses of their birth.
Other mothers may feel envious, annoyed or even bitter to hear that someone else had a much easier experience of childbirth than they had, especially if theirs was an exceptionally difficult labor and delivery. Many, if not most, experienced birth professionals have only seen and experienced themselves that childbirth is “hard work” and therefore painful in varying degrees. This allows a belief system to be firmly implanted - that childbirth cannot be any other way- and while this seems logical, there are also exceptions to just about everything in life. So what seems “impossible” at first can many times begin to change to “unlikely”, then “possible”, and finally it becomes an established fact.
What’s Hypnosis got to do with it?
Human beings cannot maintain *two* opposing belief systems about childbirth at once and simultaneously, be effective in producing an easier, more comfortable birth. To avoid conflict in the conscious and subconscious mind, individuals need to choose *one* belief system about childbirth and embrace it fully.
Since Hypnobabies training differs greatly from the common birthing philosophy (that “childbirth is an inherently paiinful experience that women need to learn to cope with”), it is important that all Hypnobabies students who embrace Hypnobabies *believe that it is possible to have a comfortable birth* using Hypnobabies techniques. There is no way for anyone to actually experience an easier, more comfortable birth unless they believe it is a possibility for them (thanks to a little thing called self-fulfilling prophecy) and that is what our course is all about: changing belief systems, inside and out.
Consider this: If we at Hypnobabies taught all of our students that “easier, more comfortable…even pain-free births can be experienced, but don’t expect that it will be that way for you”…what kind of outcomes would we see? We would be invalidating our very successful hypnosis and childbirth education techniques and tools, in favor of…fear! This is similar to telling a child they shouldn’t work towards getting an “A” in school so they won’t be disappointed if/when they get a “C”. Giving a bit of encouragement and then negating it with a warning is counter-productive and counter-intuitive.
Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis provides expectant parents with the TOOLS to have more comfortable births.
There are three elements that assist with making childbirth more comfortable:
1. 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬
This is by far the most important element for an easier, more comfortable birth, as it takes moms far beyond deep relaxation and breathing techniques.
Hypnobabies teaches real-deal, medical hypnosis to literally retrain the inner mind’s belief systems by accessing the subconscious with specific techniques for a beneficial change. In other words, hypnosis conditions the mind, through training, to convert labor sensations from painful to more comfortable, sometimes even pleasurable ones. Normal birthing sensations are still experienced- pressure, stretching, pulling, pushing and tightening, as well as the movements and position of the baby- BUT they’re experienced with far less discomfort when the birthing person uses Hypnobabies hypnosis techniques and cues.
Hypnobabies students learn to reach a hypnotic state called somnambulism-a deep state of hypnosis in which the autonomic nervous system is so relaxed that, with specific post-hypnotic training, there can be a lessening of physical sensation. This phenomenon is called “hypno-anesthesia” (Yes, this exists and there are people who are allergic to medical anesthesia who use *hypnosis* as their *only* form of anesthesia during medically necessary surgeries! It is one in the same)
By learning and practicing Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis, students are able to enter into self-hypnosis instantly, create their own natural hypno-anesthesia, and direct it to wherever they need it in their body. They have total control over their body, is an active participant in the process, and is aware of everything around her. The hypno-student programs their own mind to give themselves exactly what they need- to trust their body’s innate ability to give birth with ease and comfort.
2. 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐱𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Stress, including fears and anxiety, during pregnancy and birth can cause stress hormones to flood the body, and as a result, the uterus may not get the proper blood flow which can result in inadequate oxygen getting to the uterus and the baby. Muscles need oxygen to work properly and when the muscle layers of the uterus cannot draw up and back as needed, dystocia (dysfunctional birthing – without progress) can occur. This has been labeled as the “Fear/Tension/Pain Syndrome”.
In other words, the muscles of a birthing person’s body, especially the ones around their baby must be completely and totally relaxed so that they can work efficiently and without any added discomfort from the Fear/Tension/Pain response and the depth of RELAXATION needed to facilitate this is easily achieved with hypnosis. Hypnobabies students learn to instantly accomplish becoming “completely limp and loose” when prompted to relax their body during their hypnosis practice. This is one of the reasons we do progressive relaxation inductions, and in every Hypnobabies hypnosis script, hypnosis track, cue and technique, deep relaxation is practiced so that it becomes a completely automatic response. Hypnobabies hypnosis training “implants” suggestions into our students’ subconscious minds for instant and very deep total body relaxation, which happens automatically during childbirth as soon as a Hypnobabies cue or technique is used. Much like training for a marathon- the muscle memory has been stored, compounded with each practice run, and activated the day of the big race.
3. 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
In reality, pain can be affected by fear, however, eliminating fear in childbirth is only one of the ways to help reduce childbirth pain. Women are indeed moving a very large object through and out of their bodies when they give birth, and there are many sensitive nerves and body parts being pressed on, pushed, pulled and stretched to great lengths during this process. The uterus stretches to the size of a small watermelon and the contractions that tighten these muscle groups are immense and intense as well. Pain is inevitably part of the process.
And yet, we do know that the Fear/Tension/Pain Syndrome is very real- pain can be made much worse by tension in the birthing body and by fear being present in the woman’s mind. Fear during labor can create tension, which creates pain, then more fear and the cycle continues. Fear and anxiety can also create adrenaline production in the body, which can cause labor to stall or become dysfunctional (a common reason for Cesarean section surgical birth). Our Hypnobabies students understand that they can avoid this during pregnancy and birthing by doing regular Fear Clearing sessions. These sessions are integral to the process of creating a positive new view of childbirth and the expectation that one’s birthing experience will be easier and more comfortable, as they allow the mother to address fears, work through possible solutions and then release them.
TL;DR Hypnosis, Deep Relaxation, and Fear clearing sessions, combined with comprehensive childbirth education, make a significant difference in the birthing experience and helps labor to progress much more easily and comfortably. As a result, Hypnobabies students are much calmer and more relaxed during birth (which in and of itself creates more comfort), while receiving powerful post-hypnotic suggestions to actually eliminate fear, and for most eliminate discomfort completely.
*Although the majority of our Hypnobabies moms do have very comfortable births, some even pain-free, it is important for anyone using this course to understand that every birth experience is different, just as every pregnancy is different. The “goal” of this program is to have the easiest, most comfortable birth that you can have; not necessarily an unmedicated one (although most moms do) or a pain-free one (although some moms do). You need to know and accept that your own will be the right one for you, no matter what path your birthing journey takes.