As a hypnobirthing teacher and hypnotherapist with a deep interest in the science of the mind-body connection, I’ve seen first hand how powerful hypnobirthing can be in transforming the birth experience. Hypnobirthing isn’t about “mind tricks” or wishful thinking; it’s a logical approach that taps into the body’s natural responses to help you in labour. Here are five of my favourite reasons to do a hypnobirthing course.
1. Reduces Fear and Anxiety to Work with your Body
Fear and anxiety often lead to muscle tension and increased pain during labour. When we tense up we work against our body, we can actually make it harder for ourselves. Hypnobirthing employs deep relaxation and breathing techniques to lower stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. By practicing these techniques, you can approach birth with a calm mindset, reducing the fight-or-flight response and allowing you to work with your body.
2. Creates a Sense of Control During Labour
One of the greatest benefits of hypnobirthing is the sense of control it provides. Birth is an unpredictable experience, but by equipping you with breathing techniques, affirmations, and relaxation exercises, hypnobirthing gives you tools to handle each moment with confidence. A sense of control or a sense of being part of the process and decisions during labour correlates with a more positive birth experience.
3. Improves Partner Involvement and Support
Hypnobirthing class isn’t just for you; it also benefits birth partners. Partners learn techniques to provide meaningful support, creating a calm, supportive environment that can actually help you. A supportive birth environment improves the your emotional state. We don’t get much in the way of continuity of care in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire unfortunately, but birth partners can bring some of that back through understanding how to support you.
4. You’ll get to Enjoy Your Pregnancy More
So many people spend their pregnancy trying their best not to think too much about birth, for some they can put it aside for months, until it feels like it’s fast approaching, but it’s still sitting there in your subconscious a big countdown to when you have to ‘go through labour’. It’s so much better to learn about what will happen, create a plan and have a toolkit ready. Then you can enjoy pregnancy more because birth doesn’t seem like this huge thing to dread.
5. It Helps you Prepare for all Kinds of Birth
Hypnobirthing isn’t just for for home births, or midwife unit births, or even vaginal births. When you do one of my hypnobirthing courses we’ll look at all the different interventions you may be offered, and talk about including things in your birth plans for when things don’t go the way you want it to. Rather than our classes focusing on a particular birth experience we’ll prepare for changes in plan.
Really there are so many more reason to do hypnobirthing, it’s great that it becoming more and more the norm to do a class. We have hypnobirthing classes in Aberdeenshire currently and I’d love to support you at one of them. If you’re interested in one to one support head over to our Contact Me page and get in touch.
If you’ve taken a hypnobirthing class, what was your favourite part?