Hello – and welcome to the She Births Bravely top tips on how to implement hypnobirthing techniques to create a calm, relaxed and positive birth experience. But will they work for you? If you can relate to Nicole, you are in the right place.
As Nicole and I sat together enjoying a cup of tea, she told me about her feelings on her upcoming birth:
“I used to be scared of birth, she said. But, since it’s coming up, I’m trying not to be. I mean, I have to do it. I understand its a natural and normal thing, my body carried this baby already for 8 months. But, when I think about giving birth, my chest feels tight. I feel overwhelmed. I have a sense of something bad happening. It’s like my rational mind that believes I can do this cannot override the fear about birth I’ve had most of my life. I still feel it in my body.”
This is where hypnobirthing techniques comes in. Hypnobirthing helps mothers change their beliefs about birth and themselves so they can give birth with less pain and more ease. Hypnobirthing is about moving the knowledge that you are built to give birth from something you know in your mind, to something you truly believe with your whole body.
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Can Hypnobirthing Techniques Really Change Labor?
As a doula and childbirth educator, I have seen hundreds of women give birth. Not only is each labor different, but each mother’s experience of her labor is different as well. Meaning, that a birth that one mom would call easy, another may find hard and traumatizing.
While mindset is not the ONLY factor that contributes to a positive birth, what you believe about birth will affect your birth experience.
How can hypnobirthing techniques simplify labor?
One reason is because it reduces the fear-tension-pain cycle. This cycle is the reality that fear changes our physiology, which we saw when Nichole described her tight chest, sense of something bad happening and discomfort.
This body tension can absolutely create more pain in labor and longer labors, which then reinforces the fear creating a negative cycle in birth.
Hypnobirthing is like a release valve to the pressures and fears about birth that most women have developed as they have heard stories about birth over and over throughout their lives.
If you are looking for hypnosis tracks, labor skills and more tools to prepare for birth, I would highly recommend you join our childbirth course. You will learn so much more than I can provide in a blog article – and hypnosis tracks that will walk you through rewriting your internal birth blueprint. But I hope you do enjoy what you learn here. It is a great introduction to hypnobirthing techniques.
If you are curious about where hypnobirthing came from and want more information about why these practices were made and how they work, check out the full comprehensive article Hypnobirthing Explained.
And if you want to see how these techniques are put into action, check out our collection of positive birth videos and home birth videos where several moms used hypnobirthing as part of their preparation.
Now let’s get to it. Shall we?
Why Do Hypnobirthing Techniques Help You?
As you prepare for birth, I am sure you have heard a wide array of stories. Some sound very frightening and scary, while others sound empowering and joyful. Birth can and does affect every woman differently. But, when you prepare for a positive birth, you are much more likely to have a positive birth.
Marie Mongan, the creator of the Hypnobirthing technique, taught that pain does not have to be a part of birth. She believes that pain is mainly caused by fear. When you prepare for birth in a way that removes fear, you reduce pain and complications.
Hypnobirthing techniques are built on three pillars that help you with that goal. These pillars are:
- You need to obtain a sense of deep relaxation through self-hypnosis and breathing techniques so that you can allow your body to do its job during birth.
- Positively reframe what is happening during birth in your mind so that you can accept the intensity of birth and surrender to it.
- Acquire education about the process of birth so that you can make decisions that protect you and your baby and allow birth to unfold without intervention whenever possible.
Hypnobirthing techniques are one of the most effective ways to be prepared for the challenges that are part of labor.
7 Hypnobirthing Techniques To Practice Daily
1. Replace Your Fears Of Giving Birth With Trust In your Body
Most women have never been exposed to positive birth stories and have layers of fear when it comes to birth. An essential part of preparing for birth is coming to know the miraculous abilities of the female body to create life and bring it into the world.
This means asking yourself questions about your own beliefs about what birth is really like and then seeking out real stories and real experiences that might expand your thinking. This may mean reading pregnancy books or watching videos of other women sharing their birth stories.
When you expand your knowledge, you can think rationally and clearly about birth and hold a positive expectation for the experience ahead of you.
2. Recognize And Release Body Shame
Many women have been taught to feel a sense of shame about their bodies. Especially when it comes to anything that has to do with sex, birth, or anything that involves the more feminine parts of the body. Spending time learning about birth and how your body is made to give birth is a crucial part of the hypnobirthing process. Practicing gratitude for your body and its power is a key hypnobirthing technique.
This can look like nurturing your body with gentle massages. Or it may look like using affirmations like “I trust my body” and “Iembrace the changes and growth of my body and spirit.” Spending purposeful time holding gratitude, love, and attention for your body is a key and often overlooked part of hypnobirthing.
3. Avoid Negativity
Often, hypnobirthing moms create a bubble of peace or positivity around them. Yes, this sounds a little woo, but science has clearly shown that stress affects a growing baby, even within your womb.
In the hypnobirthing world, this means saying no to things that are intrinsically stressful like watching the news, people or events that drain you, and even TV shows that needlessly stress you out or give you nightmares.
In a more practical term, this also means looking to understand what is causing the most stress in your life and taking simple steps to resolve the underlying problems of those unique stressors.
4. Practice Self Hypnosis Before Bed
One of the most important parts of hypnobirthing is the belief that the body achieves what the mind believes. In hypnobirthing, one important technique is to practice self-hypnosis or listen to positive birth affirmations and hypnosis tracks as you go to sleep. The point is to completely rewrite your subconscious beliefs about birth.
That way, when labor begins, you can welcome it with softness. Many moms end up fighting against labor because they are afraid of its intensity or of the complications they have spent months dreading. With self-hypnosis and positive affirmations, moms learn to accept, allow, and work with the forces of labor.
Even simple mindfulness training, which you can find in our childbirth course, can reduce the pain of childbirth by 40%.
5. Breath Slow And In Control While You Are Dilating
If you are preparing for a hypnobirth, you will want to practice this hypnobirthing breathing technique.
But essentially, you want to take in a deep breath, one that fills your diaphragm and belly. Then, you hold it in for just a moment. And lastly, you slowly and intentionally release it to either 6 or 8 counts. Your exhale should be about twice as long as your inhale.
This helps you activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Which is a long way to say it helps you relax and let go. When you practice this type of breathing before birth, not only do you get better at it, but you also train your body to complete cycles of stress more efficiently.
The more efficient you are at removing stress from your body the less pain you will experience during birth. Your contractions may feel less overwhelming – but you will still be aware of them and able to time them. So this is a great hypnobirthing technique to practice regularly.
6. Use J Breathing When You Are Pushing
J breathing is the hypnobirthing technique you should use when you feel the urge to push your baby out. Your body will naturally start bearing down during contractions. You want to allow your body to push in the way that feels the most natural to your body.
The J breath is a way to help you focus, stay calm, and stay in control as you push. When you are breathing this way, you are using your breath to visualize pushing your baby down and then up – like in the shape of a J. Think down, and then in your arms.
To do a J-breath you simply start by taking a deep breath. Instead of immediately letting it out, you almost lock your breath in your chest, while you give a gentle push out. You are visualizing pushing the breath down and pushing your baby out. Then you release and go again.
You should never feel like you are holding your breath or straining your face or upper body while pushing.
7. Create A Calm And Relaxing Environment
One hypnobirthing technique that is often overlooked is setting the stage for birth. Just like a romantic night helps you feel more in the mood for intimacy with your partner, carefully preparing the environment you give birth in can help you stay focused on the process at hand. This means different things to different moms.
Most hypnobirthing moms like to prepare visuals with their favorite affirmations, turn the lights down in the room, make sure the temperature is comfortable, that the clothes they are wearing are comfortable (goodbye hospital gown and hello to something that makes you feel comfy and relaxed, like a custom labor gown or yoga pants and a sports bra) and that there is music playing that helps them stay calm and relaxed.
Some moms also choose scents like lavender, clary sage, or bergamot to diffuse into their room as well.
What would make a peaceful envirmonment for you?
Who Should Practice Hypnobirthing?
If you are like Nicole, and you have goals of having a peaceful and calm birth, but the idea of giving birth makes you feel nervous, tight or overwhelmed you should absolutely use hypnobirthing techniques as you prepare for labor.
Reprogramming your thoughts and automatic natural reactions takes a bit more work that learning something at the level of reading a book. But, I promise you, it will be worth it.
Hypnobirthing Techniques Conclusion
In the hypnobirthing philosophy, most births do not have to be medical events. As such, you can create an experience that feels sweet, tender, and peaceful. These techniques will help you do the things that will create a positive and joyful experience.
But, I want to give a simple word of warning, the hypnobirthing technique can be very effective at helping you have a positive birth. But, it is not a guarantee of an outcome or specific unfolding of your birth. Keep an open mind and a sense of exploration and discovery when it comes to birth. Because every birth is its own story.
May your birth be beautiful and joyful,
Thank you for being here,
Suzzie Vehrs
