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November/December 2011 Alternative Health
HypnoBirthing: Peaceful and Natural Childbirth

by AnnaLynn Zinn de Vine

HypnoBirthing is busting the myth that pain is a natural part of childbirth.

On average, women who use hypnotic childbirth techniques experience an active labor and delivery time of five hours. Plus, most birthing moms do not request pain medication or epidurals when practicing HypnoBirthing.

How is this possible?

HypnoBirthing is as much a philosophy as it is a technique, based on the belief that all babies should come into the world in an atmosphere of gentility, calm and joy, and that severe discomfort does not need to be a natural accompaniment to birthing. Founded by Marie F. Mongan in 1991, HypnoBirthing uses the medically accepted modality of hypnosis for the control and elimination of pain.

 

Hypnosis is a natural state we all enter and leave on a regular basis. When you are daydreaming, you are in the hypnogogic state. Have you ever driven home with something on your mind, ended up in your driveway and thought, I don’t remember getting here? This is an excellent illustration of how the subconscious and the conscious mind work together for the benefit of our well-being.

HypnoBirthing employs this interplay between the subconscious and conscious mind. It prepares a mother for a rewarding, relaxing and stress-free birth as she learns to enter a state of deep hypnosis quickly and effectively for the duration of the surge (or contraction).

When a mother is properly prepared for birthing physically, mentally and spiritually, she can experience a joyful birth, an easy birth, even a pain-free birth. The HypnoBirthing program is all encompassing, offering practice in deep relaxation, self-hypnosis as well as education. A woman learns the art of birthing, allowing her to summon her natural birthing instincts and to birth her baby in safety and with ease.

Monica Merrell, who gave birth to her daughter Isabella using HypnoBirthing, found that these techniques made all the difference during her water birth.

“I had no pain, only moderate pressure. It was such an amazing experience to be in such control of my body and be in such a relaxed state,” says Merrell, who is a chiropractor in Upland, Calif. “I was truly one with Isabella as we worked together to ‘breathe’ her out.”

HypnoBirthing has many advantages, including eliminating the fear-tension-pain cycle before, during and after birthing. This reduces and often eliminates the need for chemical anesthesia, episiotomy and other interventions. The hypnotic experience lessens fatigue during labor, leaving the mother fresh, awake and energized as she brings her baby into the world.

When the mother is relaxed, it shortens the thinning and opening phase of labor by several hours and allows the birthing mother to utilize the natural pulsations of her body to breathe her baby down to the crowning stage, rather than pushing for long exhausting periods of time. This in turn reduces the risk of pelvic floor damage.

This gentle process also brings the mother, baby and birthing companion together in a wonderful prenatal, perinatal and postnatal bonding experience. Babies are better adjusted and happier, resulting in better eating and sleeping routines. And for new moms, it almost entirely eliminates postnatal discomfort and “baby blues.”

You have to see hypnotic childbirth to believe it. Doctors, nurses and extended family members watching a hypnotic labor and delivery for the first time simply stand and stare. They shake their heads in wonder.

Through HypnoBirthing, the birthing process is returned to the safe, beautiful, peaceful experience that nature intended.

AnnaLynn Zinn de Vine, Ph.D., C.H.T. is a certified clinical hypnotherapist and certified HypnoBirthing® practitioner specialist. Visit www.centerforthesacredfeminine.org.

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