I recently read that women who are terrified of labor and its pains can conquer those fears using self-hypnosis to achieve maximum relations, comfort and above all, relief during child birth!
Super mum: Model Gisele claimed giving birth in her bathtub at home in Boston with no pain relief didn't hurt after having prepared with yoga and meditation.
There was a recent 18-month NHS trial study with over 800 “first-time” mommies who learned the technique of “hypnobirthing” which is being led by Professor Soo Downe, a specialist in midwifery at Central Lancashire University, at hospitals in Blackburn and Burnley. Women will be taught deep relaxation techniques which are said to induce an almost trance-like state, making women calmer and more able to block out pain. Hypnobirthing is based on the work of Dr Grantly Dick-Read, an English physician whose principles provided the foundations of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).
What is “hypnobirthing”? I asked the same thing! It is a new method of natural childbirth that teaches women to use their ‘natural instincts’ to control pain and bring an easier birthing period. I am semi-unsold on this technique because it sounds to me like natural labor where you just try to convince yourself it doesn’t hurt as much! Ha!
The more I read I found that nearly 60% of women in labor are injected with epidurals into their spine or had administered shots of diamorphine or even laughing gas to control contraction pains. Drugs can be very expensive and hazardous to your baby. What would you choose and would you try to learn this new “hypnobirthing” techqnue? It is believed that epidurals tend to increase the duration of childbirth, triggering the need for a woman to undergo a caesarean.
How is Hypnobirthing Effective?
According to experts, at the onset of contractions, fear kicks in as a reflex, causing the uterus to cramp, resulting in pain. If women could only relax, they would have less pain, more effective contractions and shorter labor. 
The hypnobirthing course which costs around £800 (over $1,200) on a one-to-one basis trains women to find complete relaxation using the power of the mind, but still be in control. Words such as ‘pain’ and ‘contraction’ which evoke fear are replicated with terms such as ‘pressure’ and ‘tightening’ in the training manuals.
According to the Daily Mail in the UK, ‘A lot of women afterwards say that “pain” is not the word to describe their sensations during labour, calling it “pressure” and “a force of nature”. And yes, there are women who do end up with a Caesarean, but they in turn say hypnobirthing techniques kept them calm throughout, making the experience positive and enjoyable.’
Overall, I guess this is about the “power of the mind” or perhaps it goes back to the age old saying of “Mind Over Matter.”
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