No More Pain: Hypnosis for Childbirth

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For some women, childbirth is a very fearful event, but it needn't be. As a natural childbirth and hypnosis instructor, I've seen how hypnosis can help moms-to-be let go of their fear and minimize pain. In my experience, when women employ these techniques during labor and delivery, childbirth merely becomes a challenge.

In the recent past, hypnosis conjured up images of stage hypnotists mesmerizing people into embarrassing situations. But now hypnosis is commonly used for therapeutic purposes in many areas of medicine, dentistry, and personal therapy sessions.

The Facts

• All hypnosis is self-hypnosis; the hypnotherapist is only the guide. A person chooses to enter into a hypnotic state, stay in, and come out at will.
• Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the population can be hypnotized. Willingness, belief, and motivation have great influence over "hypnotizability."
• During hypnosis you are neither asleep nor unconscious and will always come out when you wish.
• Stronger-minded and stronger-willed people are easier to hypnotize—not the other way around, as is usually assumed.
• You cannot be made to divulge information or do anything against your will while in hypnosis.
• Hypnosis is not satanic or religion-oriented; it is just a way to redirect your thoughts.

How Hypnosis Helps Childbirth

Hypnosis is used in medical and dental practices with great success by patients with life-threatening allergies to anesthetics, allowing them to undergo surgeries with no drugs or pain. As hypnotherapists, we can help train the mind to experience discomfort as only pressure, and we can achieve the same result with childbirth hypnosis. In fact, you can learn deep physical relaxation and practice it daily in preparation for your birth using guided visualizations followed by positive hypnotic suggestions. If your critical conscious mind can be bypassed with hypnosis, your inner mind can literally be reprogrammed to believe that birth will be comfortable, easy, and joyous.