Fear of childbirth remains one of the main reasons for anxiety in the final months of pregnancy. According to many authors, it originates from the collective perception of birth, which connects birth with extreme pain, possible complications and something we don’t have any control over. Listening to horror birth stories and watching birth on television and other media, we are usually exposed to such ideas of birth from childhood. Research shows that fear causes tension in the body, and tension causes more painful and complicated births. Therefore, preparation for childbirth with hypnosis targets women’s ability to remain as calm and relaxed as possible during both their pregnancy and the delivery.
A positive approach to childbirth, which enhances feelings of trust and self-confidence and builds pleasant emotions and expectations towards birth, essentially contributes to such an experience. Relaxing techniques, which pregnant women practice during their pregnancy, lower the stress response, while visualisation techniques practiced during a state of hypnosis enforces feelings of confidence in women’s own abilities to give a powerful and safe birth. Hypnosis ensures that all these positive feelings and expectations anchor deeply into women’s subconscious minds, where they affect them automatically and constantly, 24/7. Childbirths performed by women who trust their own body’s intelligence to give a safe birth are extremely powerful and make women feel strong and proud of their performance.
Reality is often built on our own expectations. Therefore, we need to stop listening to horrible birth stories and start changing our view on birth. By doing that, we will finally regain our inner power and pass this new message about birth to all future generations.
