Hypnobirthing has become a fad among celebrities. Kate Middleton, Jessica Alba, Megan Markle, Angelina Jolie, Giselle Bundchen, among others, are using hypnobirthing for their births and, more recently, Cristina Pedroche has also announced using this device for the purpose of training the brain during labour. However, What exactly is hypnobirthing? Paula Camarós, one of the first professionals to start using hypnobirthing in Spain and the author of the book “The power to create life” He tells us in this interview.
Hypnobirthing: what is it
“Hypnobirthing is a process in which women frame the birth process as a natural, physiological, and serene event. Thanks to techniques that promote management of physical activation, muscle relaxation, management of fear, tension and pain, it promotes childbirth in confidence and calm, open to living it in a way that the baby and mother’s body needs. Hypnobirthing supports pain reduction, respecting one’s own decisions and eliminating uncertainty in the process.” explained Paula Camarós.
–You then say that childbirth has a lot to do with psychology…
Childbirth is an important moment in a woman’s life. The way a woman deals with it is mediated by her own or others’ previous experiences, by beliefs about this process, expectations, other birth narratives. Facing it calmly is not only a woman’s job, but also has to do with managing her own emotions, as well as the environment in which she will give birth.
If the woman understands how and why she behaved the way she did on the day of delivery, not only from a physical but also a psychological perspective, she enhances her well-being and controls the process. Not only that, but to understand that in order to go through labor from well-being, you not only have your bodily tools, but you also have the emotional and behavioral management tools to get closer to what you want to achieve, the chances of living a pleasant experience, increase.
–Is fear the enemy in childbirth?
–No, no emotion is the enemy, there is always a reason? Fear has the function of reminding a woman that the mode of delivery is not compatible with her and her baby’s well-being. When fear is not seen as an enemy, but understood that its origin is something I have been told about childbirth or in scary stories about it, or that they don’t listen to me or they are in such a hurry. that the birth was or was exactly what someone else wanted, you understand and you free yourself from the thought that you have to get rid of that emotion, move into another context that is more adapted to you, ally with that fear.
In childbirth you are influenced by fear, without understanding it, without working on it, it is the sympathetic nervous system, which is the fight and flight system, that takes control. This implies that the physiological systems that support natural childbirth are blocked or working less efficiently, straining muscles, slowing dilation, and making uterine contractions less productive. In this way, the woman is able to experience more intense pain and therefore interfere with labor to be calmer, faster and more pleasurable.
– Can hypnobirthing be considered a type of meditation?
–No, the main elements we promote from hypnobirthing are a shift in the narrative of what to expect associated with childbirth, as well as the realization that a woman already has everything she needs to receive her baby. To that end, we help ourselves with comprehensive training that encourages mothers to know their emotions, how to accept and manage them, to know what is happening and why in their bodies on the day of delivery, as well as with their birth partners and health workers. Yes, hypnosis is also used to produce a state of deep relaxation and motivate activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, but no, it is not meditation or deep breathing.
–Who should we contact for a hypnobirthing practice?
–At our centre, hypnobirthing is taught by our UK-trained perinatal psychologists, who work closely with our midwives, so that the woman can be treated from an integration perspective, both psychological and physiological.
If the professional providing the training sells herself as “knows everything a woman needs” that’s not her place, if she knows how to listen or even refer to other treatments that are more tailored to the woman and her needs, then she is.
–How is hypnobirthing practiced and how long before labor should it be practiced?
–After training, hypnobirthing can be done every day, alone and with a partner. In addition to applying the instructed language and emotion management techniques. There is no “special” practice time required because hypnobirthing makes a difference even if you choose to practice a few days before an unexpected due date.
–What do women who practice hypnobirthing say after their experience of giving birth?
–Women who practice hypnobirthing say how beyond the type of labor their baby needs to be born (physiological, interventional, caesarean section), their experience is serene and overwhelming. And hypnobirthing helps a woman to organize, accept and enjoy all that her body has prepared for her, to allow herself to be helped by people who need it, on the day of delivery, to be happy to welcome her baby and not be afraid of it. moment. .
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