Hypnobirthing techniques and Coronavirus

Well. What can we say. These are strange and scary times for everyone as we are faced with a health pandemic unlike anything most of us have witnessed in our lifetimes. Add to that the fact that pregnant women are placed in the vulnerable category and anxiety levels are high.

Firstly it’s important to say that the reason pregnant women are placed in the vulnerable category is not because the evidence suggests that they are more likely to get the disease, but simply because we don’t yet know and so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

At a time like this it’s really important to focus on the things we can do, rather than fret about those things that we don’t know or that we can’t control. We need to just take things day by day. And there are things we can do to lower our stress levels.

Please never underestimate the power of the breath. Slowing the breath and breathing fully into the abdomen really does have a huge impact on our systems.

When we feel stressed our breath becomes more shallow, when we breath this way a message is sent to the brain to inform it of a perceived danger or threat. The sympathetic nervous system wakes up and jumps in to protect you by triggering the fight/flight/freeze mechanism (the SNS cannot differentiate between a real or an imagined threat). Once that f/f/f mechanism has been triggered, our muscles constrict, our oxygenated blood is concentrated to our vital organs and limbs, our heart rate and blood pressure become raised. This in turn makes us feel more hyper vigilant and anxious and so the circle continues as more adrenalin is released.

We can override this system though. One of the simplest ways to do this is with the breath. If we choose to use long, deep, diaphragmatic breaths it will send the message back to the sympathetic nervous system that the danger has passed, and so it will in turn halt the f/f/f mechanism and everything will calm once more.

You can see a tutorial I made on how to use the breathing techniques here. It walks you through how to use two specific techniques which will lower the stress receptors and bring us back to a state of calm.

Calm Births teachers across the UK are also here for you, we can all chat online and even teach the hypnobirthing course completely online. So if you’re pregnant and looking for some techniques to help you feel calm and in control, you can take the full Calm Births hypnobirthing course online with a teacher. Simply find a teacher, get in touch with them and go from there. Alternatively the full course is available online - this is useful if you are nearing your due time and don’t have much time left to take the online classes. We’re all here to help.

We’ll get through this one day at a time, just remember to breathe x

How do I choose a hypnobirthing teacher?

So you’re pregnant and have done your research, you’ve discovered that hypnobirthing is definitely something you’d like to explore. You probably have a little Google search for ‘hypnobirthing near me’, you have a little look on Facebook or your friend tells you about her amazing local hypnobirthing teacher. Great. But then you see that there are four different teachers in your town - how do you choose?!

It can be really difficult so we thought we’d give you a few pointers to look out for in trying to make that choice.

Midwife led Hypnobirthing Classes

One of the most important things in our mind is this - are the hypnobirthing classes run by a Midwife? No? That’s fine - they don’t have to be, but is the course they are teaching written by a Midwife and/or approved by the Royal College of Midwives?

See the thing is this - around 50% of the Calm Births teachers are not Midwives, but they are amazing and excellent teachers (who are usually Mums who have hypnobirthed themselves) and they teach our course which is not only written by a Midwife, but also fully accredited by the Royal College of Midwives. So we know that we are giving all our expectant parents around the UK good, sound, clinically correct information. You are safe in their hands.

Is the teacher actually teaching?

Something I’ve noticed recently is that although there are several listings on Google for hypnobirthing teachers in different towns, once you investigate, those teachers are no longer practising. I’ve had clients make a few different phone calls before they’ve come to me and not had any response from those others (and when I’ve investigated, it’s been because they’re now closed down). So check carefully!

What is she saying on social media?

So great, I’ve found a few hypnobirthing teachers near me, they’re all in business and they’re all Midwives. NOW how do I choose? We suggest taking a little snoop at their social media pages, are they on Facebook? Instagram? Are there any videos of them talking? Do you feel aligned to their message? Which leads us to:

Do you feel aligned to her?

Although all Calm Births teachers are teaching the same content, we are all very different people from very different backgrounds, and so therefore you will be more drawn to some than others. And that’s great - sometimes it’s as simple as that! Do you like what she’s saying and how she’s saying it? Can you trust your birth preparation journey in her hands?

When are her classes?

And finally, down to simple logistics - when are their classes, do the dates fall in with your weeks of pregnancy? (Ideally somewhere between 20 & 34 weeks) And does the day / time of the week work for you? Or does she offer private classes that you can make the days work?

So I really hope that helps a little - ultimately any hypnobirth preparation classes are going to be helpful, but even better if you get the right teacher for you!

To check out where your local Calm Births teacher is have a look here.