Happy Holidays!

For all my clients, friends and family-

Along with wishes for your every happiness this Holiday Season and prosperity in the New Year - comes a prayer that this finds you and yours safe, warm, healthy, happy, and loved!

I'm writing this while watching the snow that continues to fall and pile up around us. I don't remember a snowy Christmas time like this since 1996. That was the year my grandson was born. He was a 6 weeks old when the snow hit, and 4 generations got snowed in together for several days. We spent the time playing, snuggling, and marveling at our little man. It is one of my favorite memories even with the power outage and water heater that went bad!

So my hope for you is that in this year of snow that you are reveling in what is truly important in your life and making some great memories. Staying home, playing with your kids, making some cookies and watching the snow pile up isn't such a bad way to spend some December days. Normal weather and life will be back with us soon enough. One of things I love about living in the NW is that the snow is an occasional event - not the norm!

For many years now during the time between Christmas and New Year's I reflect on the ending year and get clear on my intentions and goals for the new year. This has served me well, in good times and in bad. What are your goals and intentions for 2009? Our country (and world) is in a time of challenges and changes, that will push all of us to make some new choices. If you need some help getting clear, and moving into 2009 with some new attitude and tools under your belt - I'm here. I continue to marvel at how blessed I am in my life and work. It is a pleasure working with all my clients (general adn pregnant), and feel priveleged to attend births as a doula. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your process through your life and your births, as well as sharing your birth stories and photos with me. It is amazing seeing how your babies are growing!

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your process through your life and your births! I am also deeply grateful for all the referrals I receive. Sending your family, friends, and clients to me is one of the highest compliments I can receive - Thank You!

May you have cozy, bright, and fun holidays and a joyful new year!

Many Blessings,
Nancy

NY Times Article on Hypnosis

The NY Times this week published a great article on the the power of hypnosis and explaining how the power lies in the client! It is exciting to see the research and positive attention hypnosis is getting, moving out of the shadows of woo woo and swinging watches. While not specifically a pregnancy related article it provides some great information around some of the common mis-conceptions people hold about hypnosis and how it works.

The article references a 2001 research results article by Dr. Brian Alman. This research was done at the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, California. It adds and contributes to the growing positive outlook of what hypnosis can offer to creating greater health and wellness.

All of this mirrors what I have found over the past 15 years in my practice with clients. The power to change really does lie within the client - not me. I serve as a facilitator and guide to assist clients in tapping into their mind-body power and creating the changes they desire.

More links to articles and research results can be found at my website at http://hypnosisforbirth.com/hypnosisforbirth/Links.htm. Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

Orgasmic Birth Part 2

In my last post I started a thread about orgasmic birth, what it means to us as birthing women, our partners and as birth professionals.

In my work teaching Hypnosis for Birth and as a birth doula, I've been bringing this discussion into sessions with my clients. We talk about how to bring the love and closeness they have as couples into their closeness through birth. It is interesting the responses I get. Some are curious, some surprised and some worried that this means they are suppose to "perform" at a whole other level for birth. What do people think of when they hear "orgasmic birth"? What do you think of?

The movie Orgasmic Birth is a beautiful gentle affirming movie. My intention and desire of bringing it to more couples is to bring the love and intimacy that made the baby into their baby's entrance into the world. I believe it will bring a whole new level of comfort and relaxation for women beyond birthing techniques, and assist their partners to have a powerful role and connection with the birth of their child. It is early yet to know how much it will help, but I will continue adding this into my birth preparation work.

I attended a beautiful birth yesterday. Tho we had discussed and they had viewed Orgasmic Birth, I don't know yet how much the mom felt it contributed to her birth experience.

As she was held in her husband's arms and sitting in the birthing tub, she breathed, sighed and rocked her hips as her baby slid into the world. She never did any breath holding pushing! It was almost as if she danced her baby into the world. The couple's love and connection was clear, and her flowing with the energy of birth was amazing to see.

Of course for a wide variety of factors not everyone can experience a birth like this. There is always the risk of a woman reading this thinking if she didn't birth this way, she was somehow deficient. The sad truth is that many women who have amazing - wonderful births don't talk about them for exactly these reasons. So pregnant women get bombarded with horror stories in everywhere, including the checkout lines at the grocery by perfect strangers!

How incredible would it be for more women to hear about births like this and then find their way to the best birth possible for them - however that looks? The more we take in and hear about wonderful births the more the possibility that it can be that way is available to everyone.

I know I will remember this birth for many years to come, and will hold in my heart and in my work that more women can experience the same type of birth, in ways that are empowering and beautiful to them.

Orgasmic Birth

I was fortunate to attend a screening of a new movie now in very limited release titled Orgasmic Birth. This documentary provides a fresh look at how birth can be.

The movie is inspiring me to once again look at how I am working with and preparing couples for birth, as a childbirth educator and as a birth doula. How can I help couples plug into the potential of a sensual birth experience? This question is interesting to consider and to reflect on how we look at and expect birth to be, both as professionals and as birthing women and their partners.

I'll post more on what changes this is bringing to my work as it comes into being. In the meantime check out the movie for yourself at www.orgasmicbirth.com

Hypnosis for Birth FAQ's

Welcome to the first blog for Hypnosis for Birth!

To start off I thought I'd answer some of the most common questions I hear about hypnosis in childbirth. So here goes....

What are the biggest myths/misconceptions about Hypnosis for Birth?

Probably the biggest is that with hypnosis their mind is going to be put to sleep while the hypnotherapist does whatever they want. For birth specifically, women are usually concerned they are going to spend their labor in La La Land and not be present in the room or thru the process. Neither of these could be further from the truth!

All hypnosis is self hypnosis, and is completely controlled by the individual. Hypnosis is a natural state we all go into and out of regularly. [An example would be pulling into your driveway and not really remembering the last 10 minutes of driving, or zoning out during a boring meeting or class.] By practicing hypnosis, people can develop the mental muscle to focus their minds and hold the focus where they wish. The individual is always in control.

As with any tool, women can choose how they use hypnosis during the birth process. The method I teach is for the mother to go quickly into her deep focused state at the beginning of a contraction and come back to the room at the end. If needed, she can also stay in her focused state and catch a cat nap between contractions. Additionally the hypnosis does work with an eyes closed inward focus, or an eyes open external focal point.

What about claims that hypnosis in birth can make it pain free?

Wouldn’t it be lovely if this were true for everyone? Unfortunately it isn’t. Hypnosis is a proven method for reducing pain and increasing relaxation during birth. However, the actual amount of pain reduction is very individual. Some women report hypnosis allowed them to labor with little discomfort, while others say it allowed them to cope with the discomfort from labor more effectively.

Hypnosis is very effective at assisting a woman to maximize her individual ability to achieve her greatest level of comfort throughout birth, and often shortens labor times. More importantly, it assists women in staying calm and working smoothly with whatever their birth experience brings. Ultimately I believe that is one of our greatest powers – to manage our response to life events. These learned skills are really life tools and are helpful long after the birth is past, for the woman and her partner.

How does Hypnosis for Birth work with other childbirth preparation techniques?

Hypnosis for Birth works well with all childbirth preparation techniques, largely due to its design. My intent with clients is for them to learn how to very quickly go into a deeply relaxed, focused, and aware place to work with their contractions, while diminishing their perception of sensations and discomfort. These skills amplify and build on the information and techniques taught by other childbirth classes, and will work in a variety of birthing positions and situations. I’ve had women comment after their birth took an unexpected turn [C-section, transfer to hospital, etc.] that the hypnosis skills were a huge help in staying calm and flowing with the change.

Are there particular types of clients for whom hypnosis is most helpful?

Most frequently, the couples I see are interested in avoiding or minimizing her usage of pain medication in birth. They are either planning on not using any drugs, or want to avoid systemic drugs while they consider/plan on using an epidural as needed.

I often receive referrals from other birth professionals for women with anxiety around birth, panic attacks, a history of abuse, or previous birth related traumas. I also see couples with anxious fathers or couples who have difficulty communicating with each other. Any of these clients and situations may benefit significantly from the hypnosis process and tools; particularly because I only work in private sessions with women and their partners. Working privately allows me to more specifically meet the needs of each couple and tailor the skills and tools I have learned over the years to their particular situation.

Hypnosis is also very helpful for women, and their partners, who are coming into birth without any added challenges – providing tools for both partners to navigate birth more calmly and smoothly.

I'll answer more next time. If your question wasn't answered in this blog, feel free to email it to me - I'll include as many as I can!