The Positive Birth Co. Hypnobirthing Course: A Review
I love to learn and any opportunity I have to dive into pretty much any topic related to the human experience is gold for me. Turns out, birth is no different! I purchased The Positive Birth Co. Hypnobirthing Course because I wanted to learn more about birthing bodies and the experience as a whole for myself and for my prenatal yoga students. I found the course invaluable, and I’m really excited to share a review, explain a little bit about what hypnobirthing is and how it can help you prepare for labour and birth.
*This is NOT a sponsored review.
What is Hypnobirthing?
According to the NCT, "Hypnobirthing teaches relaxation, visualisation and self-hypnosis skills." This preparation tries to give pregnant women a positive view of birth and the belief that childbirth does not have to be painful. The aim is a shorter, more comfortable, easier labour, with less need for intervention or pain relief.
It sounds a bit woo-woo, and so many women are put off by the idea of being “hypnotised” during birth but, put your mala beads down; hypnobirthing techniques are based on a heavily researched, scientific approach to managing pain and stress that is centred around an understanding of natural, evolutionary processes. Don’t let the “self-hypnosis” part throw you!
What to expect from The Positive Birth Co. Hypnobirthing course
This online course is 6hrs long with additional material, so it really is absolutely packed with good stuff! Here are some of my key takeaways…
The Positive Birth Co. Hypnobirthing Course explains how controlling our environment has a direct and immediate affect on our brain and our hormone production, which in turn has a direct and immediate affect on our physical, labouring and birthing body and can affect the way that our labour progresses as well as birth outcomes and the need for medical intervention.
The course gives you clear, step-by-step instructions on how to create an environment that stacks the odds in your favour for a positive and empowering natural birth. It also teaches you how to breath through all the stages of labour so that, throughout the process you can work with your body instead of against it.
You will learn about some of the possible speed bumps you could hit along the way, interventions that you could be faced with and how to make well-informed decisions that are best for you and your baby.
The course also gives excellent and very specific guidance to birth partners, inviting them to play a key role in the birth. It gives birth partners tools they need to help mums stay calm and to feel in control. They make an invaluable contribution to helping set mum up for the best, most positive outcome for her birth experience.
Sounds good, right? It is!
Hypnobirthing and Yoga
As you might expect, I link everything I learn right back to yoga and I was most curious about the link between prenatal yoga and hypnobirthing. I knew there was a strong link, but I really wanted to understand the connection more clearly. Here’s what I discovered…
The yoga poses and movements we practice in prenatal yoga help us care for our bodies during pregnancy, yes. They also build strength and openness in key areas of the body such as the hips and core, which will encourage your baby into the optimal position for a natural birth, and prepare you physically for a natural birth.
Prenatal yoga teaches you how to use your breath to manage stress and stay present and mindful during labour; practises which are invaluable to helping you keep calm and centred when baby is en route.
The meditation and mindfulness techniques you learn in prenatal yoga will offer you grounding and resilience during labour and birth.
FINAL THOUGHTS
To summarise, I came out the other side of this course feeling like hypnobirthing is essentially an expansion of yoga for birth! I am a big big fan and absolutely suggest signing up to a hypnobirthing course anytime from 30 weeks onward - when birth really starts to move to the forefront of your mind. Especially if you are feeling anxious or even a little nervous don’t give it a moment’s more consideration - do it. I’m not sure about the content of some other courses that are available but, as you may be able to discern from this review, I can definitely recommended The Positive Birth Co. Hypnobirthing Digital Pack.
PRACTICE PRENATAL YOGA WITH ME
Prenatal yoga is an excellent complimentary practice to hypnobirthing and has scientifically proven benefits for both mum and baby all throughout pregnancy, birth and the fourth trimester.
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