More women in BC looking into hypnobirthing: Midwives Association

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A new practice that is becoming popular with moms-to-be in Vancouver looks to keep pregnant women as relaxed as possible during their delivery.

The Midwives Association of British Columbia says they are seeing a rise in women studying hypnobirthing. It is a practice meant to keep you calm and your body relaxed so the delivery will be as easy as possible.

Laura Thomson heard about the trend on social media and saw a hypnotherapist for 10 hours before having her baby girl three weeks ago.

“In the delivery, there was a point where I tensed up and I got scared. I was able to recognize this is just fear. [I thought] ‘I know how to do this; my body knows how to do this.’ I went back to my relaxation state I practiced,” she explains.

Thomson says you are not hypnotized; instead, you are trained to go into your sub-conscious memory and remember how to get into a state of total relaxation.

“Normally, when you are in an anxious state, your body goes into ‘fight or flight’ and you tense up. And that’s obviously not going to help the birthing process because you have to be really relaxed. So you are reminding yourself that your body knows how to birth. It was designed to birth.”

Thomson says her midwife recommended a hypnotherapist; she had private lessons with her husband to learn proper breathing techniques.

She gave birth to her first baby, Sloane, without using an epidural and says the delivery went very well.