Over the past year, Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis instructors have held our wonderful group childbirth classes online.
Here’s what you can expect while taking an online Hypnobabies Asheville class.
Hypnobabies is a six week complete childbirth education course, covering many topics: Nutrition, Prenatal Exercise, Staying Healthy and Low Risk, Birth Plans, Comfort in Pregnancy, Birthing Choices as a consumer, New Baby Care, New Mom Care, Initiating Breastfeeding and much more. I have experienced many different childbirth classes as an expectant mom, and I truly believe this is one of the most comprehensive classes on the market right now.
Your Hypnobabies Course Fee of $300 Includes:
21 hours total of instruction
16 powerful, deep hypnosis audio tracks (digital downloads)
2 45-minute-long affirmations tracks (digital downloads)
1 hypnosis track for Birth Partners (digital download)
5 somnambulistic hypnosis scripts in booklet form
Birth Partner’s Guide booklet
284-page Workbook and many handouts
Hypnobabies is focused on many ways to help you have an easier, faster, more comfortable birth. You’ll learn about the psychology behind mindfulness, hypnosis, and surrounding yourself with positive messages during pregnancy.
The biggest difference in our class and other classes is this: instead of doing patterned breathing or simple relaxation exercises, our Hypno-moms and their Birth Partners learn self-hypnosis sessions in class so that our Hypno-moms can work towards enjoying their birth.
If you’re not familiar with hypnosis, I would describe it as highly focused, deep relaxation, with a goal in mind. Hypnosis is best known as a method for retraining the mind quickly to begin new behaviors, ways of thinking, or experiencing sensations differently.
An example that many people use hypnosis for is quitting smoking. During hypnosis, people may train their mind to instantly experience disgust at the smell, taste, or feeling of a cigarette. They may learn new behaviors like automatically going for a walk and taking deep breaths instead of when they would normally reach for a cigarette.
In our case, we use hypnosis to learn how to feel comfortable during birth. Students re-train their mind that contractions in labor will be perceived by their body as pressure or a squeezing-type sensations. With Hypnobabies, normal birthing sensations can easily be transformed into pleasurable ones.
It’s not like the stage hypnosis that you might be more familiar with. There’s no pocket watch, no one clucking around like a chicken. You’re the one in control the whole time.
Hypnobabies uses the same medical hypnosis techniques that people employ when preparing for surgery without any drugs, which is called hypno-anesthesia. Deep somnambulistic hypnosis is the main key to comfort. This type of hypnosis allows our Hypnobabies students to enjoy “eyes-open childbirth hypnosis”, easily remaining deeply in hypnosis while walking and changing positions; being as mobile as they would like to be during childbirth. Our students are also fully in tune with their babies during the birthing process, and as aware of everything around them as they’d like to be, easily able to communicate with their support team, and completely in charge of their own birth experience.
Just like you would prepare for a big athletic event or other performance, we know that repetition and practice is important. This allows the hypnosis to become easy and automatic for anytime you actually want to use it.
Please note that hypnosis is generally not recommended for people with a history of mental health disorders such as psychosis, certain mood disorders, or seizures. If you or your birth partner, since they will be in hypnosis too, have a history of any of these medical or mental health issues, you should not undergo hypnosis without first talking to your mental health care professional or physician. If you want to attend a Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis Course, you must fully understand this important information and acquire your medical caregiver’s approval, in writing, on his/her professional letterhead.
Class meets in our live online classroom 3.5 hours every week for six weeks. The platform I use is desktop and mobile friendly. My classes are scheduled Sundays from 1:30 pm to 5 pm. We take a 10 minute break around the half-way point. Please allow for some flexibility should class go past our scheduled ending time.
You can expect a class size up to six pregnant students + their birth partners. Doulas of participating students are also welcome to attend as a birth partner. I encourage your birth partner(s) to attend class each week. Taking this class together gives you both an opportunity to do something very positive together towards having a wonderful birthing. For single parents, there are simple modifications I can make to support you throughout the program.
Class always begins with a round table, giving everyone a chance to share and get to know one another. We start with a short opening relaxation exercise. The bulk of class is spent on the main childbirth topic of the day. There is some reading that is assigned each week to complete outside of class. Towards the end of class, we watch and discuss a brief related video of real Hypnobabies births. This is very helpful to see how others have applied the skills and knowledge in action. The last 30 minutes of class is our hypnosis practice.
We’ll do a different hypnosis session in each of the first four classes. The fifth class is more of a practice and review session of what you have learned. The last class is an in depth birth rehearsal where you and your partner get extra hands-on practice for all of your hypnosis skills and other comfort measures. Students find this very helpful for putting it all together.
Outside of class, couples take home a modified script to work with, where you learn a new part of the program each week. Doing the scripts together is fun and relaxing. You, as the Hypno-mom find a cozy position and relax while your partner reads positive messages about childbirth to you with soft music on in the background. Easy! You’ll do one script 3x a week together, which takes about 30-45 minutes. In the event a partner is not able to read the scripts 3x a week, a recorded version is available upon request.
Mom will also get to listen to a special audio track on the alternate days each week by yourself, and this allows you to have some time to yourself at least every other day to relax and feel great. You can even drift off to sleep while listening to the track!
Every day you’ll listen to positive affirmations about pregnancy. Because this does not contain hypnosis, many enjoy listening while driving, doing things around the house, and exercising.
Lastly, everyday you‘ll do a quick hypnosis practice of the main skill being learned that week.
After the course is over, you’ll continue on a Hypnobabies maintenance routine of one script or one audio track per day until your baby is born, so that the messages will stay firm in your mind, and then your Hypnobabies techniques will be right there for you when you give birth. You’ll need about 45 - 60 minutes a day for your maintenance practice, again some of which can be done as you drift off to sleep.
What about taking another birth class in addition to Hypnobabies? Let me share some advice as a self-proclaimed research nut. I enjoy gathering information from multiple sources before coming to my own conclusion, no matter if it is about scientific topic or the best restaurants to try on vacation. I’m someone who took five (yes, five) childbirth classes for my first birth, with Hypnobabies being the last one. There are many wonderful childbirth classes and I advise you to pick just one and stick with it, whether that is Hypnobabies or something else. There is no need for our students to take any other childbirth classes because it really is that comprehensive. Taking Hypnobabies is an investment of your time and money, and taking another class may interfere with the belief system that our students will have an easy and comfortable hypnotic birth.
Please contact me with any questions and/or to begin the enrollment process. A phone call is usually best.
Anna Hoy, Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis Instructor
828-333-71836