The Power of Visualization in Birthing

The Power of Visualization in Birthing

30

June 2019

My first introduction to visualization was via a “Treasure Map” activity in college. My roommate, new to Chico State from Cal Berkeley, insisted I join her for her annual birthday ritual – creating a treasure map of what she wanted for the next year of her life.

Admittedly, I was a little skeptical.  After all, with her being a Berkeley transplant, I had a few preconceived ideas about her. I grew up across the bay from Berkeley. It boasted a reputation as a wild and liberal place throughout the 60’s, and 70’s. My parents warned me about the free-flowing spirits who wandered the Cal Campus. 

My roomie swore her treasure maps were more than just simple picture wishes. She proudly whipped out her previous year’s map and it was covered with red hearts. The red hearts represented desires that came true.

Seeing all those hearts sold me. She shared the idea arose from a book, “Creative Visualization Use The Power of Your Imagination To Create What You Want In Life”. When a book sells six million copies, the author might just be on to something. So, I purchased a copy and soon joined the ranks of avid visualizers. Simply put, visualization is putting forth a mental rehearsal of what you want to draw into your life.

Law of Attraction is Nothing New

We’ve intuitively known for a long time that visioning what we desire is an effective way to bring about what we would like in our life. New Thought philosophy (1800’s), based on the writings of Phineas Quimby, a spiritual teacher and an early mesmerist (follower of Franz Mesmer) introduces is to the Law of the Mind. The most popular law, The Law of Attraction, suggests that our thoughts are forming our entire life experience. Our thoughts are things. Like attracts like. When we are visualizing, we are sending a powerful attraction frequency to the Universe.

Neuroscience and Our Birthing Brain

With advances in Neuroscience we now know the brain is always growing. In fact, we change our brains-and therefore our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors – just by thinking differently. For instance, when we repeatedly imagine (mentally rehearse) an image, like our desired birth, circuits in the brain organize themselves to reflect our desires. When we use sensory-rich language and detailed images we can make our thoughts so real that the brain will change to look like the event has already become a physical reality.

In his book, Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind, Dr. Joe Dispenza, shares a study in which research subjects rehearsed simple one-handed piano exercises for two hours a day for five days. Researchers divided volunteers into three groups. In one group the subjects were asked to sit at the piano and play a simple set of scales and chords each day. In a second group, volunteers never actually touched any piano keys. They were asked to imagine doing the exercises. The third group did nothing. Participants’ brains were scanned each day in the region connected to the finger muscles. The changes in the brain in those who imagined playing the piano were the same as in those who actually played the piano.

Mentally Rehearse Your Desired Birth

What does all this mean when it comes to birthing? The subconscious mind is a captive audience when it comes to playing the movies in our head. That which you imagine happening is actually happening as far as your brain is concerned. Our thoughts become our experience. If your mental rehearsal has you easily, effectively, blissfully, birthing and this is the image you feed your mind over and over again, neuroscience studies suggest it will become your reality.

In another study conducted researchers at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio volunteers who went to the gym were compared with volunteers who carried out “virtual workouts” in their heads. Researchers found that a 30% muscle increase in the group who went to the gym. However, the group of participants who conducted mental exercises of the weight training increased muscle strength by almost half as much (13.5%). This average remained for 3 months following the mental training.

Today, mental rehearsal is widely used by Olympic athletes, among others, in sports training. Sports psychologists travel with Olympic teams to assist them in their mental game. High on the list for training is visualization. One might argue that birthing can be Olympic in nature, so training for it is just as important.

Using the tools of mental rehearsal can significantly prepare you for an event in which you have never participated. By repeatedly rehearsing your desired bliss-filled birth, your brain will assume “that’s the way we birth” and execute the mind commands to the body to assist you in attaining your goal.

 

Is Attending a Childbirth Class In Person Still Important?

Is Attending a Childbirth Class In Person Still Important?

30
April 2018

I know you have a lot going on when you are pregnant but one thing you don’t want to skip is the childbirth education class.  Yes, you’ll give birth no matter what, but taking a course will better prepare your mind and your body. The knowledge of how your mind and body work together is very empowering, especially for first-time moms.

According to Childbirth Connection, a non-profit group who surveyed 1,600 women, expectant moms are turning to television (68 percent), books (33 percent), friends and relatives (19 percent), and the Internet (16 percent), instead of attending class.

This is scary. Here’s why.

Let’s take a closer look at the information offered on television. The births depicted on television are designed to increase ratings. Showing a natural, easy, tranquil birth such as one achieved through learning HypnoBirthing isn’t exactly going to make for a riveting storyline.  Television births show women in distress, treat birthing as a medical emergency, and infer that women are incapable of birthing without medical intervention.  They instill fear of birthing. When was the last time you saw a normal birth on television? Yet, research is showing many women report their primary birthing education source as reality television.

While I encourage reading good books when you are pregnant, when it comes to practicing what is in the book, many women find they a) don’t do it, or b) don’t know if they are practicing correctly.

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect Execution.

Childbirth education for most women consists of their hospital tour where they prepare you for the necessity of medical interventions.

Oh, and those friends and relatives giving you information? Where did they get their information? Most likely television. 

Wait until you share with them, who were ill-prepared to birth at best, that you want to birth naturally, without an epidural.

“Yeah, you’ll change your mind on that one,” they smirk, as they secretly wish they could turn back time, and had prepared themselves for an educated birth experience.

They will each have a story and a reason why you don’t want to birth naturally.  Not only does drama in birthing abound in media, “good friends” and complete strangers, think nothing of discussing the intimacies of their birthing, unasked. 

Rarely when you announce you are pregnant do people rush to tell you of their wonderful birthing experience. However, they’ll trip over their diaper bags to share an awful and horrific birth story.

Women tend to embellish awful birthing stories with each retelling. A 72 hour labor does sound horrendous until you discover that the first surge she noticed began the time clock and active labor only lasted for about six of those hours. It must be that a 72-hour labor earns you a merit badge that is glitzier than the one for a six hour birth.

You’ve no doubt skimmed the internet looking for information now that you’re pregnant.

The internet.

There’s no place on earth where so much bad information is housed in one place. When you’re pregnant it should be renamed the Scarenet. It’s one of the privileges of living in an age overflowing with information. There’s enough labor misinformation on the net to print out and gift wrap Mother Earth..

How Giving Birth Is Like Changing A Flat Tire

I remember my first flat tire.

Stay with me on this one. I’m coming back to giving birth. I promise.

Fortunately, I was prepared for it, thanks to my father.

I came home and proudly announced we learned to change a tire in driver’s education. My dad’s eyebrow’s arched in that “Really?”  look.

To me, we had learned. In the “Know Your Vehicle” chapter there was a section discussing essential elements of maintenance, including changing a tire.  In class the teacher reviewed the steps for changing the tire, the diagram of proper placement of the jack underneath the car, and we watched a film of someone changing a tire.  He reviewed what could go wrong if you didn’t put the jack in place correctly from the beginning.

I received a “B” on the pop quiz the next class. I left out looking at the owner’s manual and something about setting the hazard lights.

My father wanted to make sure I really knew the information. He took me outside to the driveway, pulled up a lawn chair and said, “Change the tire.” I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. He informed me there would be no dinner for the family until my tire was changed.

The pressure set in. I looked for the owner’s manual. I remember that was one thing I missed on the test. It was no where to be found. We were the second owners of this car and my dad couldn’t recall ever having seen it.

I began to panic. There were no wedges for the tire. The book said to put wedges under the tire. My dad laughed. Improvise he told me. I was stumped.  Neither the film nor the reading had talked about what happens when you’re missing some of the items necessary to change the tire.

After a few moments of me giving him my best “help me please” eyes, he told me to take a couple of the bigger rocks from the garden and place them behind the tires.

It took several practice runs to correctly place the jack underneath the car. I almost gave up in frustration trying to use it. Despite my protestations that by now some good-looking guy would have pulled over to help me change the tire, he wouldn’t let me off the hook.

The lug nuts were VERY snug. After a painfully long time watching me try to twist the lug wrench, my dad showed me how to leverage my body weight to make removing the nuts easier.

The man in the video had made it look so easy. Just twist and turn. Who would have known I’d need to twist the technique?

Finally, having removed the lug nuts, it was time to remove the tire and replace it with the spare. Somewhere in the rotation of the tire, a lug nut mysteriously vanished. After several minutes retracing my steps and hunting  through the pebbles of the driveway for the nut, my father tossed it to me.

“Put the lug nuts in the car or in a pocket. Don’t leave them on the ground. It’s too easy for them to get lost. Put them where you know you will find them.”  A golden nugget from a sage advisor.

We went way past dinner time. My dad made me repeat the drill a few more times until he felt I knew what I was doing and that I was confident doing it. I blew through it the second time around (and was very careful about where I placed the lug nuts). Third time around was a little over-kill, I thought, until I had a tire blow while driving. Nothing beats live guided practice for preparation. Thank goodness my dad thought to thoroughly prepare me a head of time.

Back To Birthing

You can listen to others who have birthed, watch all the videos on YouTube you want, read several great books, but just like learning how to change a tire, nothing will prepare you for the real thing like practice.

And while you can’t practice actual birth, in HypnoBirthing classes, the exercises and information we give you are designed to build confidence in your body’s ability to birth naturally so when the time comes you feel prepared and confident of your body’s design for birthing.

Going into childbirth blindly, without childbirth preparation, is something that you will later regret.  More hospitals are getting rid of maternity wards as insurance rates and malpractice suits rise and Medicaid reimbursement drops, leaving a smaller number of hospitals to juggle the same number of deliveries. There is little time for staff to offer coaching and support for laboring mothers.

Whether you are learning to change a tire to be prepared for that inevitable time when you’re out of cell phone range and the tire goes flat, or whether you are preparing for the birth of your baby, nothing beats supervised live instruction where you can ask questions, receive feedback, and know that you are doing the steps correctly.

As a HypnoBirthing practitioner, I’m full of little nuggets of advice. Our classes are designed for women to share their wisdom and insight they learn as they read and practice the skills and techniques.

Don’t skip the childbirth education class. In person will beat on-line when it comes to preparation. If a multi-session class doesn’t fit into your time schedule, opt for private sessions where we can design instruction to meet your time frame.

My Baby Is Breech

My Baby Is Breech

23

MAY 2017

“If your baby remains in the breech position, we will have no option but to do a C-section.”

These are words no mother anticipating a natural birth wants to hear.

Hearing your baby hasn’t turned into the anterior position (the back of his head slightly towards the front of your tummy) isn’t the end of the world, nor does it mean you have to have a Cesarean.

Hypnosis is clinically proven to be an effective means for turning baby into the right position. A study conducted in 1992 by Dr. Mehl-Madrona , University of Vermont Medical School, showed clinical hypnosis to be highly effective, if not the most effective means to get babies heading in the right direction for birth.

The study included 100 women, with a control group of 100 women who did not receive hypnosis. All women were carrying their babies breech beyond week 36.  The study group of Mothers, while in hypnosis, were led through guided imagery to bring them into a deep relaxation. They were asked to visualize their babies easily turning and then visualize their babies in the correct vertex position. Mothers visualized the uterus becoming soft and pliable to allow the baby sufficient room to re-position. In addition, the Mothers were asked to talk to their baby, and the therapist encouraged the baby to release itself from the position and to turn itself downward for birth.

At the conclusion of the study 81% of the breech babies with the hypnotherapy turning spontaneously from breech to vertex presentation as opposed to only 26% babies who turned spontaneously without hypnotherapy.

When designing the study, researchers allocated 10 hours of hypnosis for each participant to achieve the desired results. Half of the successful 81 turns required only one session. The average number of hours for the remaining women was four and a half hours to achieve a successful turn.

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I can use hypnosis to turn breech babies. HypnoBirthing offers a specific script for breech presentations. I encourage all pregnant moms, whether or not they are using HypnoBirthing, to schedule a series of hypnosis appointments before they go for an external cephalic version (EVC).

An EVC is done at a hospital where doctors will be able to closely monitor the baby for fetal distress while they manipulate the abdomen externally. If the baby does not respond on the first attempt, a second attempt may be done using an epidural to help you relax and to reduce the pain you experience with the procedure.

When the turning of the breech baby is achieved through hypnosis, the baby usually remains in the vertex position, while babies turned through ECV sometimes go back to the breech position.

Hypnosis to turn a breech baby is a viable alternative to an ECV procedure. The rate of success in turning babies is high, no pain in using the technique, and no drugs administered, except the endorphins your body produces while experiencing the wonderful state of hypnosis.

If your baby is breech, hypnosis offers a pain free, drug free alternative to external cephalic version. I use a standard three session protocol and suggest that mothers schedule their session at the end of the 36th week if the baby is not yet head down.

Walking Through the Trimesters

Walking Through the Trimesters

5
OCTOBER 2016
Walking
As
Exercise

During HypnoBirthing’s “Exercise and Pregnancy” module fitness conscious moms learn about starting a walking program. It’s wise to talk to your health care provider to receive the final nod of approval before beginning an exercise program.  We highly recommend walking as a great pregnancy exercise.

In an earlier post in this series I recommended strategies for starting a program. Every woman’s pregnancy is unique. Listen to your body to determine when to start your walking routine. Being fit during pregnancy is an important advantage in natural birthing. In establishing your routine consider your overall fitness and how you are feeling through the phases of pregnancy.

Walking Through the Trimesters

During the first trimester (weeks 1-13) you may feel less inclined to walk as you body adjusts to its new hormone levels. Your focus during this time should just be on doing what you can. Aim to get a regular routine established and gradually build up your time.

As you ease into the second trimester (weeks 13-25) any nausea should have subsided, and you will find it easier to exercise. You can look forward to increasing the time and frequency of your walking. This trimester is sometimes called the “honeymoon” phase of pregnancy. It is usually the time when most women feel their best. Don’t let feeling your best lead you to overdoing your workouts. As the weeks progress, if you have been consistent in your walking, increase the intensity during small intervals throughout your workout. Intervals maximize your efforts. Remember: listen to your body.

As long as you remain free of complications during pregnancy, walking during the third trimester (weeks 26-40+) is recommended for all women. Even if you haven’t started until this trimester, it is never too late to start to reap some of the benefits. It’s hard to not to notice a growing belly and its effects on your center of gravity. It can take some time to acclimate to the increased weight around your midsection. Go easy, but go steadily. Exercising regularly places you less at risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Continued walking to increase fitness levels can have additional benefits of a shorter labor. Burning extra calories cuts helps monitor the weight.

The hardest part of starting anything is just doing it. Walking is easy. Put one foot in front of the other and you’ve started!

All content here should be considered as opinion only. Always seek the direct advice of your own doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your own health during pregnancy.

Walking the Best Exercise for Pregnancy

Walking the Best Exercise for Pregnancy

2

OCTOBER  2016

EXERCISE
IN
PREGNANCY

 

There are many reasons to exercise during pregnancy and for many women just as many excuses not to.After all, fitting exercise into an already tight schedule can be overwhelming. But it can be easy. Walking during pregnancy is one of the best exercises. Why? It takes no special equipment and can be done anywhere and anytime.

Walking is truly one of the easiest (and best) exercises you can do during pregnancy. It is safe for women of all fitness levels. Waking keeps you fit at a minimum of expense. I’ll throw in a caveat here. As an avid walker myself, I always encourage investing in the best walking shoes you can afford. If possible, have your shoes fitted to your feet by someone who knows walking and shoes.

It’s important to note that pregnancy can increase your foot size; those old tennis shoes hiding in the back of the closet may no longer be the right fit. If you are in the Sacramento, Folsom, Roseville areas, visit Fleet Feet. Their knowledgeable staff helps you select a shoe with a proper fit within your budget..  A proper fit guards against blisters and bruised toenails – two definite deterrents to regular walking.

If you weren’t an active exerciser prior to becoming pregnant, start with a lower level of walking activity. Walking for as little as 10 minuets a day reaps small benefits. Gradually work up to longer, quicker walks as you gain strength and stamina. As long as your health care provider gives you the OK, set your goal to build up to and safely walk 20-60 minutes day throughout your pregnancy.

Recommendations for Walking as Exercise In Pregnancy:
  • Keep hydrated. Dehydration can cause a rise in body temperature and contractions. Either of these can be a risk to your baby.
  • Don’t overdo it. Stop immediately if you feel dizzy, experience any pain, abnormally rapid heart beat, breathlessness, or exhaustion.
  • Talk while you walk. If you are unable to carry on a conversation while walking you are overdoing your exercise. Strive to easily maintain a conversation while walking. Your breathing should be a little more labored, but not to the point where you are grasping to take a breath or can’t carry on a conversation.
  • Start slowly and build gradually. If you are beginner or just getting back into the exercise groove, take shorter walks three times a week, skipping a day in between your workouts. Begin to add additional days and time, in five minute increments, as you feel ready.

 

All content here should be considered as opinion only. Always seek the direct advice of your own doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your own health during pregnancy.

Small Blog Beginnings

There’s just something to be said for

20

SEPTEMBER 2016

Sacramento
Hypnobirthing

starting a blog. In many ways it is like announcing you are expecting a child.

Like pregnancy, there’s a lot of preparation that goes on prior to the arrival. You have a lot of unknowns, and of course faith. Faith that everything is going as it should, on schedule and, if you are first-time mom, a lot of wondering how it is going to all come together.

There’s a great video clip I show in the class about conception to birth. Each and every time I view it (about 200 times so far) I am moved, many times to tears, by the part where the speaker talks about the Divinity of birth, and how the body knows what to do to make another little human. He talks about the same elements that make up the heavens, the stars, the mountains, know how to selectively come together in a way that they organize into a human being.

Now that this website it up, and the blog is beginning, I am going to give it the same expectant faith we have when we are pregnant. I have no idea what it will grow up to be. I trust in the same guidance that develops little babies so perfectly in the womb that this blog will grow into what it needs to be for its readers.

I want to hear from you. Let me know what you want to read about; talk about. We’ll grow together. This time, my baby will be in the form of a blog, and I’ll share my insights with you about Hypnobirthing, raising children, parenting and relationships.

Deal? Let’s begin.