By Daniel Tolson
Pregnancy is hard. Along with the cravings, morning sickness and general discomfort, worries about doing the right thing for your unborn child occupy your mind constantly. In anticipation of childbirth you can feel stressed and fearful, which makes pregnancy not only physically but emotionally uncomfortable. Sometimes you wish you could have a clue as to how your baby is faring, or when the pain will end!
My wife, Nini, and I now have two great kids. Nini’s first experience of childbirth was battered by negative emotions, fear and trauma, so we wanted to find a way of making it a more positive ordeal the second time around. By using a few hypnosis techniques we could eliminate the stress and trauma of childbirth and even communicate with our babies in utero!
Sound too good to be true? Let me share these practices with you and the affect it had on our experience.
The pendulum
We’ve all seen the swinging pendulum used to put a ‘victim’ into a trance. It appears in fantasy movies, mystical books and in odd shops. But what if I told you that a pendulum can be used as a kind of feedback tool that helps you to communicate with your unborn baby?
Nini and I used this technique to ask direct questions and receive a yes or no response from our kids. First, we would ask if the baby felt like communicating, and a sign for both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. We’d then use the pendulum to ask questions that revealed which food made our baby the happiest, how the baby felt and whether they knew mum and dad’s voice. We even asked when they wanted to be born, and after receiving a ‘yes’ for two weeks early, Nini went into labour two weeks before her due date!
This technique helped us ensure that our babies were well looked after in the womb, which also put Nini’s worries to rest, helping her to enjoy life whilst pregnant.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Another hypnotherapy practice that we implemented was NLP, which is the conscious technique of training your thoughts through the messaging you send to your brain. Our thoughts predict 95% of our feelings, so if we can control our thoughts, we can change the way we feel. By changing your emotions during pregnancy, you make the experience happier for both yourself and the baby.
Nini used NLP in her pregnancies, and it absolutely transformed her mindset. Instead of stressing over the upcoming childbirth, she was able to stay entirely calm. As for me, I was very conscious of the language I used, so that the babies would only receive positive programming that would shape them post-natal. Both our kids are turning out to be very emotionally intelligent and great communicators. This, I think, is a testament to Nini’s ability to stay positive during pregnancy, as well as communicating with our kids while they were still in utero.
Hypnobirthing
A technique that is becoming more common and rapidly gaining popularity, hypnobirthing is a way of teaching yourself self-hypnosis techniques that seek to prevent stress and pain during labour. By using deep relaxation, visualisation and self-hypnosis, you can achieve a calmer, peaceful and more comfortable birth. There are studies that show that women who use hypnobirthing have fewer complications and shorter labour times. Post-natal depression, which is a real problem for many new mothers, is less common in those that use hypnobirthing.
Childbirth is a wonderful and joyous occasion where we celebrate our little ones entering the big wide world. It should be a positive experience for all mothers, and hypnosis can help you welcome your newborn into the world in an entirely positive procedure.
Change the way that you think; change the way that you feel!
Daniel is a business coach specialising in Emotional Intelligence and Strategic Planning. He has consulted with thousands of clients to help them quickly add more than $100,000,000 of revenues to their bottom line.
Daniel has also competed with the world’s top athletes at the extreme games, is a former Australian champion wakeboarder and he’s also led a team of more than 17,000 cabin crew members.
For more information: www.danieltolson.com/home