OLIVIA SOUTHEY
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What is Natal Hypnotherapy?

“On the day that I went into labour, I felt calm and relaxed at all times.  I had a long labour but one which was steady, unrushed, quiet and calm….My first experience of birth was calm, empowering, intense, animalistic, powerful and long. Did I feel out of control? No.  Did I need any pain relief? No.  Did I want to do it all over again?  Absolutely!” – Maggie Howell

Feel in control and free from fear 

As modern women we are often in good control of our lives, careers and relationships. But you might be feeling out of control when you think about giving birth – or you may fear losing control during your birth experience. Researching birth preparation, you may be looking for a birth preparation technique that: 

  • Is easy to learn and completely safe
  • Is backed up by clinical research and has a proven track record of positive results
  • Is flexible and suitable for all types of birth
  • Is recommended by midwives, hospitals such as Chelsea and Westminster and 97% of mothers who have used it
  • Is focused on enabling a mother’s own confidence and birth wisdom
  • Is equally supportive to birth partners, helping them to understand the needs of the birthing mother and teaching them to support a birth with strength and sensitivity
  • Is able to deliver reduced rates of Cesarean section, epidural, instrumental delivery, and post-natal depression
  • Is effective at creating shorter labours that need less pain medication; increasing the speed of post-natal recovery; boosting bonding between parents and baby, and ensuring the feeling of labour and birth being a positive, manageable experience
  • Is the UK’s foremost hypnobirthing method, and founded to work in synch with the UK maternity system
  • Is appropriate as either a stand-alone antenatal course or compatible with NCT or private courses.
  • Is based on techniques that not only profoundly improve labour and birth experiences but also become skills for life
  • Is deeply beneficial for your baby, leading to calm, alert newborns that can establish breastfeeding more easily
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If at least a few of these benefits are important to you, then Natal Hypnotherapy could be a great match for you.
 
Founded by Maggie Howell, a Clinical Hypnotherapist and mother of five, the method uses a combination of self-hypnosis, breathing, mindfulness and visualisation to teach mothers and their birth partners to have a peaceful, powerful birth experience. Beliefs are examined and fears are released, and the instinctive birthing body is given back its rightful position as boss during birth. 

5 steps to the right birth for you

The achievements of Natal Hypnotherapy rest on its straightforward 5-step approach to a positive birth:

  1. Overcome fear: Natal Hypnotherapy gives you strategies to acknowledge and release fears, and workshops are a safe space in which to examine any concerns that you have. The combination of hypnotherapy to release negative beliefs about birth and good information about how to allow birth to work best lets you approach birth in a responsible and confident way.
  2.  Learn ways to deal with pain: The pain of labour and birth is subjective – your perception of it can vary hugely depending on how supported, respected and safe you feel. Pain perception is also affected by tension levels in the body and mind: conditioning yourself to relax at the deepest level through self-hypnosis is an excellent preparation for managing the sensations of birth. 
  3. Know you can do it: Enjoy becoming genuinely confident about your ability to give birth to your beautiful baby! Develop birth preferences that ensure you can remain in control of a variety of birth outcomes and start looking forward to the feeling of awe you will have about your body once your baby is born. 
  4. Acquire practical skills: Learn how to create a birth environment that supports the ‘magic cocktail’ of beneficial birth hormones, hands on ways of making the sensations of labour and birth manageable (maybe even enjoyable), and ways to work positively with your birth partner and medical team so that your birth preferences are fulfilled.  
  5. Prepare your birth partner: Your birth partner/s may be a life partner, a doula, a relative or a friend – or any combination of these.  All types of birth partner can support you in using the Natal Hypnotherapy techniques and all are warmly welcome on my courses.  A well-prepared birth partner who understands what supports an instinctive birth is an asset to treasure and will be invaluable in helping you to achieve the awe-inspiring birth that you deserve. 

If you are interested in Natal Hypnotherapy or working with me, I'd love to hear from you so I can help you plan your birth preparation. 
Keep in touch, mama!

  • Home
  • About
    • Testimonials
  • Work with me
    • Hypnobirthing groups
    • Private Hypnobirthing
    • Birth Doula
  • Blog
  • Contact