Hypnobabies

Beth Braxton is the Capital District's first Hypnobabies educator, and she is thrilled to bring her "Eyes Open" technique to local mothers preparing for childbirth. Hypnobabies is a holistic prenatal center that teaches women how to use medical hypnosis as their anesthetic during childbirth.

Hypnobabies is a six-week course that engages both mothers and their birthing partners in the birth process. The course includes all of the "practical aspects" for educating mothers about their health and their baby's health during their pregnancy.

The Hypnobabies goal is to help "couples to overcome a lifetime of negative programming about childbirth."

According to Braxton, there are common misconceptions about natural childbirth.
"Women and their birthing partner often associate childbirth with pain and, since people associate pain with fear, many women go into labor having that mindset"; they assume that an epidural is the only way out of suffering.

"Instead, Hypnobabies teaches women to trust their body and the natural process, so that their body won't fight what nature intends it to do," Braxton said.

"Who wouldn't be afraid of something that they hear is so hard and painful? If you expect to feel pain, you more than likely will."

As a Hypnobabies educator, Braxton carefully chooses her words when explaining the birthing process, to shy away from endorsing common misconceptions that lead many women to fear the labor process. She explains that, when giving birth, it is normal to feel "stretching, pulling and tugging" - not searing pain.

"If you practice having that mindset, your physical experience can be affected, and you won't need an epidural," Braxton said.

"My births were incredibly empowering and life changing; I felt very powerful, and that's an incredible thing for a woman to feel."

According to Braxton, childbirth hypnosis is a "medical hypnosis" that is very powerful and effective with comprehensive use: "The more you practice, the more effective hypnosis will be."

"All birthing hypnosis is self-hypnosis, there isn't anyone snapping their fingers and making you unaware," Braxton said.

"It's a deep state of relaxation; it's a tool that women will have as they approach the birth, and although many women report not feeling pain, that doesn't mean they don't feel the birth," Braxton said.

Many people associate hypnosis with being unconscious or unaware. However, this hypnosis technique is self-induced and self-controlled, allowing women to give birth both consciously and comfortably without using drugs. 

According to Braxton, the technique simply allows women to engage themselves fully in the birthing process, paying attention to how their muscles are contracting and how their body is working naturally. Women feel a "very deep state of relaxation," because they trust their bodies.

After having her first child, Braxton was looking for more information on the process of birth. "I came across Hypnobabies and felt very connected with the philosophy," she said.
"I felt empowered, relaxed and confident using childbirth hypnosis, and I want to teach other women how to feel the same."

Braxton's Hypnobabies course will begin at the end of September, at Haute Mama Maternity in Saratoga. For more information, or to sign up for her course visit her website, www.hyno
babiessaratoga.com