You know what they say: write what you know. So having just gone through the adventure of pregnancy and childbirth, it’s hard not to want to write about the ride and what I learned. But not only that, I believe the Hypnobirthing theory can change your life like it changed mine.

To start out, being pregnant is scary! As this was my first time, I kept imagining the scene from SpaceBalls where the alien comes out of his stomach at the end and belts out a song on the diner counter (and yes I just made a SpaceBalls reference), but seriously, the scariest part is the anticipation of childbirth. You just don’t know what to expect.

Wanting to be an empowered and in control mother-to-be, I heard about Hypnobirthing and wanted to learn more. What I found out was life changing, because Hypnobirthing isn’t just about a breathing technique, it’s about changing the way we think about stress and pain. It raises the idea that we often create our own pain by being afraid of pain, which in turn causes stress.  Sound crazy? I thought so too at first, but now having used its techniques, I believe it is an important foundation to living a healthy life with less pain and stress. And you don’t have to be pregnant to enjoy the benefits, in fact you don’t even have to be a woman, everyone can benefit.

There are so many unknowns in the world; childbirth being one of many. Worry and stress can bring about actual physical repercussions. I already knew this from working in Wellness, but it didn’t hit home until I had my son.  Hypnobirthing teaches that most of the pain experienced in childbirth is pain created by being scared and stressed out. The fear and stress causes muscles to tighten and blood flow to go towards the areas of the body that are needed to flee the situation. And it turns out your reproductive organs aren’t one of those part needed to fell the scene. This means a lot of the pain you feel is self-perpetuated. Without going into the gory details, when your muscles are relaxed, and there is good blood flow, it is easier to have a child.

If you believe that women are built to go through childbirth, that this is what our bodies were designed for, you can begin to shift from fear into empowerment. And once you add in the breathing techniques, it can help make childbirth so much more bearable (at least for me, I assume there are plenty of women out there who think I’m crazy).

Now take this concept and shift it over to business or your personal relationships and the theory still holds true.  You see it turns out that parts of the brain aren’t required to help you flee either, the blood flows mainly to your heart, lungs, legs and back, so getting worried and stressing out about that presentation you are about to give or that date you are about to go on isn’t going to help you.

Instead shift the way you’re thinking about the situation.

We are a community based species, we are meant to have relationships and interact. Once we start to shift our minds from worrying about the possible pain and realize we are resilient creatures who are built to do amazing things, then we can begin to shed the fear and stress, take a deep breath and take on the world.

To learn more about Hypnobirthing go to http://Hypnobirthing.com/ or http://www.inspiringbirths.com/Hypnobirthing.htm

To learn more about stress click here. (This is a blog and not an health organization, but I think it is an easy to understand explanation of stress and its affects.)