January 2023 - Tina Gibbs

The Hypnosis and Mindset Iceberg. The conscious and subconscious mind and the critical faculty. How does that apply to childbirth?

Let’s think about that. When you look at an iceberg and you can see the tip of it, you can only see a small part of it. The majority is hiding underwater. So now how does that apply to hypnosis and your mindset for childbirth?

Consciously you know, that childbirth is a natural process and the majority of babies can be born without assistance. We know that when we relax, more oxytocin flows, which gives helps the birthing process along by giving you strong regular contraction waves. So why do so many expectant parents struggle to relax during the birth or even during their pregnancy? Because throughout our lives we hear and start to believe that childbirth is painful. The media, family or friends are telling us so. When you are pregnant tests, appointments, scans, precautions etc reinforce the believe that birth needs interference. You sometimes even hear a traumatic birth story from a stranger while waiting at the checkout!

So your conscious mind is the tip of the iceberg and your subconscious mind is the base. This is your Hypnosis and Mindset Iceberg:

Overcoming the Iceberg

When you practise self-hypnosis and mindfulness during your pregnancy, you can use these techniques to help to turn down or off your subconscious mind. It’ll help you to focus on the here and now and make the right decisions for and during your birth experience! Remember, practice and reinforcement of the techniques is the key to an empowered birth experience!

Book your 1:1 mindful hypnobirthing experience with me to learn your techniques to combat the Hypnosis and Mindset Iceberg.

Please also check out my online course! No videos, just text and images to learn in your own time. Includes hypnobirthing mp3s, scripts, workbook, handouts, infographics and much more! Lots and lots of information at your fingertips! Includes:

hypnobirthing mp3s
hypnobirthing scripts
written information
infographics and other imagery
printable handouts
printable workbook/journal

Enroll now

For perinatal educators:

The “Hypnosis and Mindset Iceberg” poster shows an image of an iceberg, where you can see the tip of the iceberg as well as the underwater base of the iceberg. Use it in antenatal or parenting classes to explore expectant parents’ feelings. Where they come from and how the subconscious can influence your decision-making, mindset as well as birth, feeding or parenting experience. An excellent resource for your perinatal education setting!

Hypnosis Iceberg Sources and Further Reading

All were accessed on the 24^th January 2023.

Please note that I am in no affiliation with the owners of the websites above.

Teaching physical skills for childbirth is one of the most important lessons of your childbirth preparation classes! So how to go about it? It is important to note that your clients usually want to practice their physical skills, rather than just hear about them. From experience, I’d say you spend about 10% of the available time explaining the activity, then another 10% demonstrating and then let your clients have 80% of practice time. You can go around and give them individual feedback and guidance while they are practicing their new skills.

For example if you have 20 minutes for an activity, you spend a maximum of 2 minutes explaining, followed by a maximum of 2 minutes demonstration. Following that, your clients have 16 minutes to crack on with it! Alternatively, you could divide your time into two 10-minute slots. For example 1 for a deep breathing technique and the other for a massage technique. Then while trying out the massage technique, ask your clients to combine it with the learnt breathing technique from the previous part…

One idea which is always well received when teaching about physical skills for childbirth is the Ice Cube technique. Parents-to-be hold an ice cube and practise learnt or new coping skills to help them cope with the strong sensation. Parents-to-be can physically experience how breathing, massage, etc. can help them during labour and birth! A fantastic interactive and memorable way to facilitate learning physical skills for labour and birth!

Another great way is a labour rehearsal. Set up the room with some relaxing music, dim the lighting etc. Encourage parents to practice different positions for labour and birth using worksheets, cards or a poster. Alternatively, you could you my labour board game!

Observe others how they teach physical skills. Give each other feedback and share what worked for your clients and yourself and what didn’t go so well. Please feel free to share your experiences and ideas here in the comments or email me!

References and further reading:

Buckley SJ. (2015) Hormonal physiology of childbearing: Evidence and implications for women, babies, and maternity care. Washington, D.C.: Childbirth Connection Programs, National Partnership for Women and Families. Available from: https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/health-care/maternity/hormonal-physiology-of-childbearing.pdf [accessed: 9th January 2023]
Declercq, E. R., Sakala, C., Corry M. P., et al. (2014). “Major Survey Findings of Listening to Mothers(SM) III: Pregnancy and Birth: Report of the Third National U.S.
Survey of Women’s Childbearing Experiences.” J Perinat Educ 23(1): 9-16.
Gupta, J. K., Sood, A., Hofmeyr, G. J., et al. (2017). “Position in the second stage of labour for women without epidural anaesthesia.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev
5: CD002006.
Kibuka, M. and Thornton, J. G. (2017). “Position in the second stage of labour for women with epidural anaesthesia.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2: CD008070.
Odent M. (1999) The Scientification of Love. London. Free Association Press.
Thies-Lagergren, L. (2013). The Swedish Birth Seat Trial. Published by Karolinska Institute. Printed by US-AB digitaltryck.