Hypnobirthing is a scientifically proven way of aiding calm and relaxation during labour. It looks to reframe how you feel about birth and gives you the tools to control and even eradicate any fears or anxieties you have surrounding pregnancy and labour. Using evidence-based knowledge and understanding to educate and inform you about the physiology of birth, your hormones and your mental state during labour, coupled with practical relaxation and breathing techniques, Hypnobirthing helps many couples enjoy birth as a positive and empowering experience.

In a group setting, the course usually comprises 4x sessions, each lasting approximately 3 hours. If I am teaching privately 1:1, there is usually slightly less time required for each session. I am also open to offering the course across a weekend, with 2x full 6 hour days (with breaks!) for those who cannot commit to a weekday/weeknight class.

The course is a total of 12 hours long, usually spread across 4x sessions, so as long as you start the course in good time to complete it before your baby arrives, then it’s the right time! Ideally, it’s good to start the course from around 20 weeks onwards, because this gives you plenty of time to practice the relaxation techniques you will learn. The more practice you put in, the easier you will find it to slip into that relaxed and meditative state.

The KGH course centres around profound logic, evidence-based knowledge and proven relaxation and reframing techniques. Altogether, these elements form a cohesive and comprehensive course which works to help you feel informed, confident, calm and in control of your birth experience. Starting with the basics, the production of a hormone called Oxytocin in your body is the key to labour, birth and bonding with your baby. In order to produce the levels of oxytocin needed to labour and birth your baby, you need to feel incredibly safe, unobserved and undisturbed, relaxed and at ease with the process of birth. Hypnobirthing aims to show you how to create the conditions to allow these feelings. The more relaxed, unafraid and calm you feel = the more oxytocin is released = the smoother, calmer and more easeful your birth should be.

It is highly recommended that your birth partner will attend and participate in the course as well. They will form the cornerstone of your birth team and will only be able to effectively support you if they have the same knowledge and understanding as you do. It will be their job to help create and manage a calm environment for you, to advocate for you and ensure your wishes are communicated in such a way that does not pull you from your relaxed state, and to support you physically and emotionally using their knowledge about the natural process of birth and labour. Moreover, many couples cite their hypnobirthing course as something which helps them to spend time together, really focussing on each other and their baby and helps to deepen their connection to the experience of birth. Partners say they feel more bonded to their baby and gain a truer understanding of the experience from the mothers’ perspective. Birth partners are often, wrongly, left out of the birthing experience and find themselves feeling helpless or in the way. Hypnobirthing aims to change this by offering tangible and practical ways in which your birth partner becomes fully involved and vital to the positive outcome of the experience.

Does Hypnobirthing guarantee a pain-free birth? Nothing can guarantee you a pain-free birth, but what hypnobirthing can guarantee is a more calm, confident and positive experience, however your birth unfolds. If you have a good understanding of how the body functions during labour, what your muscle groups need at each stage to help them work efficiently, and how to create the perfect conditions - both mentally and environmentally - to keep things moving forwards, “pain” instead becomes a natural and productive sensation that you can comfortably manage with confidence, strength and intuition. Labour can be intense and powerful, but it doesn’t have to be painful or traumatic. When you’re holding your baby in your arms for the first time, we want you to feel as though you’ve just run a marathon: powerful, elated, euphoric, exhausted and in need of a good meal, perhaps a massage, and a very well-earned rest!

Happily, there are no risks to you or your baby when practicing hypnobirthing. It is an entirely safe and logical way to prepare for labour and can be useful for any time of stress, worry or anxiety. Indeed many people go on to continue using the techniques for all sorts of day-to-day scenarios: dentist appointments, job interviews, early parenthood etc. It has many applications.

I run warm and engaging group classes in the village of Westbourne, which is on the border between West Sussex and Hampshire. I have supported couples who have gone on to have their babies at Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth, Chichester and Worthing Hospitals, as well as in their own homes.

There is a common misconception that Hypnobirthing is akin to stage hypnosis: someone swinging a pendulum before your eyes and sending you into a sleep, during which they can “make you” do embarrassing things. But the reality is more like you are being un-hypnotised from all the scary stories and inaccuracies that you have been conditioned to believe about birth for most of your life! When we talk about true Hypnobirthing, what we’re actually doing is coaching you to be able to access the part of your brain that is the centre for instinctual, natural and primal urge and behaviour. To be able to tap into a relaxed, calm and almost-meditative state of mind during labour is one of the most useful tools you could have at your disposal during birth, and that is what hypnobirthing aims to teach

Caesarean birth is still very much Birth. Therefore, hypnobirthing principles and learnings still apply and can be incredibly helpful. The course is still a full, evidence-based antenatal education course which includes modules about different types of birth including caesarean birth, and how hypnobirthing can be used for each. It’s not just about learning to breathe through contractions; the techniques you will learn will help you to remain calm and make informed decisions about your care from a place of rational, logical thinking and applying evidence and research to your individual scenario. Practically speaking, lots of parents find the exercises useful whilst waiting to go to theatre, having their spinal block administered, during the birth of their baby and during their recovery.

Absolutely! There is no downside to learning more about pregnancy and birth in general, but particularly if you are deemed to be high risk, it’s vital to be as informed and confident as possible. In learning how to ground yourself mentally and emotionally, and how to make decisions based around fact and evidence, rather than fear or worry, you can turn your high risk label into one of empowerment and positivity.

I believe that the course is most engaging, effective and powerful (and fun!) when delivered in-person. Attending the course in person offers a chance for couples to bond and work together, and to really give 100% of their attention and focus to each other and the material, making for a more absorbing experience. Group courses are also a good way to meet like-minded parents-to-be in your local area who are expecting their babies in the same season. Lots of discussion points and questions can be raised in a group setting whereas they may not be as forthcoming in an online forum. As a teacher, I feel I can connect and communicate with my class more profoundly in person. For these reasons, I do not currently offer an online version of the course.