Welcome to the Hypnoparenting website, it seems like this first blog post here should really be a bit of an introduction to me and Hypnoparenting. I’m really glad you’re here and that I’m able to share Hypnoparenting with you.
Hypnoparenting started 12 years ago in 2013 out of personal necessity. When I was pregnant with my first I was definitely a sceptic when it came to hypnotherapy and HypnoBirthing, I wasn’t against it, it was just something other people did, it was a little bit out of the ordinary.
I did want something different for my birth experience though, even before I was pregnant, I loved reading birth stories, at the time these were mostly in the US, and the talked about doula, birth centres, hiring private midwives, and different birthing methods – Lamaze and Bradley. There wasn’t much like this at all in Scotland at the time (thankfully times have changed!), but the more I read the more I knew I had to find some way to have a different experience to what my friends described.
It started with pregnancy yoga, a gateway to the world of all things hypno! The teacher there also offered HypnoBirthing classes at the time the only HypnoBirthing classes in the North East of Scotland. I thought it sounded a bit weird, but my friends who I trusted were keen and so I thought why not?!
I love HypnoBirthing in pregnancy, aside from the benefits it gave me for my induced birth, it taught me so much. I hadn’t realised that I’d been running around in a stressed state for many years, gradually building on my stress level each year so I was pretty much used to it (that’s probably part of why it took us a while to conceive). When I started to practice my hypnobirthing, learning to relax, understanding the power of the breath, listening to my relaxation and affirmation tracks, I started to notice the difference.
I looked forward to the routine of this each day, simple things but they made a difference in how I responded to things at work, I was more clear headed, able to priorities my workload more easily, less reactive, I was able to take a moment and look at the bigger picture. I started sleeping better and generally enjoying my day to day life more, even with the pregnancy challenges.
Once my wee one arrived I really missed it. I remember sitting in the GP’s waiting room to see the Health Visitor and thinking we need hypnobirthing for after baby is here – where is hypnoparenting?
I made it my mission to make it for myself and others. This involved a considerable career change from being a geophysicist in the oil and gas industry to doing my hypnotherapy and psychotherapy diploma while learning to look after a newborn and then having another baby. But it was worth it when I started to work with parents and see how much it was needed.
I describe hypnoparenting as hypnobirthing but for parenting, but rather than it being about how to parent it’s actually about understanding how your brain works and how to cope with those challenges parenting throws at you so that you can be the parent you want to be.
I’d love to know what your introduction to the world of ‘hypno’ was, tell me in the comments.