Breathing Cliffs Notes from Hypnobirthing
Now you don’t have the read the book. Oh wait – you can still read the book (there’s lots of good info in there), but here’s what you’ll need for the breathing aspect of hypnobirthing. We discuss these techniques at our monthly centering prenatal appointments, and we also come armed with these suggestions (if they are helpful) at your labor and delivery. Happy breathing! AS.
Hypnobirthing
3 stages of breathing:
Sleep Breathing
Slow Breathing
Birth Breathing
Sleep Breathing – for early labor and for in between contractions.
Technique – relax and settle in to a comfortable lateral or semi reclined position. Eyelids closed, mouth closed, lips touching lightly, tip of tongue at palate where teeth and palate meet and feel the wonderful sense of relaxation drifting throughout your body
Draw in a breath from your stomach. To a count of four, mentally recite “In-2-3-4″ on the intake. Feel your stomach rise as you draw the breat up and into the back of your throat. As you exhale, mentally recite “Out-2-3-4-5-6-7-8″. Exhale through your nose, direct the energy of the breath down and inward toward the back of your throat, allowing your shoulders to droop into the frame of your body. Release all tension and let go. To determine if you are doing this exercise correctly, place your left hand on your stomach and your right hand on the lower part of your chest. As you inhale, you should feel your left hand rising as though your stomach were inflating like a balloon. As you exhale, you will feel your hands fold into each other, as your chest and stomach create a crevice. Start at the top of your head and relax a different part of your body with each breath. Take your mind to a soothing, calm relaxing place like the beach or a beautiful mountain vista.
Slow breathing – breathing during contractions. While resting your back against pillows or lying in a lateral position, place your hands across the top of your abdomen so that your fingers barely meet. Exhale briefly to clear your lungs and nasal passages. Slowly and gradually draw in your breath to a rapid count from 1 to 20 as though you were inflating your belly. Exhale in the same slow manner.
While breathing in visualize filling a balloon inside your abdomen as you draw in. Slowly exhale to the same count breathing downward and outward. Visualize the balloon slowly drifting off into space. Give your breath to your baby, gently and slowly exhaling down into your vagina.
Birth breathing – Instead of breathing “up” birth breathing is breathing “down. Take a short deep breath and breathe down until the baby’s head is visible. Like a bowel movement, breaths are short intakes with gentle nudging breaths downward, nothing forceful. Keep your eyes closed, and your jaw relaxed (this helps relax the vaginal outlet). Exhale as if you were breathing through your vaginal or bowels. Think of a “J” and moving air from your mouth to vagina in a J pattern. Visualize your vagina and perineum opening like a blooming flower.
99 red balloons....
