Relax into Birth is the first
proudly South African online Hypnobirthing app
teaching women and
their partners deep relaxation
techniques and tools
for a more comfortable
and manageable birth experience.
CHOOSE A COURSE AND THEN DO IT IN YOUR OWN TIME, WHEN YOU WANT TO!
RELAX INTO BIRTH HYPNOBIRTHING IS NOW ON THE APP STORES.
CHOOSE A COURSE, ENROLL!
The Relax Into Birth HypnoBirthing School features the most comprehensive pregnancy and birth preparation courses you will find online. Whether you want to supplement your antenatal information with relaxation techniques, learn more about the physiology of birth or even how to avoid interventions, you have come to the right place.
- Slot the course of your choice into your life and do it in your own time.
- RELAX INTO BIRTH: A comprehensive Hypnobirthing course comprising over 250 minutes of video content, 14 (and counting!) Hypnobirthing audio tracks and downloadable content. You will learn how to exhaust all forms of natural pain relief methods for a calmer birth experience.
- Hypnobirthing helps with a shorter labour, a reduction in the need for pain relief or interventions in labour.
- Dads and partners become effective doula-dads aka birth companions by doing the course with you. They learn what is expected of them in the birthing environment.
- Birth without fear and anxiety and embody the calm that comes with regular Hypnobirthing practice.
- Enjoy an empowered birth experience as you learn about your options for birth – and therefore fewer cases of postnatal depression.
- Enjoy being part of a virtual community with the pregnancy whatsapp group and then graduate to the Empowering Motherhood group once your baby has come.
- Get to know Doula Charlene as I walk you through pregnancy and birth with their extensive skillset and knowledge of birth and beyond.
- A calmer acceptance of whatever turn your birthing may take.
The Relax into Birth app was birthed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 2000 mothers attended the Cape Town childbirth education hypnobirthing classes with Charlene, with a 70% natural birth rate and VBACS. Since then, I have moved the course online, to the app stores.
During lockdown, doulas were not allowed into hospital spaces as additional birth companions. Many hospitals were even disallowing dads into the birth room for the duration of the pandemic.
In response to this and especially for mothers who were without a birthing partner for their births, the app helped parents feel more equipped for their births with relaxation tips and tools, natural coping techniques and information that empowered and reassured them. Relax Into Birth Hypnobirthing can help you achieve a more comfortable birthing, no matter what turn it takes.
Relax Into Birth is recommended by independent midwives and obstetrician-gynaecologists alike, because of the mental, emotional and physical preparation it gives mothers and their partners for their birthing day.
What can you look forward to on the
Relax Into Birth HypnoBirthing online course in the app?
- Doing the course in your own time, when it suits you! All the content is pre-recorded, you so you can do it anytime!
- We delve into very useful coping skills for labour and birth.
- Hypnobirthing teaches you how to reach a deep state of relaxation, which is a normal every day ability most people can experience any time.
- Hypnobirthing teaches self-hypnosis, where you are in control and helps you to remove unnecessary fear and tension, which means you will have a better birth, regardless!
- You will gain an understanding of how your uterus benefits from relaxation and how it can help your labour progress. You will learn how the conscious and subconscious mind work and how relaxation can improve your labour and birth.
- Relax Into Birth will teach you how to stagger your natural pain relief options before using medical pain relief opiates or drugs.
- Go on to your birthing day with an extensive skillset of breathing techniques, birthing positions, massage and hypnobirthing techniques.
- The techniques will help with the onset of labour, advanced labour and effective positions for labour and birth.
- You will receive thirteen (and counting!) beautifully recorded visualisation and relaxation soundtracks, recorded in my voice. These are for conditioning you towards a birth free of fear.
- You will be eligible for a free virtual doula info consultation upon completion of the course.
What are the benefits of completing this
online childbirth education course?
- You can slot it into your life and do it in your own time
- Your partner, aka doula dad, will be a better birth companion
- More effective bonding with your baby
- A calmer mother and baby – in fact a calmer family
- A removal of fear and anxiety
- A reduction in the need for pain relief or intervention in labour
- A quicker recovery
- Fewer cases of postnatal depression
- Better sleep in pregnancy
- A shorter labour for natural birth
- A calmer acceptance of whatever turn your birth may take
What topics does the
Relax Into Birth Online HypnoBirthing course cover in the app?
THE SEVEN MODULES COVER THE FOLLOWING:
Your Birth Choices and Spaces
- Choosing your care providers: Understand your options when it comes to choosing a care provider.
- Home or Hospital Birth: We explore the differences between home and hospital birth spaces.
- Foetal Heart Rate Monitoring: Hospital monitoring vs Home birth monitoring.
- Your Birth Preferences (with detailed Birth Plan Templates): Understanding what to include in your birth-day wish list.
- Setting up your Birth Space: How to make your birth space conducive to your birth.
- Music for Labour: Choosing appropriate music for your birth.
- Essential Oils In Labour: Selecting essential oils in pregnancy & birth.
- Labour Ward Makeovers: Check out these transformed birth spaces.
- Birth Space Posters: A gift for you – Ready to print affirmations for your birth space.
Hypnobirthing Removes Fear
- What is Birth? Birth is a normal, natural, physiological event.
- Why is birth Feared? As a pregnant woman you are a magnet for horror stories.
- A short history of Childbirth: How did we get here?
- The Fear-Tension-Pain Cycle: What is it and how can we break it?
- How fear effects birth: Your subconscious mind is the seat of control.
- How to get rid of your fears: Your body is a robot, taking instructions from the mind.
- What happens in Hypnosis? Understand that hypnosis is just relaxation by another name.
- 8 Rules of the mind: Some interesting theory by Hypnotherapist, Charles Tebbetts.
- Put hypnosis to the test: Give me 5 minutes to show you that hypnosis works!
- A couple visualise together: Holly & Etienne give the convincer a spin.
- A couple breathe together: Holly & Etienne try out circular breathing.
Get Body Confident
- Your Amazing Uterus: The uterus is perfectly designed for its function.
- The love cocktail of hormones: Get to know what hormones are flowing!
- Friedman’s Curve Myth: Why Friedman’s Curve is no longer relevant.
- The pelvis in labour & Birth: The pelvis becomes softer and movable to allow baby space to descend.
- Optimal Positioning: Things you can do to help best position baby for birth.
- Trust your body’s way: Your body knows what position it wants to go into.
- Mom & Baby & body birthing together: Working together towards birth.
- Preparing your pelvic floor: Prep your perineum with massage and the epi-no device.
- The stages and phases of labour and birth: Labour and birth and how companions can help
- Vaginal Birth After Caesarean (VBAC): Here’s some important info if you are preparing for a VBAC.
- Spontaneous Rupture of Membranes (SROM) and Artificial Rupture of Membranes (AROM): What to do when your waters break.
- Eat dates in your pregnancy: There are so many benefits to the lowly date in pregnancy for birth.
Pain Relief Secrets
- Pain Versus Suffering Are they the same? No, they are not… Here’s why.
- What type are you? Auditory, kinesthetic, visual & your five senses.
- Rhythm, Relaxation & Ritual Do what works for you: Everyone is different.
- How Mindfulness can help: Mindfulness can help you view labour sensations differently.
- Stimulating the Vagus Nerve: How to harness the power of the vagus nerve for ultimate calm.
- Emotional Freedom Technique: Also known as ‘tapping’ can be great for stress and pain relief.
- Counterittants and Bag of Tricks: Check out these labour tools for comfort and natural pain relief
- The Birth Ball: Using the birth ball in labour.
- Back Massage & TENS machine: Let’s tackle back massage and another option; the TENS machine.
- Reflexology 101: Learn how to give a good foot massage.
- Dance and Movement: Dance and movement brings baby down and is a form of pain relief.
- Healing power of water: Labour and birth in a pool of water.
- Using a rebozo in labour: Rebozos aka a long piece of fabric to help the mother’s birthing body.
- Orgasms: Hugs before drugs. Orgasms are great for pain relief and distraction.
- Homeopathics can help: Try some natural options for pregnancy, labour and birth.
- Laughing Gas: Nitrous oxide aka entonox for pain relief.
- Sterile Water Injections: A lesser used pain relief option that can help back labour.
- Medical Pain Relief: Options Aterax, Pethidine, Opoids, Morphine, Epidural and Paracetamol.
Doula Dads & Birth Partners
- Dads, by Ina May Gaskin: Hear it from the legend herself.
- Dad’s mental state: The mental landscape of labour and birth for new dads.
- What not to say in labour: Here’s some tips on what is safe and not safe to say in labour.
- The Birth Partner’s role in labour: What is required from dads in labour and birth?
- Doula-dad’s & Birth Partner’s guide to birth: Step by step through labour and birth.
- Birth Partner Affirmations: A visualisation for doula-dads and birth partners.
Special Circumstances
- Surrender into birth: Allowing body and baby to birth.
- When plans change: How to stay calm, no matter what turn it takes.
- All about inductions: Natural and medical forms of induction explored.
- All about caesareans: What is a caesarean and how to have a gentle caesarean.
Positive Postpartum
- Perineal Care Postpartum: Sidz bath and padsicles.
- Breastfeeding basics: Helpful breastfeeding tips to get you started.
- How to calm a crying baby: The 5 S’s and how to implement them.
- The first 40 days: Also known as the fourth trimester.
- Closing the Bones: What is it and why is it important and beautiful.
++PLUS – Audio Tracks to Start Listening to: ++
- Lotus Relaxation: Listen to this track at least once a day, morning or evening.
- Pregnancy Affirmations: Listen every day, anytime.
- Thinning and Opening (for labour): Listen from 37 weeks onwards and in labour if you wish.
- Pushing Baby Out: Listen from 37 weeks onwards and in labour if you wish.
- Safe Space: Listen anytime you need a time out and safe spacce.
- Mindfulness: An exercise in mindfulness practice.
- Fear Release: Let go of your fears and birth with confidence.
- Equilibrium Breathing: Listen everyday for effective programming.
- Surge Breathing: Listen everyday for effective programming.
- Surge Breathing & Affirmations: Listen everyday for effective programming.
- Rainbow Visualisation: Listen everyday for effective programming.
- Circular Bliss Breathing: A track for couple’s connection and bonding.
- Birth Partner Affirmations: A visualisation for doulas dads and birth partners.
++AND – Pregnancy Breathwork Techniques: ++
- Left Nostril Breathing: For cooling and calming down.
- Box Breath 4-4-4-4: For when you are feeling overwhelmed.
- Humming Bee Breathing: For when you feel tired, this will invigorate you.
- Wakey Wakey Breathing: For when you wake up in the morning.
- Relaxation Breathing 4-7-8: For unwinding before bedtime.
- Circular Breathing: A bonding breath to enjoy with your partner.
++As well as, Breathing Techniques for a calm birth: ++
- Equilibrium Breathing: For in-between your surges.
- Surge Breathing: For during your surges.
- Rainbow Breathing: For during your surges.
- Breathing & Pushing Baby out: For the second stage.
- Bonus: Acupressure and Breathing: Additional info to enhance relaxation when breathing.
++And, last but not least, a course for parents preparing for a planned Gentle Caesarean: ++
- Reasons for a Caesarean Birth: Reasons for a planned and emergency caesarean birth
- Before and After a Caesarean: What happens before and after a caesarean?
- A ‘normal’ Caesarean Birth: What does a caesarean normally look like?
- A ‘gentle’ Caesarean Birth: What it means to plan a gentle caesarean birth.
- Why have a doula there?
- Immediately after a Caesarean: What happens just afterwards?
- Tips for recovery: What to avoid during your recovery of a caesarean birth.
- Breastfeeding Basics: Helpful breastfeeding tips to help you get started.
- How to calm a crying baby. The 5 s’s and how to implement them.
- The First Forty Days: Also known as the fourth trimester.
- Closing the Bones Ritual: What is is, why it’s important and beautiful.
- Caesarean Birth HypnoBirthing: A track to listen to in preparation for your planned caesarean birth.
Tell me more about hypnobirthing…
- You will always be in a fully conscious state, able to open your eyes and talk to your partner and caregivers at any time while using your hypnobirthing techniques. Hypnosis has unfortunately had a bad rap over the years and has become associated with stage hypnosis. However, it is not possible to hypnotise someone against their will – or make them do anything that goes against their moral code. It is a natural, normal state that one goes into every day, for example, when you are in autopilot driving to work every day, watching an engaging movie, reading a book. It is a deeply relaxed, yet intensely aware natural state – and it is a state that you take yourself into. This is immensely useful to employ in labour, vaginal birth and even for caesarean births. I have also created an course within the app for mothers preparing for a gentle caesarean birth. Go check it out if that is what you are planning – and download the app!
- Hypnobirthing does not go against any religion as all hypnosis is self-hypnosis and is a normal, natural state and it is a tool that can help you work with your body in a more aware way in the way it was made naturally, rather than using medication. However, just like caesarean section, there is a time and place for medical intervention when necessary.
- Hypnobirthing can be used for any kind of birth in any environment. It is helpful for hospital and home births and Relax Into Birth will give you tools to set up your environment to be conducive to labour hormones. Hypnobirthing techniques will help to calm and relax you body and mind, so that you can relax into the space, no matter where you have chosen to birth. It is however of paramount importance that you choose care providers (doctors / obstetrician gynaecologists / independent midwives) and place of birth with great care – as these are important factors which can greatly influence the outcome of your birth.
- Hypnobirthing does not equal a pain-free birth or even an orgasmic birth for that matter! These are possible, but should not be benchmarks for the way you intend to birth. These techniques can make your experience more manageable and comfortable, but not pain-free. There will be pain, yes, but it is a pain that is not damaging, like the pain of a broken limb. Rather, it is pain with a purpose – and a sign that your body is working perfectly to bring your baby down and out.
Joining up with midwife-run
antenatal courses in your area…
The Relax Into Birth online hypnobirthing course is run in conjunction to Midwife-run antenatal courses. You may also choose to do this course independently of any other antenatal course. Check out our partners in birthing for more antenatal classes in the Mother City.
THE FINEPRINT…
- Course Materials: Over 250 minutes of video course content, including a ‘doula in my pocket’ guide for dads / partners, 13 (and counting!) downloadable audio hypnobirthing tracks and many downloadable PDFs.
- Cost: R950 or equivalent in your country via the app stores and lifetime welcome to the whatsapp Empowering Motherhood group after birth.
“I am so excited to offer the Relax Into Birth online course to expectant mothers, designed as an add-on to the existing midwife antenatal classes they’ve attended – or as a stand alone relaxation for birth course. Relax Into Birth gives mothers the opportunity to experience, no matter what turn their birth takes.”
Charlene Yared West 