I decided to learn from Gigi & Pickle Hayley, who teaches The Calm Birth Method by Susy Ashworth. Hayley's intense courses are usually two weekend dates for 6 hours and its vital you attend with your birthing partner as they're just as important in making hypnobirthing successful. I've admittedly have left it quite late to do a course, however I have been practising hypnobirthing techniques from an audio book since my second trimester, I highly recommend you book in with plenty of time to practise as HB requires a great deal of practice to make it effective.
Firstly, the group classes are always small and intimate, so they are a lot more personalised than bigger classes. As well as her group classes, Hayley also offers one on one classes for a completely unique and tailored class. My initial impressions of Hayley were amazing, she's super laid back with great energy. Nothing felt awkward or unnatural during the class, which can be the case sometimes in group classes. On arrival there was an abundance of teas, coffees and healthy snacks. The room itself was so calm and inviting with an amazing mixture of essential oils being diffused around the room. As well as this everyone received their goodie bag, along with lovely pampering goodies, such as facemarks and baby creams, the most important items were the The Calm Birth Method book and the parents course notes which has everything the course contained in simple note form to re-read over at home.
The class on Saturday consisted of session 1 & 2, then the following class will complete session 3 & 4. Admittedly session 1 is information heavy, its basically the science and biology behind hypnobirthing, however if your new to HB its soooo important you understand session 1 as its the foundations of your entire birth experience. Also included in this session was learning the Calm Birth School breathing technique, this is vital in early stages of labour and in-between 'surges' (contractions). We did this just before our lunch break, and I'm not joking everyone was so relaxed and sleepy no-one wanted to really move, so it proved to us all the power of this breathing technique. Hayley's teaching method was very laid back and rather being regimented she let conversations flow but still managed to cover everything from the first two sessions. Session 2 was more 'hands on' in terms of practising another style of breathing technique call the Surge/ Wave breathing, which is to be used during contractions, as well as this Hayley helped everyone visualise during this breathing to make it even more effective.Then my very favourite part of the entire day was her teaching our birth partners light touch massage while the women continued practising the breathing techniques. Without going into too much detail about everything we learned over six hours, if HB is something your interested in, I strongly suggest investing in a few lessons, if not then at least getting the books and seeing if it suits you.
Our final class, with session 3 & 4 is on the 23rd of this month, now this is 2 days after my due date, so we might not actually make it. However, Hayley is super flexible and has agreed to go over anything that we don't understand from session 3 & 4 over a coffee / phone call which is amazing :)
I couldn't recommend her class enough. If you want some more info, please click here and it will take you to her website. She also runs taster sessions, so before you part with your hard earned cash you can see what your getting into !
Contact Hayley
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