The Mongan Method for natural childbirth, also known as "hypnobirthing," teaches a type of deep relaxation. In hypnobirthing, the women are taught deep abdominal breathing and learn how to achieve a peaceful laboring environment. Women who choose to learn the Mongan method report that they are in a state of such total relaxation during labor that they have no pain and appear to be sleeping.

Some women swear by this method and claim to have painless labors and deliveries, while others find that they can't achieve the required state of deep relaxation required by hypnobirthing. Doctors find that they can turn breech or posterior-positioned babies while a woman is using hypnosis techniques.

In case you were wondering, being under the influence of hypnosis doesn't make you lose control. Being hypnotized is just like when your husband asks you a question and you don't hear him, because you are engrossed in a novel. You are in a state of intense concentration that serves to block out outside influences. But it's not a state of tense focus. Quite the opposite in fact: hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation. When you're engrossed in your book, you're really enjoying the experience, sucking up every word. You're comfortable and happy. That, in a nutshell, is hypnosis.

Beneficial Process

In hypnosis, you shut off the conscious, active areas of your brain and focus with your subconscious for the duration. Your subconscious becomes the part of your brain involved in decision-making and bypasses your conscious knowledge. Skipping the conscious part of decision-making helps you make decisions without emotion-based fears or reservations. You'll find the process a beneficial one in helping to train your mind to act in a more logical, positive manner.

Your hypnosis instructor will teach you how to self-hypnotize so that in essence, you will be the one doing all the work during labor. Once accomplished, a state of hypnosis can give you a pain-free labor and delivery without the necessity for medications that can enter your baby's system. Look for a course that includes a minimum of 15 hours of instruction.

Anticipated Pain

Most women are afraid of the anticipated pain of labor and childbirth. Hypnotherapy helps you change the way you feel about pain. Pain is a combination of tension and fear. These feelings cause openings and muscles to close. As the uterine muscles tighten, there is a sense of acute pain. The greater the pain, the more tension is generated. Hypnotherapy teaches women to relax and so their bodies unclench and open up faster for birth. When hypnobirthing is successful, women report a sensation of tightening and pressure but no pain whatsoever.

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