Alchemy Hypnosis and Birthing
by Margery Loftis, R.N.
My career as a hospital based Labor and Delivery nurse led me directly and easily into practicing Alchemical Hypnotherapy with obstetrical clients. There are several areas in this field that lend themselves to healing through hypnosis, especially Alchemy.
The first is infertility; this is a growing and emotionally laden problem in modern obstetrics, as evidenced by the extremes to which some women must go to conceive. They are poked, prodded, drugged and given false hopes in years long efforts of Olympian endurance. It is an exercise in forcing pregnancy on a uterus treated as if it were separate from the whole person. With Alchemy, an invitation to share life is offered on the spiritual level. A contract can be made between the woman seeking a child and a spirit seeking an opening to physical life. Sometimes a clear invitation is all that is needed. However, when subconscious blocks are encountered, Alchemy is there to clear the path for that invitation to be accepted.
I encourage clients to come for a session early in pregnancy. My belief is that this time in a woman's life represents an important opportunity for growth. Through the Alchemical techniques, many pathways open to conscious participation in its growth process. For example, I would consider it essential to talk to and remain connected to the baby. I have always been surprised by the mothers who show up at the hospital who have never talked to their babies or even thought about them as separate beings. I ask the mother to be conscious of what lessons this baby brings into her life.
Some clients return during pregnancy with minor physical symptoms that can be relieved easily in a hypnosis session (for example, insomnia or nausea). At this time I also add suggestions about an easy natural birth, though generally labor work begins around the seventh month. I begin by holding the belief that every woman can deliver in a normal and natural way and that such a labor will last four to six hours. I think that being sure of this in my own mind, but allowing the client any variation of this that is necessary for her, is the basis for my success in this area.
There are two main emotional blocks to an easy labor. Both of them can be cleared by Alchemy if the client is ready. One is a history of therapeutic abortion, spontaneous abortion, or stillbirth. Often women experience these events without the grieving and forgiving processes needed to release them. I have witnessed some dramatic scenes of forgiveness which have brought a clearing of the guilt and a freedom to go on to experience the current pregnancy more easily.
Another major block is a woman's relationship with her own mother. If that relationship is clouded with a lack of love, resentment, anger or hate, a woman cannot have a clear base on which to build her own mothering. The very idea of "mother" brings up negative feelings. In labor these feelings prevent progress and in child rearing they are passed on to repeat for another generation. Pregnancy is the ideal time to clear your client's relationship with her mother, or even contact a new inner mother, thus establishing inner resources that will serve throughout her life as a new model for loving and supportive child rearing.
In the last session I draw on my nursing experience to help the client plan her ideal, but realistic birth experience. We go through it from the moment she realizes she is in labor to the actual delivery.
She brings in all the people she wants present, she experiences the various emotions along the way, she sets the stage for a perfect delivery. I always suggest that although the exact scene is possible, she will be open to and flexible with any variation that comes up. Then I make an audio tape specific to her with suggestions for experiencing the contractions and relaxing well between them.
This work has brought me much joy. It has added a depth of understanding and appreciation for the reproductive process that also serves me well in my hospital work. I hope that through my work and yours, we can begin to change the way of birth in this country.
Margery Loftis, R.N. is a mother, grandmother, and a Labor and Delivery Nurse. She has worked in hospitals for the past fifteen years.
