Customer Reviews

Body Centered Hypnosis For Pregnancy And Childbirth

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The goal of this cassette is to assist pregnancy and childbirth with relaxation techniques and guided mental imagery.

Relaxing it is not. The sound quality is poor, doing nothing to diminish the pops, hisses, and breathing inherent in recording the human voice. There is no background music to help with this either. I found both the pitch and inflection of the speaker's voice to be extremely unnerving and annoying. Several times, the speaker becomes VERY loud and screechy, ruining any hope of relaxation and jolting the listener into a heightened state of tension. This is not the recommended way to end a self-hypnotic state.

With a professional speaker, a good sound mixer, and a little music, I think the guided imagery would be very helpful and I intend to use it in conjunction with other tapes I will be listening to. However, I can't see myself packing this particular cassette off to labor and delivery.

My wife used this tape and I was able to listen and help her through the pain of contractions by using the imagery of the ocean waves making it safely to shore. It helped me, as well as her, to focus on getting through the contractions and resting, in between. I highly recommend this tape to all pregnant women and their partners.

I had read an article about using hypnosis as a technique for getting through labor. After a 24 hour labor with 3 hours of pushing with my first I was desperate to try anything (breathing through it is a joke!) I fell asleep every night with this tape. Yes, her voice is annoying but because of that it stays with you. Everything she said came back to me during labor. If you absolutely cannot listen to her voice, get her Easier Childbirth book. She has the text in there and you can either make your own tape or have a friend tape it. Regardless, the book is invaluable too. I just found out today that I am pregnant with #3 and the first thing I did was reorder the tape and book because I gave the originals to a friend when I thought that I was done having children.

I agree with the other reviewer from Maine. The speaker's voice is very annoying. She keeps saying, "go deeper, deeper down," with an amusingly nasal sound on the "deeper" and a harsh pronunciation of d-OW-n. She also gets loud and excited - one night when I was very tired, I fell asleep listening to the tape. I awoke with a start and nearly fell off the couch as the speaker was describing a ride down a sliding board - "DOWN you go!"

This tape developed no deeper bond between me and my baby than already exists, and it certainly didn't relax any of my anxieties about childbirth.

The images of the waves, and breathing through the intensity of the contractions at their peak was incorporated into my mindscape when I entered labor. I do not know how I would have made it through without this tape, and the workbook "An Easier Childbirth". I am a first time mother. I recommend it to all women, whether they are giving birth for the first time or not.

This tape does nothing to induce a state of hypnosis. At best, the first side can be used for relaxation if you can tolerate the speaker's irritating voice, the silly imagery and the poor sound quality of the tape. The second side of the tape would be humorous if it weren't so shrill and annoying. Gayle Peterson needs a lot more hypnosis training before she uses that word in the title of her books or tapes!

During my first pregnancy/labor/delivery I used your tape "Body Centered Hypnosis," along with the book ..with great success - I delivered without pain medication in 4 hours with 45 minutes of pushing.

from message board post, Dec. 20000: at Gayle Peterson's "An Easier Chidlbirth" message baord at parentsplace.com

Below is a paragraph from the instructions for this new, revised and updated CD,Body-Centered Hypnosis for an Easier Pregnancy and Childbirth for those unfamiliar with how Body Centered Hypnosis works:

Keep in mind that body-centered hypnosis (track 3) works at a subliminal level to prepare you for the normal intensity of labor. While most women find it easy to go with the flow of my voice during the birth visualization, some may encounter some resistance to the change in cadence and volume as my voice reflects the intensity of contractions suggested in labor. In the unlikely event that you feel some resistance while using track 3, make sure you are breathing through the sound of my voice, as you would a difficult contraction. Work to yield to my voice tonality. The body-centered hypnosis is designed to create an experience through the auditory cortex of the brain that simulates labor, thus helping you cope with any resistance you may have to the labor process. Use the CD several times, until you feel yourself accepting and riding the waves of my voice through the contractions.

Contractions are like the waves of the ocean. Although the ocean can appear calm as a wave recedes from the shoreline, meeting and riding the power of that wave when it swells, requires a yielding adjustment to its force. That is what the body-centered hypnosis offers. Relax and enjoy the ride.
Best wishes for a positive and rewarding birthing experience!

Body-Centered Hypnosis for an Easier Pregnancy and Childbirth

Editing issues aside, I rated this a 4 because I had a short relatively painless childbirth. When I was done I actually thought, "I could do this again". As a student of hypnosis I can tell you that background fluffy soundscapes, while nice, are not required for results. Often times with hypnosis the client will think the session is "not working", but the proof is in the results. Obviously if the person's voice bothers you then you will be less inclined to relax. Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is NOT brought on by relaxation. Also, if you are listening to another's voice it is not considered "self-hypnosis". That would be when you are giving yourself suggestions. I lost this tape over the years and am buying it AGAIN, not because I like her voice, or the quality of the recording, but because I like the results!!

I agree with the others who found the tape extremely annoying. It may have had good things to say, but I could not get past the woman's voice or inflections. Just when I was starting to think about relaxing, she would say something so distracting or annoying I was snapped back to the present. I never made it through either side of the tape, but instead, threw it away.