How I became a Hypnobirthing teacher

About me 

My name is Lisa Mather and I am a fully qualified KGH Hypnobirthing teacher in Manchester. (DipHB KGH) I have a KGH Hypnobirthing Diploma, accredited by the Royal College of Midwives.
I live in South Manchester with my husband, and two children, Lily and Ernie, who were both born at home, after wonderful pregnancies and labours thanks to the power of hypnobirthing.
Having experienced first hand the amazing benefits of hypnobirthing I felt so passionate about sharing this knowledge and practice with others, so went on to train as a practitioner in the hope that I can empower women to take control of their body and their birth, build their confidence and instill them with the tools to be able to have calm and empowered births.

How hypnobirthing helped me 

My husband and I were over the moon to find that we were pregnant, however, this was overshadowed somewhat by my fear of giving birth and my apprehension around hospitals, needles and anything medical! In the past I have fainted from just visiting people in hospital. So my first thought was that I would look into having an elective C-Section, thinking that I could just get knocked out and wake up once it was all over. (How niave and uneducated I was!) However, then I heard about hypnobirthing and set about reading and researching everything I could. Being a control-freak, hypnobirthing seemed like the perfect solution for me as it enabled me to prepare for birth, and take back some control of my pregnancy, my body and my birth. Instead of being scared of the unknown I was able to learn about the process and fully prepare my mind and body for birth.

My husband and I did a four week face to face course which completely altered my outlook and preconceptions about birth. So instead of feeling nervous and worried, I was actually looking forward to my birth! I think the term ‘Hypnobirthing’ puts a lot of people off, it carries with it connotations of stage hypnosis involving putting people under a trance or being made to cluck like a chicken! However, the course was logical, practical and completely on our wave-length. (In other words you don’t have to be a hippy for it to resonate and work for you- much to the delight of my scepitcal husband) So we attended the sessions, did our homework, practised the breathing techniques and the scripts and listened to the audios. We were prepped and ready to go.

After much discussion and thought, we decided that we would like to aim to have a homebirth. Being a first time mum, and homebirths not being ‘the norm’, this was met with concern and negativity from some, however the hypnobirthing course equipped us with the knowledge and confidence to know that we had made the right decision for us and so we went on to have our baby at home in January 2019. It was an amazing experience, which I couldn’t have done without preparing my mind and body using the tools and techniques that we learned from Hypnobirthing.

How I became a hypnobirthing teacher 

After having had such an amazing birth, I decided to train to be a hypnobirthing teacher whilst on maternity leave. I was so passionate about spreading the word! I wanted all women to know about this incredible practice and felt so strongly that I wanted to be part of the change in the positive birth movement.

So here I am, the woman who was once so petrified of birth that I thought I would never have babies, now teaching other women how to prepare for positive births. That’s the power of hypnobirthing!