Hypnobabies....immoral?

[hasikelee]

I have heard from other expecting mommies of a program called Hypnobabies, where the woman practices meditation and relaxation techniques (including specific steps of hypnosis) to reduce pain during delivery and to achieve a level of relaxation.

Nothing sounded new age or spiritual per se, but I was wondering if this falls under the category of reading horoscopes, practicing magic/spells, etc?

 

[IrishAm]

Without knowing anything about the specific program, I would say probably not, as most medical hypnosis in the western world is strictly secular. And not a particularly new event, either. Thirty years ago, when I was having babies, my very Catholic doctor was big into teaching self-hypsosis to patients along with the usual breathing exercises to encourage drug-free births. For some, I guess it was helpful. For me, it never worked. I’m too much of a control person to ever “let go” completely, and am TERRIBLE at visualization (the “you are walking along a beach” nonsense). One of the doctors in the practice was really eager to get a cesarean delivery mom (which I was) to agree to have her baby delivered under hypnosis, without anesthetic. It was being done successfully in some area. Not sure if anyone was crazy enough to take him up on it – I certainly wasn’t!