Hypnosis is cool!

We had our second Hypnobirthing class last night. It was awesome. I love hypnosis. At the end of each class, the therapist walks us through a "hypnosis" session. To me, it's more like a "guided imagery" or "deep relaxation" session. I think I had a false idea in my head of what "hypnosis" really was. You don't become a different person under hypnosis. You're just calm and relaxed.

Anyway, at the end of the first class, she walked us through some deep breathing and relaxation, then she had us imagine we were in a kitchen. It had to be a kitchen we were familiar with and which we loved. I put myself in my Grandmother Mineer's kitchen. Jeremy was in Alton Brown's kitchen (from "Good Eats" on the Food Network). We pictured the kitchen in detail, then were asked to picture a lemon on the counter and a knife next to it. Eventually, we were instructed to "cut" the lemon. When we did this, I kid you not, I could SMELL it!! Just as if it was real. It was so cool. I think I jumped a little out of my chair because it startled me so much.

Last night, the guided imagery was a little different. We were asked to picture ourselves in a control room (for some reason, I put myself in a submarine) and picture a valve on the wall. The "on" setting meant we were alert, aware, and fully functional. There was an "off" setting which meant we were deeply relaxed. Then there was a "select" setting, which meant we could turn off specific parts of our body. She had us "turn off" our right hands, which made mine cold and tingly. Then, she had us turn off our right legs. Once they were off, she asked us to move them, but THERE WAS NO WAY THAT LEG WAS GOING TO MOVE! It was so weird! I was scared at first because I didn't want to be the only one in the class who could flop my leg around, but sure enough, mine was seriously STUCK to the floor. All I could think was WOW. Of course, once she had us turn our "valves" back to "on", we could move again.

The mind has some serious control over the body. I'm excited to keep practicing (we have some CDs we are to use every day). The women who experience childbirth with Hypnobirthing describe their contractions as "pressure waves". They say they don't feel pain, just pressure. That is not to say that the contractions aren't intense, of course they are! But they are experienced differently when one is in control of one's mind. It's so cool. I love it.