Have you ever found yourself ruminating about things, going over and over the experiences of your day, beating yourself up about the way you talked to your child, and not able to relax to sleep at night? Well, I occasionally find that relaxing to sleep is difficult for me, but I have found a wonderful solution! Self-hypnosis helps me turn off my mind and relax my body enough to go to sleep. It has also been helping me handle the pain I experience during nursing.
I first learned self-hypnosis during my pregnancy through my Hypnobabies birthing class. Through the use of guided CDs we created a “switch” that I can now use to turn off the muscles of my body and completely relax. It’s one of the best skills I’ve learned in the past year.
So now, whenever I find myself ruminating or tense when I’d rather be relaxing, I simply “turn off” and instantly relax my entire body. Amazingly, the process of turning off my muscles seems to naturally relax my thoughts too!
I have struggled with pain during my entire nursing experience. For the first 9 weeks of my daughter’s life the pain was so excruciating that I would bite my hand in order to take my attention away from my nipples. And now, more than 7 months into nursing, I still have days when my daughter’s mouth feels like a vice clamp.
It took me a while, but in the past few weeks I suddenly remembered what I learned in my birthing class and have been practicing “turning off” when I begin to nurse. Wow, what a difference! Instead of leaving a nursing session in pain and tension, I actually feel relaxed and refreshed. And I’m certain that my milk is flowing more easily now that I’m more relaxed too.
So, how does this apply to you? Well, you might think that self-hypnosis is difficult, takes lots of training, or wouldn’t be possible for you, but I’ve learned that we are in a state of hypnosis often throughout our day, we just might not recognize it. Continue reading “Hypnosis, one of my new favorite tools”