Hypnobirthing for the Menopause!

If you did hypnobirthing - say hello to an old familiar friend 👋

by Sophie Fletcher the best selling author of Mindful Hypnobirthing, Mindful Mamma and Mindful Menopause

Hypnobirthing for the menopause?

So, you did hypnobirthing and it was amazing, it taught you some great tools that have may have applied through pregnancy birth and parenthood.

But what happens when perimenopause rears its head?  Many women are having children later and those early days of parenthood can cross into a maelstrom of peri -menopause hormones which can short fuse you, discombobulate you and make things harder than they need to be.

As a hypnotherapist specialising in birth and early motherhood, I started to see the cross-overs more clearly in in my clinic room, similar symptoms expressed differently, presenting over a longer period of time, up and down, and unlike birth, with no end in sight.

And there is so much you can do. 

It’s very different in its approach but will feel beautifully familiar, like hypnobirthing in a different set of clothes. 

Hypnobirthing is about control, and pain management how is Mindful Menopause the same?

One thing different from birth is that it helps you to start to notice patterns. Symptom patterns are often out of your conscious awareness, you may not even know you are in peri-menopause, and if you are you will certainly not know the date of your menopause (yes it is just one day, the day upon which you can proclaim that you haven’t had a period for a year!)

Take hot flushes for example  - there is very strong evidence about hypnosis and the ability to manage hot flushes. In fact, one trial showed an improvement for 73% of women. But equally other areas around sleep, weight, body, brain fog can also be tackled with hypnosis and mindfulness.

Mediations like the SA TA NA MA, can maintain grey matter, hypnosis sleep strategies can help you improve your energy levels.   There are ways to reduce anxiety, and this can take so many different forms. Driving anxiety seems to be something that happens a lot.

In my book, Mindful Menopause, there are over 70 different tools and techniques that meet different experiences you may be having. It helps you see peri-menopause in a different way, and equip you with a broad set of tools you can choose to use, depending on your individual experience.

It’s not just physical! Like hypnobirthing, hypnosis for menopause helps with agency and confidence.

As with birth it’s not just physical aspects that can differ for each person in diversity and intensity, but also the existential aspects. You are moving to a different stage of your life, a new chapter, your brain is undergoing changes ready for this chapter, it’s immense.

Learning about your body, connecting with your body, leaning into the experience instead of fearing it can all increase your sense of agency. Helping you feel more confident with medical professionals.

Remember BRAINS from hypnobirthing?  Try applying it during a visit to the doctor during peri-menopause as well. 

Preparation with hypnosis and mindfulness.

But do we prepare for it?  Not really.   But neither did we prepare for birth 30 years ago.

More than once I sat across from someone in my therapy room and thought, “I wish you’d come to see me 10 years earlier”. 

This is positive preparation, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a space for the days that are hard – because there will be some. But setting an intention to have a positive experience rooted in your values, and what you want from your life is vitally important. 

Is this an alternative to HRT?

Just Ike my approach to hypnobirthing, I say these tools can be used for all different experiences. They’re about building confidence and improving your experience. 

With peri-menopause I think it’s even more important to remember that HRT can really help, but you still need to have great habits and behaviours around nutrition and exercise. You can still get anxious on HRT, you can still find other things hard. Hypnosis and mindfulness preparation for these midlife years can boost any other medication you are taking or any other work you are doing.

Where do I get started with this hypnobirthing for peri-menopause?

That’s the good news…I’ve been training a team of awesome hypnotherapists in these tools.

Unlike hypnobirthing you need to know that the course you are doing is founded in solid hypnosis tools. It’s not just breathing and relaxation.  It’s pattern recognition, daily mindfulness or hypnosis practices – it’s being able to “see the me I cannot see”.  

You get to learn self-hypnosis, so you can manage whatever aspects are unique to you.  10 years of thought and experience has gone into the work I’ve done around this.

I’ve been trying to get this message out to all the women who have valued and benefitted from their hypnobirthing experience – if that’s you. You’ll understand it straight away and be thirsty for an approach like this. If you always wished you did hypnobirthing, then you can prepare for menopause with intention.

I’ve got an online Mindful Menopause course for just £50. In this you’ll learn about this approach as well as some brilliant tools and techniques for different aspects of peri-menopause alongside some purpose written audio hypnosis tracks.  

This course is about making it your experience a powerful one, supports those brain changes that are happening and enables you step into your power and up into the next amazing chapter of your life!

• You can buy my course here, even choosing to gift it at the checkout. 
• You can also book a session with one of the hypnotherapists I’ve trained, both in person and online.
• Or attend a Mindful Menopause Group programme with one of my teachers.

Why not try a track for free by downloading it here.