My Origin Story – From Doula to Hypnotist!
In 2003 I was thinking about having my second baby at home. It was the middle of the SARS outbreak and I wanted more than the allotted one support person present with me during my labour and birth. My husband, at the time and I decided to ask our Midwife about the options of having a home birth. My first labour was only four hours so the idea of a home birth made sense for many reasons. Good thing we did because from the time I woke up in the morning to me trying to have a shower (had to shave my legs) it was 20 minutes later and my second daughter was born! Her birth had happened so quickly that it was “unattended”; meaning no medical practitioner (my midwife in this case) was present. My mom caught my daughter as she literally slid out on a contraction into a tub that I hadn’t finished having my shower in. This happened on what would have been her mom’s 100th birthday! How amazing was that?! Essentially 4 generations present for this birth. From that moment forward I became a huge advocate of birth being a beautiful event instead of the chaotic traumatizing emergency as we are shown through images on tv and media.
Moving forward, with women’s fitness already my focus, I added Doula and Lactation Counselor to my empowerment tool kit. A Doula is a non-medical support person during pregnancy, labour and postpartum. I wanted to help empower and equip women for with knowledge, physical and emotional support and advocacy during a time when they often drift from focus and become a non-consenting machine to be monitored. During that time I spent time in lactation clinics helping new mothers with breastfeeding. I loved supporting woman and their partners as their families grew and expanded. It is amazing how when a woman feels empowered emotionally, physically and informationally the focus of her pregnancy and birth is less on the outcome and more on the experience of how she felt. My focus has never been whether the mother had an epidural or how long she stuck with breastfeeding but about helping her to discover what she wanted and having the courage and strength to run with that. Judgement is not something I practice.
Juggling my own young children and a very work focused husband followed by a move far away from all family support I decided to place my Doula hat up for a while. Life moved on for a few years and eventually my life situation changed. I entered a phase where I was a changing and shifting focus to take the lead in my own life. I was introduced to hypnosis and decided to use it to help me heal some of my own issues. From there I realized how in-line with my values and principles it was and how in essence it was what I had been using for so many years with my labouring doula clients. As my life had opened up with this beautiful opportunity I took it and ran. I started training with people from all over the world and started up my own practice. And that is how Grounded Hypnosis was formed. In amongst all of the hypnosis training I took my Doula hat off of the shelf and pair that into my practice again. I have had the wonderful privilege to help many with a variety of things: anxiety, low self confidence, addictions, trauma, pain, and so much more. Please refer to my https://groundedhypnosis.com/about/ to find out more about what I have worked with and how I can help you. Hypnosis such a wonderfully multifaceted tool! Reach out to me and we can talk about how it’ll improve your life!