The Calm Birth Method

By: Suzy Ashworth

Narrated by: Liz Stanford

Discover tried-and-tested techniques to help you relax during labour, including mindfulness, breathing exercises and visualization, so that you can have an empowering, positive birth.Now with two new chapters, this brand-new edition of The Calm Birth Method will show you how you can make birth a gentle and enjoyable experience. This authoritative guide will help you to build confidence in your body and its abilities and offers practical techniques to support and prepare you. Walking you and your birth partner through the whole process of birth preparation, Suzy Ashworth and Liz Stanford share: Why many people feel so scared of giving birth and how to eliminate these fears during pregnancy How relaxing during birth transforms your physiology Practical techniques to promote deep relaxation and mindfulness How to unify birth partners and care providers to ensure the birthing environment is stress-freeTake the power back into your own hands so that you can learn to trust your body and look forward to welcoming your child into the world.

negativity

As sone to be a first-time mom, this book ultimately was not for me. I have intentionally avoided negative birth stories and fear-based narratives, and I have not had any prior negative thoughts or birthing experiences. Unfortunately, this book introduced many of those fears and negative ideas into my thought process.
As a Black woman, I am already aware of the very real risks and disparities surrounding pregnancy and childbirth in the United States, and the book brought those concerns to the forefront as well. What was especially disappointing is that the book explicitly advises readers to avoid negative birth stories, yet proceeds to share several—particularly around high blood pressure, preeclampsia, and other complications.
I expected this book to be inherently positive and empowering, but it leaned heavily into fear-based examples and negative connotations that did not align with my needs or mindset. Because of this, I chose to stop reading at Chapter 3. now i could change going forward but I just cant proceed to listen any further.

Helpful and reassuring

I’m sold on the Calm Birth School methods and what it borrows from hypnobirthing. The ideas that every way of giving birth is valid, that birthing people have the right to choose what they want, and that we’re meant to do this are calming. I’m not even pregnant yet and the breathing techniques are helping reduce stress and make me more present in my daily life already. This book is making me consider getting certified as a hypnobirthing instructor by the Calm Birth School (I’ve already had basic birth doula training). The one piece of feedback I have about how this book could be better is that it was redundant at times. I think 25% of it could have been cut. But the repetition also helped to drive home the messages, so it’s still worth the time.