HypnoBirthing teaches women and their partners techniques to reduce and/or eliminate any fear or negative thoughts towards the birth process and to take back instinctive birth. By teaching methods of deep relaxation, visualization, massage, and much more, HypnoBirthing allows women to take back what is rightfully theirs: the confidence and knowledge to have a calm, comfortable, and safe birth.
About Ashley
I began my professional career in Kentucky as a Registered Nurse supporting women in a hospital setting as a postpartum/newborn nursery nurse for many years. After moving to the Durango area, I continued working in maternal/child health, but in a home setting as a nurse home visitor for the Nurse-Family Partnership program (a public health program that offers supportive home visits to women from pregnancy until their child turns 2 years old). Supporting women and families during pregnancy, birth, and early childhood has always been my passion.
Once I became pregnant with my first child, I knew I wanted to welcome this new being into the world in a calm and gentle way – I knew that was possible by witnessing some amazing women birth their babies peacefully and uninterrupted during my time working in the hospital. I first heard of HypnoBirthing, over a decade ago, during a presentation from one of my nursing school professors. Her presentation contrasted her birth experiences: the first that took place in a hospital and ultimately resulted in a cascade of interventions, and the second as a home birth, utilizing HypnoBirthing techniques. The stark difference in her experiences forged a profound impression on me. There were no HypnoBirthing classes offered in our area of the Southwest at the time of my first pregnancy, so I bought the book and taught myself the techniques. The birth of my first daughter was a wonderful, gentle, calm, intimate experience that my husband and I still cherish today.
That experience re-kindled my fire for serving women during this sacred rite of passage and motivated me to pursue a certification to teach HypnoBirthing. I hope that through this offering, other women can learn about and experience the power of their natural birthing bodies and feel confident in their birthing choices, no matter what turn a birthing journey takes.
Since my initial journey into HypnoBirthing, I have had the privilege of welcoming my second daughter into this world with another gentle, calm, and intimate birth using these techniques.
My Philosophy
I believe that birth is a natural, normal event for which women's bodies are perfectly designed. Just as our hearts are perfectly designed to pump blood through our bodies and our lungs are perfectly designed to take in air, so too, are our bodies perfectly designed to give birth. Healthy women and their healthy babies deserve to be given the chance to birth calmly, safely, and free of unwarranted stress and intervention.
