Teaching Skills for Hypnobirthing Teachers

Teaching skills for Hypnobirthing Instructors

I once heard someone say “Be so good at what you do that they can’t ignore you” and I thought YES, this has been my philosophy throughout these last 9 years of running a Hypnobirthing business.

When you trust that what you offer is so great, you are able to talk about it with certainty and confidence. This magnetises clients. Plus, you benefit from word-of-mouth recommendation that allows bookings to come your way with more ease long-term.

I’m in the anti-more brigade though.

No, I don’t think you need to add a whole new session on biomechanics or baby care or even self-advocacy.

More isn’t more. More can be overwhelming. It can mean you are skimming through things. It can mean you scrape on the things that make your courses more of an incredible experience too.

So, here’s how you can enhance your teaching skills so that your Hypnobirthing courses are even better for your clients, without needing to add more information:

• Set the tone for your classes by creating a welcoming environment and one which compliments your brand. Consider factors such as lighting, comfort, temperature, and background music. Get prepared in advance for your session so that you are able to personally welcome your clients and make them feel at ease. Make notes of names with a distinctive detail about the person so that you are able to recall their name and use it to build rapport.

• Keep your client in mind ALWAYS. When looking at your plan for the session, view the content through their eyes. What misconceptions might they have? How can you address this? What technical terms might they misunderstand? How can you make sure you give them enough information, yet avoid overwhelming them?

• Be mindful of your own language. You are very likely to become that little birthy voice in their head. Your views will influence them, therefore check in with your own bias. Saying “induction is different to spontaneous labour” is more neutral that saying “induction is worse than spontaneous labour”. How could the term “worse” be interpreted by clients?

• Present your information in different ways. Only a small proportion of people learn best by sitting and listening to someone talking. By using a variety of ways to make your points and empathise them too, you will cater for everyone. You could include; visual aids (this can be as simple as a few rough sketches on a flip chart to refer to), stories, demos, discussion, quizzes, written tasks (eg write down you top 3 desires for your birth), videos, scenarios etc

• Listen actively. Really hear what your clients are saying will mean that you understand what they need from the course, plus it will make them feel validated and supported. Do this by being full present, patiently allowing them to finish what they are saying before responding. Give eye contact and use non-verbal cues such as nodding and head tilting. Always acknowledge their feelings rather than firing lots of solutions at them.

• Get your clients involved. Pre plan questions you can ask that are well pitched for your clients. Give them time to respond and use their answers as a lead into to the content you are about to share with them.

• Use repetition in your courses. Repetition allows your clients to consolidate their learning, plus it boosts their confidence that they actually know more than they think they do. So, provide opportunities to reflect back to points you have previously covered, practice techniques frequently and check in on learning that they have done previously with you.

• Hold them accountable. As well as getting lots from your sessions, you want them to really embrace the practice out of the sessions. Therefore, set them clear “homework” e.g. this week listen to your audio track at least 3 times. Ensure you follow up “how did you get along with listening to your track 3 times?”. Accountability makes it much more likely that your clients will build these techniques into their lives.

• Reflect on your sessions. Sometimes you might think ‘that part of my session didn’t go very well’. This is great information for next time. Why didn’t it go as well as you’d like? How can you learn from this? The greatest teachers aren’t the ones that have perfect sessions every time. They are the ones that are willing to learn from their mistakes to get better every time.

Better sessions, mean that more is retained by your clients. Your clients will be impacted more by your course. They will give you better feedback and no doubt spread the word about your business too.

I have a workshop that you can watch with even more ideas for better Hypnobirthing courses, full of teaching tips. Fill in the sign-up form here and get instant access. Did I mention, its free!

Have a gorgeous week

Abby x