Sarasota Welcomes HypnoBirthing Founder

"When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change."
-Marie F. Mongan

I am thrilled to announce that in attendance for the upcoming Safe Motherhood Quilt Presentation, Maternal Health Care Panel Discussion, and An Evening with Ina May Gaskin, will be Marie ("Mickey") Mongan, founding director of the HypnoBirthing Institute.

Marie Mongan, M.Ed., M.Hy., of Chichester, New Hampshire, is an award-winning hypnotherapist, who brings to her classroom over thirty years' experience in education and counseling on the college level and in the private sector. She has recently relocated to Florida's east coast, and is coming to Sarasota to participate in the events at the end of this month.

Ms. Mongan is a former college dean who, early in her career, was named one of five outstanding educational leaders in New Hampshire and was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship to Harvard University.

Marie (best known as "Mickey") is licensed as a counselor and is certified as a hypnotherapist, hypnoanesthesiologist, and instructor of hypnotherapy. She holds several awards for distinguished service and achievement in the practice of hypnosis and is the 1995 recipient of the National Guild of Hypnotists President's Award. In 2000 she was presented with the coveted NGH Charles Tebbetts Award for her contribution in "shedding the light" and advancing the awareness of hypnosis. In 2005 she became the first woman ever to receive the highest award given by the National Guild: the Rexford L. North Award.

Mickey is the mother of four adult children, all born in the late 50s and early 60s. She experienced all four labors without labor medication, using the theories of Dr. Jonathan Dye, of Buffalo, New York, and Grantly Dick-Read, of the UK, two pioneers in natural childbirth. Two of her birthings were entirely free of anesthesia at a time when it was unheard of, and her husband was by her side in both the labor room and the delivery room. Her book, HypnoBirthing--A Celebration of Life, was written in 1989; her latest book, HypnoBirthing--The Mongan Method is now available in leading book outlets and through the HypnoBirthing Institute.

HypnoBirthing is as much a philosophy as it is a technique. The concept of HypnoBirthing is not new, but rather a rebirth of the philosophy of birthing as it existed thousands of years ago. This philosophy was recaptured in the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, who in the 1920s was one of the first to forward the concept of natural birthing. The method teaches that in the absence of fear and tension, or special medical circumstances, severe pain does not have to be an accompaniment of labor.

HypnoBirthing clients gain an understanding of how the birthing muscles work in perfect harmony when their bodies are sufficiently relaxed and they are able to trust birth. HypnoBirthing teaches women how to achieve this kind of relaxation, free of the resistance that fear creates, and how to use natural birthing instincts for a calm, serene and comfortable birth.

Trained HypnoBirthing educators are successfully teaching women and their birthing companions to trust birth and release all fear and limiting thoughts. HypnoBirthing practitioners can be found in 27 countries throughout the world.

Ms. Mongan will be available following Maternal Health Care in the 21st Century: Sarasota and Beyond for questions about her pioneering work in this field.