As a mother of four children myself, I had very different experiences for each of my births

This gave me an inside view into the many ways birth can happen.

My first birth was a planned free birth, where my husband + I decided to be home with family to birth our first baby. She ended up having a rough time arriving + we decided to head into the local birth center to receive help. It was pretty intense, with them pushing interventions on me that they deemed necessary. I still was able to advocate for myself and I felt very empowered as a result of the experience. Because I was so educated, I knew what was for me and what wasn't.

My second birth was magical. I had decided that having a midwife present would be helpful so I wouldn't have to think about anything other than birthing my babe. I also had a doula present, an acupuncturist who had been treating me weekly from 20 weeks on. She was the one who mentioned hypnosis to me. I birthed my baby in my bed with minimal pain (it actually felt closer to an orgasm, tbh) and was so into it that I exclaimed I'd love to do that again, right afterward. It was the most magical experience I have had so far in my life.

This experience led me to attend midwifery school, become a doula + childbirth educator. 

My third baby was born at home with a midwife in our mountain home and again, such an empowering and beautiful experience. My husband was able to catch the baby and the only hands that touched my son for the first few hours were those of our loving family. I walked away from that experience feeling so empowered and loved.

I realized that I wasn't ready to be a midwife at this point, and that I felt called to work with women through their health journeys. In 2002, I enrolled in school to become a Holistic Health Practitioner, massage therapist, holistic aromatherapist, acupressurist, and vibrational medicine therapist. This brought together my previous education as a midwifery student along with my training in herbology, homeopathics, natural medicine, nutrition + more.

My fourth child was born in a birth center with a midwife that I didn't fully trust. I had experienced a very stressful and traumatic year and was deep in grief over the death of my father (I labored all day on his birthday) I felt very upset about the treatment I experienced at the hands of this midwife and eventually had to use my voice to share what happened with the birth center staff. I knew that what I had gone through was slight compared to other stories I heard of traumatic births, But it affected me greatly. I knew that I would one day become a leading voice in making sure this didn't happen to anyone else in the future.

in 2014 with a partner I created the sacred sister society where I taught ancient wisdom and rituals in circle online to women around the world  

in 2015 I created The Moon Sisterhood to further share my love of rituals and teach women about the natural cycles they share with the moon to empower them in their daily lives  

In 2019 my oldest daughter gave birth to my first granddaughter at her home with the midwife I had used for my third birth. It was such a sacred experience, watching my daughter believe in her body + birth with such confidence. As her doula I felt like everything just flowed so wonderfully. Holding my granddaughter was amazing.

In 2019, decided to expand my career and become a certified hypnotherapist and NLP master practitioner.

Three years later, my son and his partner shared the news that they were expecting my second grandchild and I knew that I wanted to share hypnobirthing with them so I signed up for a training and spent 3 months getting certified to  each hypnobirthing. They were my case study couple!

I know that the education they received helped them immensely, not just in birth, but also as parents. They are confident in the decisions that they make raising their baby. It's beautiful to witness how knowledge creates confident parents.

Hypnobirthing doesn't just help you to have a calm, peaceful birth, it reminds you of who you are what you are capable of. It shows you your strengths and helps you to face your fears and limiting beliefs. It challenges you to let go of what the world has told you about birth. It allows you to gather strength in the sacred rituals that have been erased from our modern birthing world. It replaces the fear + anxiety we are taught is natural with empowered knowledge that our body can function properly in birth. We can trust ourselves to have the sacred birth experience that we crave.

In 2023 I have expanded my skill set even more, become an EFT/TFT/EMDR Master Practiitiiner, a prenatal and postpartum yoga teacher, Somatic Breathwork Facilitator, Auriculotherapist. I am continuing my studies in yin yoga and kundalini yoga to better serve my community. I regularly hold soundbaths online and in person here in Huntington Beach, CA.

I am so happy to share my experiences and knowledge with you to ensure that birth returns to the sacred ritual that is has always been for you and your family.

xo, AJ Hayman

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