Hi!
I’m Anna Clarkson, (DipHB)
I came to Hypnobirthing in 2016 during my second pregnancy, having had a pretty difficult labour and long recovery with my first baby.
I knew I had to somehow deal with my fears, take responsibility for the way I wanted to give birth and approach pregnancy and labour from a more confident and informed position.
I definitely thought it sounded like total hippy bullshit but when I got past the name and did my research, I came to realise how logical and to be frank, obvious it all was. Within 30 minutes I was hooked.
My husband and I practised every day and I had an amazingly positive and powerful second birth at Homerton Hospital. It was incredibly healing. Was it pain-free? Absolutely not. Was it the hardest and best thing I’ve ever done- no question.
I can honestly say my second pregnancy, labour and postnatal experience was utterly life changing, so after becoming a complete bore about it to anyone who’d listen, I decided to formally pursue Hypnobirthing teaching.
In March 2020 I completed my teacher training and graduated with a Diploma in Hypnobirthing from Katherine Graves Hypnobirthing, the teaching course is fully accredited by the Royal College of Midwifery. This gave me a good grounding but I wanted to extend my learning and in October 2020 I converted over to The Birth Uprising. This has allowed me much greater flexibility and ability to provide a modern, inclusive and fun approach to pregnancy, birth and postnatal preparation.
“Don’t let the ‘hypnobirthing’ name put you off, Anna delivers the course brilliantly, with compassion, humour and no bulls**t.”
For all the fun and LOLs of my classes, I don’t shy away from some pretty tough truths about systematic issues in the NHS maternity system. To gloss over this is to not fully prepare you to navigate it as an individual. Birth rights are human rights, and I am here to ensure that you get the very best birth experience, because you damn well deserve it!
I have developed my own Hypnobirthing for planned caesarean birth course which is a dedicated space to celebrate c-section/abdominal/belly births. It goes into great detail about the many choices available, how to write your birth plan, each stage of the surgery as it takes place and the different recovery needs of that birth experience. It can be an absolutely beautiful experience, there are several stories in the positive birth stories section of my website.
Antenatal education should be a safe space for all, I don’t believe that birth belongs to white, CIS, het women alone, and I am committed to continuing to develop my work as an ally to ALL who birth. In 2020 I completed LGBTQIA+ competency training with AJ Silver from The Queer Birth Club and over the year have attended various allyship training sessions with Mars Lord from Abuela Doulas.
It is vital to keep on developing my skills and I have recently completed a VBAC-specific course - specific birth rights training with Emma Ashworth and am currently completing my accreditation for Three Step Trauma Rewind.
I feel my greatest asset as a teacher is that I’m a mother who has given birth twice with two very different birth experiences.
I know that my second pregnancy and birth wasn’t the powerful and incredible experience it was by happy accident or because it was my “second go” at labour.
I committed to practising every day,
I made informed choices and confidently navigated my care with robust and dignified conversations with my health care providers.
I had a total appreciation of my body, how it works and what it is capable of.
I had a birth partner by my side, on my side who actively supported and advocated for me every step of the way.
Had my labour taken a different turn or the other participant (my daughter) decided on a course of events I know that I will have met it calmly and still felt really positive about it.
I’m passionate about helping you and your birth partner have a positive and empowering experience, free from judgement - that is right for you.