Birth trauma can be hard to define. It can sneak up at the strangest of times, and it doesn’t look the same for everyone.

According to writer and birth trauma expert, Parijat Deshpande, Birth trauma is defined as “any experience that a birthing person has at the time of labor and delivery that feels unsafe or threatening and is encoded as such in the body.”

Deshpande goes on to say that when we’re unable to restore physiological safety after the moment of threat passes, the survival stress gets trapped inside the musculature, fascia, joints, and sensory systems where it can later manifest itself in various ways for weeks and even years following the experience.  

That’s where Rewind comes in. The ‘REWIND’ technique is a non-intrusive, safe and highly effective psychological method for de-traumatizing people, especially around birth. It’s performed once a person is in a state of deep relaxation and always with a trained emotional health provider.

Birth Trauma Rewind is comprised of three stages.

The first stage is deep relaxation. Once a patient is fully relaxed, they’re encouraged to bring their experience to the surface and then are calmed down again by being guided to recall or imagine a place where they feel totally safe. Then, their relaxed state is then deepened and they are asked to imagine that, in their special safe place, they can watch themselves watching the birth or traumatic event that is still affecting them. The “film” begins at a point before the trauma occurred and ends at a point at which the trauma is over and they feel safe again. Then, they are then asked, in their imagination, to float back into their body and experience themselves back in the event – they can do this part as many times as they need.

The technique is safe, quick and painless, and doesn’t require the person to discuss the event or analyze it, meaning that it prevents them from being re-traumatized which is something that can happen when the person keeps repeating their birth story.

Rewind doesn’t remove the memory. It simply lets the emotions around it be what you choose them to be – so you could say for example you want to be calm and at peace with your birth experienced. It also helps to gently reduce and calm dominating emotions that are triggered when recalling a memory.

Rewind Technique for birth trauma and loss therapy is for anyone who has experienced a difficult birth recently, or even many years in the past. It is also for those who would like another child but are too fearful of birth, and those who are pregnant but have fear over the birth of a previous child.

It can also used this technique for miscarriage and loss.