Have you heard of affirmations and how helpful they are for developing calm and confidence during pregnancy and labour?

One thing that a lot of pregnant women don’t know is that their body has a natural pain relief system that is supposed to ‘switch on’ during birth. In fact, this hormonal system, is considerably more effective than a shot of morphine!

However, many women today cannot access this pain relief system during birth. Not because their bodies can’t do it, but because the necessary emotional states needed for a woman to flow abundantly with the hormones that create this natural pain relief aren’t there.

Worry, fear, anxiety, terror, irritation, annoyance, frustration, anger, despair… these are all forms of stress that are common during the birthing process. 

These emotions lead to the body producing hormones like cortisol, and adrenaline which interfere with the body’s natural pain relievers.

So while it may sound cliché to say ‘the body achieves what the mind believes’, in the case of birth, it is often true!

That’s one of the reasons when it comes to preparing for birth many people like to take a complete hypnobirthing and newborn course that helps them build the mental and physical tools to get them from start to finish.

Birth affirmations and a strong, positive mind, can help you actually have a less painful birth!

So how do Birth Affirmations work?

Affirmations are specific positive statements that help you to overcome any negative thoughts you may have and to create new pathways in the brain for positive mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

When you repeat the same thoughts in your head, whether they are positive or negative, you start to believe them, and your brain forms a pathway of neurons. 

In this way, your thoughts can create your reality.

The Power of your Mind

Working on developing your positive thinking might conjure up images of self-help books and life coaches, but the practice of using “positive affirmations” actually has science to back it up.

Preparing your mind for labour and birth is really important, and it is no different to eating well, or working on specific exercises to prepare your body for labour.

Top Tips for using Positive Birth Affirmations

• The most important thing is to believe in the affirmation. If this is hard for you at the beginning, sometimes we need to keep on saying something until we do believe it.

• Repeat, repeat, repeat! It may take time for the positive pathways to form, so we need to see or listen to them consistently and constantly.

• Engage your senses. By either looking at them and saying them aloud or listening to them you’re flooding all of your senses with these positive messages.

For access to Birth Affirmations, plus a whole module on how you can prepare your mind for Birth, why not sign up to the Complete Hypnobirthing and Newborn Course?