We use visualisation a lot in hypnobirthing and I know a lot of people are very skeptical about it, but with my second baby, everything I had visualised for my baby’s birth happened, literally every detail. Even down to the timing. I wanted things to start after my older son went to sleep at night. I wanted to be at the hospital for about one hour, before she was born and I wanted the ‘pushing phase’ to be no more than 10 minutes. I wanted to catch her myself and everything I visualised happened.
So what exactly is visualisation and how can you use it?
“Visualization helps our brain send a signal to our body to start behaving in a way consistent with the images in our head,” NYC-based therapist Kimberly Hershenson, “It helps give us a clear picture of what we’d like to achieve and a vision that it is, in fact, possible.”
How do you practise visualisation? 5 steps:
- Write what you want in detail, engaging all 5 senses.
- Imagine the emotion attached to the outcome.
- Use affirmations to support your visualization.
- Create a vision board with your visualisation ideas.
- Take action every day toward your desired outcome. Replay the scene in your mind over and over, say it out loud, read your notes, plan for it, research for it.
Visualisation is also a really powerful form of self-care. Spending any amount of time with yourself and in your own thoughts is a form of mindfulness / meditation.
When it comes to the birth you want, visualise it, aim for it, plan for it.
Read the perfectly visualised birth of my second baby from the perspective of my birth partner:
The Positive Birth Group 