The Power of Birth Affirmations: How to create a better birth with your words

Original Photo by Sophia Cook

The power of words is known on an instinctual level and has been taught by many wise teachers.  Despite this knowledge we unconsciously begin to align ourselves with them, even if they are negative. Words carry a weight of their own and they can be used to lift someone up or tear them down, the same is true for the words you use about yourself and your birth.

A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination, prepared to be herself and only herself.
~ Maya Angelou

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. ~ Buddha

'Tis a strange mystery, the power of words!
Life is in them, and death. A word can send
The crimson colour hurrying to the cheek.
Hurrying with many meanings; or can turn
The current cold and deadly to the heart.
Anger and fear are in them; grief and joy
Are on their sound; yet slight, impalpable:—
A word is but a breath of passing air

~ Letitia Elizabeth Landon

        Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. ~ Proverbs 16:24 ESV


Choose to surround yourself with words, poems, and songs that lift your heart and fill you with joy when you visualize your birth. 

The Rose

My cervix is like a rosebud
Ready to Open
I am nurtured by those around me as the rose is nurtured by the soil
The rosebud gradually, ever so softly, opens and blossoms.
I open and blossom.
My cervix is soft and ripe like a rosebud.
I see the outer petals of the rose falling away
I see my cervix yielding like the outer petals of the rose.
Every contraction opens another petal of my rosebud cervix.
I welcome each contraction, which helps me open my rosebud cervix.
I welcome and receive all the nurturing around me, which helps me open.
Just like the warm sun opens the rose, the warmth I receive opens my cervix.

I yield and open.
The rose does not resist.
I open and blossom.

~ Barbara Harper“Gentle Birth Choices”

Making a list of positive birth affirmations is a technique used in Hypnobirthing and has become more common practice in women wanting to create a positive birth experience.  Birth affirmations should be short, positive, and based in the present.  Write them on pretty paper and hang them around your house or paint them into a picture to hang in your birthing space.  One mother that I was doulaing for made a book of birth affirmations using a ring of index cards that she read during her birth.  A banner is another creative way to display your birth affirmations, they can be hand made by you or bought from various crafters.  Some women include this in their blessing-way or baby shower and ask each guest to make an affirmation to add to their banner. 

This is a list of Birth Affirmations to choose from or take a few minutes to sit down in a quiet space and let them come to you. When creating your list remember that your birth journey is unique and will unfold on its own. Trust your intuition, love yourself and enjoy your birth, you were created to do this!

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My body was created to birth

I am relaxed and open to each sensation

Each contraction is a wave, I let it wash through me and then I release it

I can do this, I am doing this

Birth is a safe and wonderful experience

I am aware and in control of my breathing

I am grounded, I am strong

I allow the rhythm of birth to flow through me

My body and baby know what to do, I surrender fully and completely

I am doing this exactly right

The pain is my power.  It opens me up like a flower in bloom, making room for my baby's entry into the world

My pelvis releases and opens as have those of countless women before me

I accept myself completely here and now

I now feel inner peace and serenity

I accept this labor as my labor and believe it is the right one for me and for my baby

I love and accept my body completely

I accept all my feelings as part of myself     

I feel the love of others around me

My baby knows all is well

The strength of my contractions are a sign of my feminine strength