Hey there! Visualization can be a powerful tool in labor and today i'm going to be walking you
through a visualization practice that will show you just how easy this technique can be.
Now, if you're interested in strengthening your visualization skills in advance of labor
and birth, I recommend that you save this video and repeat the visualization on a regular basis.
So, below you'll find a link that will take you directly to the start of the visualization so
you can jump directly there if this isn't the first time you're watching this video. Now,
before we start I recommend getting comfortable. This might look like lying down
or adjusting your seated position so that you can really allow yourself to relax. So, there are many
ways that you can do visualization some people teach a practice of guiding the visualization
where you go to a peaceful place or an ideal place in your mind. This is a great technique
but it is different from the one that I'm going to walk you through today. The visualization
that we're going to do together is walking you through a familiar place, your bedroom.
You can use your bedroom or another bedroom that you know well somewhere where you find peaceful
and calm. So, I've seen many women in labor find that imagining a familiar place can actually be
easier than creating a fictional ideal place. So, if you practice this technique regularly you
should be able to easily use visualization as one layer of your coping techniques.
After we finish, I will share what this can look like. Okay everybody let's begin.
Close your eyes and allow your body to relax. Allow the muscles in your body to hang and be
loose. Allow your jaw to be loose. Breathe in at a comfortable pace in and out with ease.
Now picture yourself in your bedroom. See yourself sitting on the side of your bed. You've just woken
up and there is a low light filtering in from a window. You decide to walk from your bed to
your kitchen. As you stand up, you feel the floor under your feet. What does it feel like? Are you
wearing socks, slippers or are you barefoot? Are you standing on a smooth floor or a scratchy rug?
As you take your first few steps, which direction are you heading? Did you turn right, left or stay
straight? Will you need to open a door or is the door already open? As you pass through a doorway,
reach right and touch. Did you feel the smooth wood of molding or the light texture of the wall?
Will you be walking downstairs, upstairs or is your walk short? How many more steps until you
reach the kitchen? Now that you've made it to the kitchen, do you hear any sounds around you?
Do you hear the appliances in the kitchen? The kitchen feels warm and welcoming.
Now that you are here, when you're ready, open your eyes and join me back on the video.
Welcome back, great work. Now, that visualization took just under two minutes from start to finish
which is really the length of a long contraction. So, let's talk about how to use a visualization
like this during labor. Now I recommend using it as a layer in a coping strategy. So,
let me diagram this out for a minute. Let's put breathing at the bottom of the coping strategy.
Slow in slow out. Then on top of that, we're going to add positioning. Maybe a forward lean
onto a wall with some nice open legs. Then next let's add movement. So a gentle rocking of our
pelvis back and forth. Finally, we close our eyes and we add that visualization strategy. Picturing
yourself walking from your bed to your kitchen. You'll continue this movement in and out with your
breath and the movement through the contraction. Now you have just created a powerful labor coping
strategy. Now as I mentioned in the beginning of the video I recommend practicing this strategy
on regular basis so that your mind is ready to go with visualization when labor starts really
easily. Now next time you watch this video you can just look in the description below and jump right
to the start with that link and if you haven't watched this video about how to speed up labor I
recommend watching that one next and finally if you aren't a subscriber make sure you get that
done so you can stay up to date with more helpful videos like this. See you next time, bye guys.