What is an affirmation?

An affirmation is a positive statement that helps you to visualise something that you want to happen.

Breathing Space Yoga affirmation actually I can

Athletes and sports psychologists use this all the time. They visualise winning the race, beating their personal best, being the best. The more they repeat the belief that they can achieve their goal, the more possible it is to happen.

This works because it helps them to let go of negative or fearful thoughts, expectations and beliefs and replace them with positive messages (affirmations). When these positive phrases are repeated often enough we begin to believe them. (The same is true with the opposite, if we repeat negative expectations or beliefs often enough we start to believe them and think that they are true.)

What are the benefits of affirmations for labour and birth?

The human mind has an inbuilt, negativity bias (something I teach about in my meditation course) and we always veer towards the negative things in our lives because of it. Something negative will always overshadow something positive in our day – even if there were many more positive things - which there usually are. Way back in early human times this was to keep us safe, to be alert for danger (negatives) so that we could stay out of harm’s way. In our modern times we are bombarded with negatives through news and social media all the time, and our mind hangs on to them. I always wonder how different the world would be if we were only ever exposed to positive news.

Breathing Space Pregnancy Yoga Northwich

Your body is very capable of birthing your baby, in the same way as all the women before you have birthed theirs. It is designed to birth a baby, and can do so without being told how – you just need to listen inwards to your body and what it needs.

When we hear negative birth stories, anecdotes or off-the-cuff remarks from other people about the difficulty of labour and birth or how painful it is, or that we will definitely need lots of pain relief medication or an epidural, we start to believe that’s the only way. (remember people sharing these are drawn to the dramatic through their negativity bias, and you hold on to them through your negativity bias) But if we read positive birth stories, or hear positive anecdotes we start to realise that positive birth really is a possible outcome. Like an athlete about to face their challenge, we can see the positive process and outcome of our labour and birth journey.

To overcome any fear or anxiety of birthing your baby, having positive affirmations around you, reading them regularly, and making them your belief, can help you to have a positive birthing experience, because you are letting go of fearful beliefs and replacing them with positive ones.

Physically, fear and negativity has an impact on our body – it activates the fight, flight, freeze areas of our brain and nervous system. So if you are fearful and anxious in labour and birth your body will respond accordingly, wanting to challenge, run away, or hide from the process. This can slow down the progress of your labour, thus making it more challenging and perpetuating the negativity cycle and the possibility of medical interventions you may not have planned.

Positive affirmations can help you to ease and train your mind, trust in your body and will remind you in labour and birth, that you CAN overcome the huge physical challenge and positively birth your baby - you can do it!

How to use pregnancy and birth affirmations

Now we know that positive birth affirmations help to reframe negative associations of labour and birth. They help to shift your mindset and build confidence by focusing on empowering statements rather than fear or negativity.

Breathing Space Pregnancy Yoga in Northwich

To help get the most from your affirmations print them or write them out and put them in places you will see them often – your home screen on your phone or laptop, on the fridge, inside cupboard doors, on the mirror, next to your bed – anywhere you like!

Repetition is key:

Read them and repeat them everyday –in the morning, before bed, or whenever you need reassurance.

Say them out loud or write them down a few times – speaking or writing them reinforces their impact.
Believe in them – even if they don’t feel true at first, regular repetition will help them sink in.
Use with a visualisation – picture yourself calm, happy, and strong in your labour and birth while saying your affirmations.

During labour:

Have your favourite affirmations in your birth space so that you will see them and feel the encouragement.

Examples of pregnancy and birth affirmations

Download the PDF of these affirmations here