The following script will help you breathe properly throughout your childbearing process. Breathing is very important to your overall success as it will help you relax and also give you a focal point. Take the time to practice this session as often as you can so you can be proficient with it before your actual birthing procedure.

You have a desire to use self-hypnosis and special breathing techniques that can help to bring about a shorter, easier, and more joyful birthing experience, free of harmful drugs for you and your baby. You will bring your child into this world in a more comfortable manner, awake, alert, and fully in control. Even your recuperation period will be so much quicker and easier. You have made a very wise decision, one that will give you and your new child a head start in life.

You are now receiving the tools you need to help you to be relaxed and calm through the birthing process. Through this knowledge you are able to take away the unknown so as to remove any fear and anticipation. Through relaxation you will learn how to work with your body's natural rhythm instead of fighting it. One of the main keys of being in control is knowledge, and you have taken the time to prepare and understand the stages of the birthing process and how deep-relaxation techniques can help you.

Realize right now that you are not in a deep trance state or a state of unawareness, instead you are in a daydreaming state, as if you were watching yourself on a movie screen. You can continue to imagine yourself as if you were sitting in a theater watching yourself on the screen throughout the entire process. If at any time you find yourself becoming stressed or experiencing any discomfort that you do not wish to, simply remind yourself that you are sitting in this theater watching yourself on the screen and will not experience any discomfort or inconvenience. This way you do not experience anything directly.

You are completely aware of what is going on around you even though you are focused on being totally relaxed. You focus simply on the now, realizing that what has happened and what has not yet happened is irrelevant. All that matters is what is going on right now, and right now you are totally relaxed and completely in control. By being in the now you have eliminated stress and anxiety, as they both exist only in the future and the past. Having eliminated them, you will find that your body can stay relaxed since they are the reason your body tends to contract and tighten, which is what causes pain and hinders the birthing process. You are relaxed.

Once you have begun the birthing process, you will focus on your breathing. Even though you are focusing on your breathing, you will still be able to hear everything else going on around you. Therefore, if you are given a task to do or asked a question by whomever is conducting the birthing process, you will be able to respond easily and immediately even though you are focusing on your breathing.

You will now be guided through the process of how focusing on your breathing should be done. Right now I would like you to take a slow, deep breath … and once you have exhaled completely … mentally say to yourself the number … one. Take a second deep breath and upon totally completing that one … say to yourself the number … two. Continue counting after each breath until you get to twelve breaths and then begin the process over again counting from one to twelve.

You will continue doing this until you are given instructions to stop. If at any time you lose your place or count more than the number twelve, simply start over again at one. Continue now to count your breaths on your own until you hear my voice again.

(Insert enough time to count four to five cycles of twelve, then conduct the awakening.)