From Fear to Trust: Releasing Birth Anxiety Through Energetic Practices

For many women, pregnancy is a time of excitement, transformation, and deep connection. Alongside the joy there can, of course, also be fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of pain, fear of losing control, fear of the unknown of birth or even fear of becoming a parent and all that it brings.

These fears are real, and they can be deeply ingrained. Many of us have been exposed to negative birth stories, media portrayals of labour as something to awful to endure, and a medical system that sadly often prioritises intervention over intuition.

But here’s a truth: Fear and tension do not serve birth.

Trust and surrender do. 

When fear takes over, the body tightens, resists, and fights against the natural flow of labour. However, when a woman shifts from fear to trust, she allows her body to open, soften, and work with birth, rather than fight against it.

This shift isn’t just a mental one, it’s also an energetic one. Energetically fear is a low, dense vibration. Trust is high vibe flowing energies that support the birthing process. Trust comes from feelings of safety.

So how do we make this shift? Let’s explore the energetic patterns of fear and the holistic tools that can help release them, so you can step into birth feeling calm, confident, and deeply aligned.

How Fear Manifests Energetically in Birth

Fear isn’t just a thought that you think ... it’s an energetic state that we feel and it affects the body on multiple levels:

🌑 The Body Tightens & Closes – Fear activates the fight or flight response. This causes tension in the muscles, especially in the pelvis and jaw. This tension in the muscles (including the uterus) makes contractions feel stronger and can slow the progression in labour.

🌑 Shallow Breathing – When we’re anxious, we breathe high in the chest instead of deep into the belly. Shallow breathing shifts us into the fight or flight state and floods us with adrenalin. This impacts the flow of the birthing hormones, such as oxytocin. All of this can lead to overwhelm and feelings of panic and fear.

🌑 Mind Spinning – Fear based thoughts like can play on a loop in your mind “What if I can’t do this?” or “What if something goes wrong?” create a cycle of self-doubt and resistance that makes it harder to relax.

🌑 Restricted Energy – When a woman is afraid, her energetic body closes inward. Instead of expanding and opening into the experience of birth, we may feel disconnected from our intuition, our baby, and our body’s natural rhythm.

Recognising these patterns is the first step toward shifting out of fear and into trust.

Shifting from Fear to Trust: Holistic Practices for Birth Confidence

To create a calm and empowered birth experience we need to release stored up fears, reprogram limiting beliefs and shift into a more trusting, open state. Here are some powerful energetic tools to help with that transformation:

1. Breathwork: Opening the Body and Mind

Breath is the bridge between the physical and energetic body. When we breathe deeply, we signal safety to the nervous system, allowing the body to relax and open.

Try This: 
✔️ Inhale deeply through the nose, letting your belly expand fully.
✔️ Exhale slowly through the mouth, softening the jaw and shoulders.
✔️ With each breath out, repeat in your mind: "I soften, I open, I trust."

This breathing practice calms the mind, releases tension in the body, and creates a sense of safety. All of which are essential for a smooth, empowered birth.

2. Visualisation: Rewiring Fear into Confidence

The mind and body don’t know the difference between real experiences and vividly imagined ones, which means that by visualising a calm, powerful birth, you can train your body to respond with trust instead of fear.

💛 Try This: The Birth Trust Visualization
✔️ Find a quiet space and close your eyes.
✔️ Imagine yourself in a sacred birth space, surrounded by warmth and support.
✔️ See your breath flowing steadily, your body swaying and flowing with ease, and your baby moving gently down.
✔️ Feel a sense of deep trust and surrender washing over you.
This practice rewires the brain’s association with birth, replacing fear-based imagery with confidence, relaxation, and trust.

Reiki & Energy Clearing: Releasing Fear at a Cellular Level

Fear isn’t just in the mind—it can be held in the body’s energy field, creating blocks that need to be released before birth.

3. Affirmations: Reprogramming Your Birth Mindset

The words use and how we talk to ourselves shapes our reality. Using birth affirmations can help rewire your subconscious, turning birth from something to "fear" into something to trust and embrace.

Try These Affirmations:
"My body was made for this."
"I soften, I open, I trust."
"I ride each wave with ease and strength."
"I surrender to the rhythm of birth."
Affirmations replace self-doubt with confidence, fear with trust, and uncertainty with deep inner knowing.

4. Sacred Birth Rituals: Calling in Trust & Support

Creating a sacred space and ritual around birth can help release fear and invite a sense of protection and guidance.

Try This: A Fear Release Ceremony
✔️ Write down any fears you have about birth.
✔️ Light a candle and take a deep breath.
✔️ One by one, read each fear out loud and say: "I release this fear and choose trust."
✔️ Burn or tear the paper, watching the energy of fear leave your space.
This practice helps acknowledge and release fears so they don’t hold power over your birth experience.

Stepping into Birth with Trust & Confidence

Birth is not just a physical event—it is a deeply spiritual, energetic, and transformative journey. You are not meant to birth in fear. You are meant to birth in trust. However the world that we live in has us so disconnected from ourselves. By incorporating these energetic practices, you are preparing not just your body, but your mind and spirit for a birth that feels calm, powerful, and deeply aligned.

Ready to Let Go of Fear?

In Breathe for Birth women's circles we explore all of the above (and lots more) You will have the knowledge to understand how and why each of the practices works for you with the science behind each one. Breathe for Birth is the meeting of science and spirit that will inspire confidence and trust that is needed for birth.

I’ve created a free guided meditation to help you spend some time in stillness. When you are in the present moment in stillness you will enjoy feelings of calm and peace.

🎧 Listen to it here: Calm in Stillness Meditation

💬 I’d love to hear from you—what fears are you working through in pregnancy? Let’s release them together. Share in the comments below!