Hypnobirthing Rainbow Relaxation Woman

See my pregnancy photo series on Angie's Nest

After lots of time and research, as well as just feeling what was best for me, I chose hypnobirthing as the way I wanted to give birth to my baby. You can read all the reasons I chose a natural birth here, but as a first-time pregnant mom, it just resonated with the way I wanted to bring my son into the world. The rainbow relaxation is a hypnotherapy method that not only provides a birthing mother colorful imagery to focus on in labor, but also corresponds to the colors of the chakras on each portion of the body she needs to relax. The visualization allows you to to relax every muscle through one of the most challenging physical feats your body will perform.

As I prepared myself for the birth of my son {read my birth story here}, I wanted to create a piece to commemorate my pregnancy and help me with the visualization. So one night I turned the rainbow relaxation CD on repeat, set up my art table, and went to work. After I got going I realized I wanted to share it with my birth team as well, so in the end I came out with three of these pieces -- one for me, one for my midwife, and one for my hypnobirthing instructor. These two women had both been such an incredible help and support through my pregnancy, I thought they deserved one too. <3

I actually based it off of my 34 week photo from my baby bump photo series. I often snap photos of myself to help base body positions on when I'm sketching. Most works I don't really intend as self-portraits, but this one I wanted to represent me in my pregnancy experience. Each color of the rainbow lines up with the chakra on her body, and she is green -- the color of birth (and coincidentally my chosen birth color).

I gave a framed original to my hypnobirthing teacher when she came to see me in the hospital. She was so touched, she shared it with Marie Mongan, the founder of hypnobirthing. Well, turns out Marie loved it and contacted me to use it for the cover of the new rainbow relaxation album, for hypno instructors to use in their classes, amongst other things. Pretty cool! I started making this piece for myself, but so humbled that it will now help many, many more women through their birth experience. When my son looks at it, now two months old, he stares at it mesmerized even more than most artwork. So glad I have something to represent his journey here and mine to motherhood. Hope you enjoy it, too!

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