Visualise a lotus flower

Visualisation of the Lotus! A universal metaphor for birth by Suzanne Swan

When I was in labour I had a picture of a lotus flower on my mantelpiece.  I remember clearly looking into the centre of the flower during labour surges and seeing the petals flowing outwards.  My mind was transformed into another place as I imagined my cervix like the flower opening.  I know they say you can’t make your cervix open but I concentrated my will and I felt my cervix opening, it crackled, not like a flower at all but like muscle giving way.   I have had other mums over the years share the same experience.  They simply thought about and imagined their body opening and it did in a very short time.  The second common element in their stories was they were all upright either sitting on the toilet or crouching in the birthing pool or floor.