DreamBirth® and How Imagery Can Support Us Through Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Parent-Baby Connection
Dr. Špela Peternel is recognized doula and DreamBirth practitioner. She is a TEDx speaker, and her focus is always on the wellbeing and support for pregnant mothers and their families. Her belief is, that everyone should listen to their own intuition.
Pregnancy and childbirth are profound physical, emotional, and psychological transitions. While medical care often focuses only on birth physiology and the health of both the mother and the baby, doulas know from experience that parents’ fears, beliefs, and expectations also greatly affect the birth and thus deserve attention. Not only the baby but also the mother and father are born during the birth of the child.
In my doula practice, I’ve supported more than 1,000 families through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Since I started using DreamBirth®, the births I attend have been quicker, with fewer complications, and bonding with babies and transitioning into parenthood have been easier and less stressful.
What is DreamBirth®?
DreamBirth® is an imagery method created by Dr. Catherine Shainberg (School of Images), in collaboration with birth professionals. Doula Claudia Rosenhouse Raiken initiated the collaboration and brought together Shainberg’s knowledge of imagery with the practical experiences and questions of birth professionals.[2]
The resulting method consists of hundreds of brief imagery exercises addressing different aspects of conception, pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.[1] The majority of exercises take less than a minute and can be integrated into everyday life. They combine slow breathing with a simple inner picture. Because each one stands alone, a mother, doula, midwife, or partner can pick up a single exercise for a particular challenge, whether that is morning sickness, a medical test, or a long night of labour. The method has also been carried forward by certified practitioners and childbirth educators, who weave it into classes, doula work, and bodywork.
Imagery as a language of the body
Imagery is the language the body already speaks. When we picture a lemon, we may notice our mouth responding; when we remember a safe place, our shoulders often drop. For example, a person might imagine the body becoming softer, flowing like water, or opening like a flower.
Most pregnancy visualisations describe what we need to imagine. DreamBirth® exercises, on the other hand, do not describe what we see and feel; they ask us what is happening in the image as well as in the body. A person who pictures a tight, anxious belly softening or a path opening is rehearsing a different relationship to the experience. That rehearsal does not promise a particular outcome, but it gives the mind and body something calm and familiar to return to when things feel intense or uncertain.
DreamBirth® builds on this everyday link between inner pictures and bodily response, inviting parents to “communicate with the body as well as with the baby” through images rather than only through instructions or information.
Imagery may also provide a means of approaching fear, frustration, sadness, or uncertainty without requiring every feeling to be explained intellectually. A practitioner can invite a client to explore an image, notice its associations, and discover whether another image feels more supportive.
How can DreamBirth® help me during pregnancy?
Pregnancy brings physical, but also intense psychological, change for a woman. The unknown often brings new questions to the surface, along with a fair amount of worry. DreamBirth® offers practices for each stage of this transition into motherhood, including:
Comfort: Imagery for easing everyday discomfort and morning sickness.
Tuning in: Listening to what the body needs and getting to know the baby.
Calming worry: Images for dissolving anxiety about birth and for moments such as medical tests or procedures.
Help with pregnancy or birth complications: Imagining correcting complications can empower the mother, but it can also actually help to change the outcome.
Rehearsal: Imagining the stages of labour ahead of time so that they feel more familiar.
Connecting with the baby before birth
In her book Messages from the Womb, Claudia Raiken describes many stories of how her clients were able to use imagery to create a relationship between parents and their baby during pregnancy. I also see this regularly in my doula practice.
With the “Going into the Womb” exercise, parents imagine visiting the baby and communicating with them. This experience is a moment of attention to the baby, but it also creates an emotional connection. Parents can express their love, curiosity, and hopes to the baby, but also their concerns. Because the baby feels all the emotions the mother feels in her body, she can reassure the baby that they are not responsible for her stress and fears. All of this can help them reflect on their emerging identity as parents and the relationship they wish to build with their child.
DreamBirth® also enables parents to communicate through imagery with a baby who has not yet been conceived. These experiences help build trust in their bodies and facilitate the conception process. Because DreamBirth® imagery enables us to connect to our intuition, I also often observe how parents gain insight into what they would like to change in their lives so that they will be able to conceive.
DreamBirth® also helps us through the grieving process after a pregnancy loss, as it did in my own experience. I gained insight into why the baby did not stay, and through the grieving process, I was able to process my grief and loss and came out on the other end stronger and empowered, instead of blaming myself for what happened and questioning whether my thoughts, fears, something I did, or something I ate caused a miscarriage.
Rehearsing the birth with DreamBirth®
Another important exercise is “Rehearsing the Birth,” in which parents can imagine the baby taking the optimal position for the beginning of labour and then rehearse the birth. The exercise uses symbolic and poetic images rather than requiring a medically detailed mental picture. The purpose is to help parents develop a personally meaningful image of birth and become familiar with feelings of openness, movement, and confidence.
What I find fascinating is that every parent describes what they saw differently. But when they describe what was happening during the exercise, and then when I am with them in the birth room, if they saw the labour and birth as smooth, they usually have that experience. On the other hand, I have also had parents who wanted to prepare for a natural birth but whose image showed the baby being born by C-section, allowing them to prepare for different options. DreamBirth® can’t guarantee an intervention-free birth, prevent tears, or ensure a particular mode of birth, but it can help parents prepare for the birth, trust, feel calmer, and accept and adapt to what is happening instead of unbendingly sticking to their birth wishes.
Emotional preparation and transforming fear
Pregnancy often brings unresolved emotions and previous experiences into awareness. Previous birth experiences, pregnancy loss, family relationships, cultural expectations, and frightening stories may influence how a woman anticipates labour.
DreamBirth® provides exercises intended to explore these emotional responses through imagery. Our clients often experience challenges in relationships, practical stress, uncertainty, and fear of labour. With the exercises, we invite the woman to acknowledge the feeling, notice its associated image, and explore an alternative that feels more supportive. We have exercises to address fear, anger, and guilt and transform them into strength.
Working with every person is different; this really is individualised support, where each woman can address her concerns and be supported through her pregnancy based on what she needs. Some women find visualisations challenging and prefer verbal reflection, movement, music, breathing, or other forms of support. The DreamBirth® method is flexible and responsive to each person’s needs.
Imagery during labour
DreamBirth® can also be used during labour as a familiar source of emotional support. Parents can recall images of flowing water, softening, a flower opening, or waves moving through the body. A doula or partner can gently remind the labouring person of an image they have practised during pregnancy. In my practice, when I am at a birth and the labour becomes challenging, I always remind the mother of the image of the birth she rehearsed. This always helps her refocus and find the additional strength she needs at that time. Reminding her of the image of water lengthening her body also helps reduce unnecessary tension and supports relaxation.
Since I began helping women prepare for birth with DreamBirth® imagery, I have seen that they appear calmer and more trusting during labour and seem more prepared to cope with situations that do not go as planned. As a doula, I find it especially satisfying that they are usually very satisfied with their experiences, even when the birth does not follow their wishes. This illustrates the potential value of having an individualised coping strategy.
The role of the doula
As a doula, I find DreamBirth® an invaluable complement, as it offers a practical way to support individualised emotional preparation before labour and provides familiar cues during birth.
The doula’s role remains grounded in continuous emotional, informational, and practical support. Imagery may become one tool among many, alongside comfort measures, movement, position changes, breathing, communication, and support for informed decision-making.
Imagery will not prevent complications or guarantee an uncomplicated birth. Women may still require medication, assisted birth, or caesarean birth regardless of their preparation. However, DreamBirth® can support emotional readiness for different possibilities rather than reinforcing the idea that only one type of birth represents success.
Scientific evidence and limitations
Research into related psychological interventions provides a useful context for understanding the possible role of imagery in childbirth preparation. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing symptoms of both anxiety and depression during the antenatal and postnatal periods.[3]
Another 2022 randomised trial studied the effects of hypnobirthing training on fear of childbirth, birth pain, birth satisfaction, and birth outcomes. The researchers found that the hypnobirthing group had a significantly lower intervention rate and shorter delivery periods.[4]
These findings cannot be directly applied to DreamBirth®. However, the results we are observing with our clients show the same pattern: more relaxed and satisfied mums, shorter labours, and often very awake and responsive babies. More studies of the technique would help clarify its effects on childbirth-related anxiety, emotional wellbeing, perceived control, birth satisfaction, and postpartum adjustment.
Conclusion
The experience of a person or a family cannot be described in numbers, but in satisfaction. DreamBirth® offers an imaginative approach to emotional preparation for pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood. By encouraging women to explore their inner experiences, fears, expectations, and personal resources, it can complement established childbirth education and supportive birth care.
Its value lies in creating space for reflection, emotional awareness, and individual preparation, while respecting the unpredictability of birth and the importance of informed medical care. When used thoughtfully and without promises of guaranteed outcomes, imagery can be one element of a compassionate, holistic approach that supports women and families through one of life’s most significant transitions.
Read more from Dr. Špela Peternel
Dr. Špela Peternel, Doula, DreamBirth® Practitioner & Doula Trainer
Dr. Špela Peternel is a well-known doula, childbirth educator, and DONA International doula trainer. After her 3 births, she realized that in the current birth system, the understanding of the birth process is lacking and the needs of the birthing person are often neglected; therefore, she became a doula and a researcher at the European Doula Network. She is striving for professionalization and recognition of the doula profession. But her focus is always on the families and the support they need. Her belief is that everyone should listen to their own intuition.
References:
[1] Shainberg, C. DreamBirth: Transforming the Journey of Childbirth Through Imagery (Sounds True, 2014).
[2] Rosenhouse Raiken, C. Messages from the Womb: Babies Talk Through Guided Visualizations Expanding Our Hearts and Minds (IML Publications LLC, 2024).
[3] Clinkscales, N., Golds, L., Berlouis, K., & MacBeth, A. (2023). The effectiveness of psychological interventions for anxiety in the perinatal period: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 96(2), 296-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12441
[4] Buran, G., & Aksu, H. (2022). Effect of hypnobirthing training on fear, pain, satisfaction related to birth, and birth outcomes: A randomized controlled trial. Clinical Nursing Research, 31(5), 918-930. https://doi.org/10.1177/10547738211073394. Epub 2022 Jan 27. PMID: 35083920.
