Focusing attention on time is a cognitive, or left brain approach to labor. Labor is an experiential process best approached from a right hemisphere perspective, as it brings you in touch with what is happening in your body. Pauses between words, silences amidst musical scores are this part of the brain's domain. This is also the part of the brain stimulated by relaxation and imagery, such as is used in the birth visualization exercise in chapter seven. By using early labor projects you absorb yourself.
Labor progresses without mental interference.
We have all observed how interminable time feels when we are waiting for a large pot of water to boil, watching it all the while. As we turn our attention to other activities in the kitchen, however, we are drawn back to the pot by the sound of the bubbling water. To control labor is the role of the physician in times of distress or abnormality. In a normal course of labor, a woman must respond to the energy traveling through her. It is akin to following an ocean wave, sensing the flexible nature of water as it changes its shape, forming around the contours of land and shore.