Focus Your Energy

Sit in a comfortable position and begin breathing deeply. Relax and slow your breath. Breathe as if you are right next to a tree branch that can not be swayed by your breathing.
Close your eyes and put your hands out in front of you. Feel each hand and notice the life force that pumps through them.
Continue breathing deeply but breathe as if you are breathing into just one of your hands. You will start to feel an increase in energy in the hand on which you focus.
If you have a certain place in your body that needs healing, try focusing your breath on that area, as if you are breathing with that body part. If you are feeling depressed, try focusing your breath on positive thoughts. For example, if you are feeling down about your appearance or something you've done, try focusing on what is beautiful about your appearance or something good you've done by breathing into those thoughts.
Lastly, focus your breath on your unborn baby. Breathe into your womb, giving your baby rich oxygen and life force.
Take your time breathing into places that need healing or more life force. When you are finished, slowly open your eyes and return to the outside world.

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Hypnosis

Many Eastern religions and cultures use deep meditation as a form of self-hypnosis to attain enlightenment and serenity. This method of relaxation and focus has also helped many women to remain in control and calm during childbirth, thereby decreasing their pain and speeding their labor.
There is a significant difference between an entertaining hypnotist and a medical hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is intense, focused concentration with partial or complete unawareness of peripheral activity. Entertainment-quality hypnosis depends greatly on a person's openness to peer pressure and suggestion. A hypnotherapist, on the other hand, develops a relationship with a person in order to deepen their hypnosis practice and truly help the individual tap into their unconscious for therapeutic purposes.
Self-hypnosis is very similar to meditation. Both require practice to effectively master and they both increase alpha brain waves, which promote relaxation. The primary difference between the two is that the individual usually counts down into and out of the state of hypnosis. Self-hypnosis can be a powerful tool if used properly. However, some people may have a hard time letting go and losing control. In these cases, a trained hypnotist may be necessary to reach a hypnotized state.
Hypnosis has been shown to help people quit smoking, alleviate pain, minimize anxiety and nausea, promote relaxation, and to interrupt an intense emotional state. Contrary to popular belief, a state of hypnosis is not a state of unawareness or sleep. If you've ever been engrossed in a good book to such a degree that you are completely unaware of your surroundings, then you have been in a state of hypnosis. Nothing can be done to you without your consent, it is simply a shutting down of your conscious mind in order to tap into your unconscious or subconscious.
The first step in practicing self-hypnosis for labor begins before labor ever begins. It requires you let go of the common perception that childbirth is the most painful process a woman ever experiences. The idea - the reality - that should be implanted in your mind is that labor and delivery is perfectly natural and that your body is designed to release hormones to reduce pain. A confident and relaxed approach to childbirth can result in an empowering and beautiful experience.
Many women who have used hypnosis during labor claim to have a "pain free" experience. This is not a guarantee but an absolute possibility. In order for you to recognize the sensation of pain, your brain has to process it. During hypnosis, the brain is able to identify a painful sensation and choose not to register it as a threat or something that needs alleviating. This can actually reduce or block the painful sensation. It also allows you to relax instead of tensing up in fear, which only results in more pain. The outcome truly depends on the individual.

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The Lion's Roar during Labor

Pratyahara is the act of directing your attention to a "disturbance." Instead of trying to avoid or suppress pain, accept it and experience it. As you get to know it, it will no longer feel dangerous. The pain may not disappear but the fear of it will. Fear and stress can complicate the birthing process and put your body through more suffering than necessary. Once you can accept the pain and allow yourself to experience it, birth becomes a powerful experience. Some women have said they were able to feel each movement of their uterus through this technique, while others have said they were able to allow the forces of nature to work.
The Lion's Roar
Many women have found this vocal toning technique to be very beneficial during labor. Open your mouth and stretch your tongue far out. While exhaling, make a relaxed, deep sound. This will automatically cause your body to respond and begin to relax from your groin to your pelvic floor and up.

Read more: http://www.parentingweekly.com/pregnancy/breathingspace/vol12/pregnancy_exercise.asp