Asanas

Meditation is a very subtle technique that brings about an inner awareness within you. It does not come automatically. It needs to be inculcated and practiced. It may, at first, seem empty and useless wasting one’s time; but it does help tremendously in the long run.

All mothers-to-be spend so much time and effort to physical and nutritional aspects that they tend to ignore the emotional and mental level. Meditation helps one at a psychologically - treating a person at a deeper and emotional level and wiping out the stress and anxiety a pregnant mother may be going through. The tranquillity and calmness that descends upon you in meditation is unexplainable and can only be experienced.

In fact, taking care of the emotional side of health during pregnancy not only helps to reduce any stress you might be experiencing, but it is also a great way to be connected emotionally with your baby. Meditation is a very effective way of achieving this inner harmony, besides coming to your aid in reducing pain during labour.

Physiological Effects of Meditation:
- Through meditation, the feelings of the mother are transmitted to the child in the womb through the bloodstream and sympathetic nerves. It is also an intense technique wherein the child and the mother are in a state of harmony communicating with each other.

- Even a mother, who may have already gone though the experience of childbirth, goes through moments of anxiety and stress, with each pregnancy. Anxiety causes an overproduction of hormones, faster flowing adrenaline and secretion of cortisol affecting important biological functions. Anxiety and stress act negatively on the immunity functioning. Meditation brings adrenaline and cortisol levels down, restoring immunity and getting the body back to normal functioning.

- Meditation strengthens the immune system with major hormones melatonin (a hormones that regulates the sleep pattern) and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone which is an important substance in the body and manufactures hormones that are very important to normal physiological functioning) which are vital and necessary for life itself, and to cope with the side effects of child birth.

- Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain that helps regulate other hormones and maintains the body’s rhythm. The pineal gland is a small endocrinal gland that is situated in the centre of the brain. Yogis or yoga scholars associated this with the sixth or third-eye chakra and sometimes the seventh or crown chakra. The pineal gland ‘a dormant organ’ is said to be the nerve centre of energy, and the ultimate source of spiritual force that can be awakened through meditation to enable telepathic communication.

- A body with strong levels of Melatonin can eliminate sleep-related problems. Melatonin is known to have a calming effect on the mind. Meditation enhances levels of melatonin; and when transmitted to the child through the mother through breast-feeding and lactation transfers this immunity to the child, making them healthier children.

- Regular meditation during pregnancy and after delivery of the baby encourages the body to increase serotonin secretions, a hormone that is associated with a happy and contented state of mind; and this can help pregnant women avoid pre-natal and post-natal depression.

- According to Deepak Chopra - a renowned Ayurvedic Specialist and mentor; Meditation is also known to produce endorphins, and peptides secreted throughout the nervous system that have a very strong pain-relieving and pleasure-inducing effect, an effect that is similar to that of morphine.

Meditation technique:
- Find a suitable corner of a room or out in the open, where you’d be most relaxed. The place should be free from all kinds of noise, pollution and any thing that would distract you. Also, avoid places which are associated with work or work-related like the kitchen, your home office etc. because then you’d only be thinking of work

- Choose a comfortable position it could either be sitting in sukhasana, or padmasana; sitting with your legs stretched or folded, or you could even lie in supine (sleeping) position or as for that matter, sitting on chair. The only point to pay attention to is that your spine and head are straight and aligned. You may even use a pillow or a cushion behind your lower back for support.

- Focus on an object either internal or external. This could either be a point in the centre of your forehead between your eyebrows or you could focus on an image of your God.

- Try and withdraw inwards and listen to your body rhythm; focus on your breathing your inhalation and exhalation; and make a conscious effort to be aware of every breath you inhale and its travel inside the body and out through exhalation.

- Practise inhalation through your nose and exhalation through your mouth, in preparation for labour. With practice, you will even learn to slow down your breathing and be able to retain your breath for a longer time within. (Remember rechaka that we studied earlier?).

- Mantra or Japa meditation is a very effective form of meditation where a certain sound like ‘aum’ or ‘om’ is repeated a number of times to have a remarkably soothing and subtle impact on your consciousness. It has an extremely positive effect on your senses and on the developing foetus.

- If you are outdoor, listen to and concentrate to the subtle sounds around you the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of birds, perhaps an aeroplane that flying in the vicinity . . .

- Sometimes your mind may wander to your activities that you’ve been involved in during the day or in the recent past. Do not suppress them. Just allow them to flow out gently through you, without analyzing them.

At the end of it, you will awaken to a ‘new’ you refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to take on the world.

Benefits of Meditation in pregnancy:

- It’s a sort of self hypnosis which has a calming and soothing effect on your mind and your spirit. The body begins to relax; the mind becomes clearer and focused.

- It eliminate stress, anxiety, fear and tension which is a major cause of a painful delivery

- It lowers blood pressure and heart rate as tranquillity takes over, thus lowering the risk of pre-eclampsia, or miscarriages.

- It enhances sleep and reduces insomnia and depression.

- It is therapeutic in nature. Meditation can help to resolve the deepest of neuroses, fears and conflicts which are a major cause for stress and ill-health.

- The effects of meditation, at postnatal stage will be transmitted to the child through lactation and breast-feeding.

Before and after birth, meditation benefits are absolutely amazing. Get into the practice of meditation and establish a unique bonding between you and your unborn child.

Joyce d’Souza is a regular contributor of Yogic Arcles to Six Senses Yoga Society.  She is a trained instructor of Yoga, and a Yoga Therapist having studied Yoga at the Gurukul and at University level.  Joyce lives in India.