YOGA IN PREGNANCY Yoga with its dictum of moderation and with its vision of a complete integrated human being has plenty to offer to a mother-to-be and a young mother.

The Role of the Father:

SNUG IN his mother's womb, the little baby absorbs the sound waves of his parent's talk. This he does for nine long months and almost immediately, as he is born, he may recognize them by their voices and he feels a surge of happiness.

He may begin to associate the man's voice with his father and the woman's voice with his mother. Although fathers are excluded from the pregnancy in a real physical way, the child requires the attention of both of them from the very beginning.

The father has to be aware of the need to cope with the stresses and strains of this transition to fatherhood. To begin with, he consciously makes an effort to share the experience of pregnancy and birth. There is nothing further away from the truth than the belief that the father's role in the first few years of a child's life and even during the pregnancy is minimal.

He is an equal partner in this joint venture of parenthood wherein he needs to take on wholeheartedly, the newfound responsibility. He ought to be the major support system that his wife can lean on during the coping game. In fact, women whose partners are helpful, positive and supportive during pregnancy and after are likely to find that solutions to problems during these phases are not hard to come by.

It is in the midst of the series of transitions that inevitably take place during and after pregnancy that Yoga offers these additional tools:

Maitri, Friendliness;

Karuna, Compassion;

Mudita, Joy in the joy of others and

Upeksa, Being balanced in joy and sorrow

Fortified with these positive attitudes, the couple can easily transform the whole aspect of pregnancy and parenthood into a series of special moments as these ought to be. To live in the present and savor the minutest pleasures that each second has really got to offer is the one gift you can give yourself and the expanding family.

It would be wise for the couple to work out a system with total understanding so that at no point is the baby considered an intrusion or a block to their hitherto peaceful lifestyle. Duty once again steps in here. One needs to grow in stature along with the baby by embracing the virtues of selflessness and patience and the chief motivation for this could be the thought that parenthood is a supreme opportunity for parents to mould another human being for his tomorrow.