Wednesday

BASICS 9 - PRENATAL EDUCATION Vs PREGNANCY CARE

   

Today in the course of pregnancy women do a lot of things. Firstly, there are regular visits to the Doctor/Obstetrician accompanied by supplements like folic acid, iron and vitamin pills, scans and tests. Women also undertake many activities to improve their well-being – like going for Yoga, walks, Pilate and Lamaze classes. In addition, they also take up proactive steps to prevent stretch marks and sagging belly post delivery.

What are these in the context of Prenatal Education? All the practices which are for enhancing the well-being of the mother are good, but these DO NOT constitute Prenatal Education.

Activities which enhance the well-being of the woman in the course of pregnancy are called Garbhini Paricharya. However, that is not Garbha Sanskara. Garbha Sansakara focuses only on the child growing as an embryo/foetus inside the womb of the mother. The education to be given to the child in the womb is Prenatal Education. It is very different from mother care or pregnancy care as observed in society.

Garbha Sanskara is true Prenatal Education. It is for the empowerment of the Child growing in the womb of the mother. It is not a matter of choice for mother or the parents – should we do it or not? It is a DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY of parents to provide prenatal education and prepare the child for the course of life after taking birth.

Garbha Sanskara is for educating the Child in the womb and Garbhini Paricharya for the well-being of the Mother!

BASICS 8 - ESSENCE OF PRENATAL EDUCATION

   

Does it ensure I get a Super Baby?
Parents and other connected family members can impart "Human Life Education" to the child growing in the womb. Fundamental questions such as -  Who am I  , Where have I come from, Why am I here, Where Do I go , What do I need? - are also to be addressed here.  Such learning can and does being even before Conception.  Prenatal and Infancy Education will make learning holistic for the child and prepare it with conducive patterns and templates for the rest of life.

Ancient Bharatheeya scriptures spoke of it; now Modern sciences have also come to this understanding.

 Does Prenatal Education guarantee a Super Baby of my choice?  Prenatal education is not a super baby or genius manufacturing process. Just as a regular school with teachers, management, books, timetable, curriculum cannot ensure a child will secure first position, so it is with prenatal education. The process helps parents to facilitate learning. Learning is an occurrence and happens on its own. Facilitating this is the responsibility of Parents, Family and Society.


This is the essence of Prenatal Education!

Friday

BASICS 7 – ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON THE CHILD IN THE WOMB!

   


Environment is everything which is external to the child.
 
It could be things outside the mother. That will obviously include, father, grandparents, relatives and friends.

Sunshine, rain, air, rivers, earth and the like are also part of the environment. Clean water and pure air are good! Hence it is easy to surmise that good and clean environment is a better influence for the child.

Chemicals, hormones, enzymes are inputs coming to the child from the mother. There are also external to the child and hence part of environment. They may be good or bad – because cortisol and adrenalin seem to be created during anxiety or fear. Oxytocin is produced when there is love and appreciation!

The environmental influences are carried to the child from the mother through the physical channel or placenta/umbilical cord. But they can also reach through non-physical means. Recall, the analogy of FM Channels, mobile phones and TV.

In the course of our lives we are exposed to mobile waves, radiations from video/photo cameras, X Ray / MRI / CT scans and many other such gadgets. Magnetism and Gravity are certainly known influences. These are subtle energies which are capable of reaching the child. All these constitute environmental influences.

The environment hence an important role in the pregnancy period.

A Story from II World War

   


Here is a real life story that happened during the Second World War.
During the war in late 1944, Germany placed parts of Holland under a severe food embargo. This resulted in a widespread famine in the areas.  The famine affected the whole population.

Medical records of this period were researched many years later. The records of the men whose mothers were pregnant and carrying them in the womb during the famine were examined in detail. 

The study of the group of men, who were now grown up adults, showed that they all had somethings in common – obesity and predisposition to heart diseases!

Did the environment of the period have anything to do with it ?

Researchers observed that the environment had created severe stress and anxiety in the pregnant mothers. That was the prominent cause of the current tendencies and predispositions which the men were prone to and observed years later. 

BASICS 6 - ROLE OF THE FATHER

   


There is no physical connection of the child with any other person including the father or grandparents. So what role can the father play ? Father, for sure, participates in the process of conception.

Once pregnant, the mother carries the embryo and foetus in the womb. She connects with the child physically, through the umbilical cord and placenta. It is well known that the mother is the channel for physical movement of food/ nutrients and waste disposal for the child.

HERE IS AN IMPORTANT POINT - The Child in the womb is capable of connecting through physical and non-physical means. In our lives, we may not be able to touch and feel the non-physical means, but they do have a process and cause an action or reaction. For eg.- We cannot see or touch the waves and frequencies which connect and operate through a mobile phone – but we all know that they enable us to talk with another person(s) in remote locations! So is it with TV viewing or FM radio channels.

Carrying forward the example of FM radio, we know that the FM channels picked up first are the ones which powerfully transmit signals. Less powerful or weaker channels are more difficult to pick up. In the same manner, those who connect powerfully with the Child can communicate and interact with it. The Father, has played the role through conception – contributing 23   chromosomes which form the basic information network to create the child. The mother has contributed another 23. They are equal partners.

Even though there is no physical connection of the foetus with the father, there is connection through strong energy currents, carried as waves and frequencies. Hence throughout the 9 months of pregnancy and thereafter, father continues to play an important role – in the total development of the child in the womb ! It is a link which is causal and unbroken. Energy from the father forms a foundation for the child.

Is it possible for the influences of father to be more powerful than the mother for the child in the womb?

BASICS 5 – MOTHER AS TELEVISION

   


The primary channel or conduit for educating a child in the womb is the Mother. But - how do operations happen through the mother, how does she become the channel?

Mother plays a key role forging other connections for the child in the womb. That is through her Mind!

Mother’s mind act like a virtual TV screen on which captured images and impressions are played. The Foetus/Child in the womb, accesses the Mind of the mother continuously. It is just as if the baby is lying down on the bed and watching what is happening on TV ! All images played on that TV – be it news, serials, movies, reality shows or sports – are within the viewing and experience range of the child.

Hence, the child gets the imprints of what is happening in the mother while she watches a Cricket match or Saas-Bahu serial! Any experience and thought of the mother which may be captured on the screen – be it laughter, horror, tears or wonder – get relayed to the child in the womb.  It is continuous and direct.

Just imagine what is being conveyed to a child through our lifestyles including gadgets – TV, Mobiles, Laptops and all other devices and means. It is for this reason that ancient cultures always emphasised that a pregnant mother should remain happy, cheerful and peaceful so that such images could be picked up by the child in the womb! Very often, cultural practices are laden with a deeper meaning, which may not be obvious. 

Couples/Parents who are enrolled for the Omnio Prenatal Course will recall that we have advised moderation and discretion to be practiced by the pregnant mother. The rest of the family should support the efforts of the mother.

Mother plays another important role – she becomes the conduit or a channel that others can also access! Hence, apart from the mother, the child also links up with everything external – be it the family, relatives, society, environment and all!

This may look like an indirect channel, but everything has a role and purpose!   

Saturday

BASICS 4 - PRENATAL EDUCATION

   

HOW DOES A CHILD LEARN IN THE WOMB ?

The child is sentient and observes right  from the time of conception. It takes in inputs through the mother, father, environment in the womb  and outside environment.

 The Mother carries the Baby in her Uterus or the womb. The baby is physically connected to the mother through mechanism of Placenta/Umblical cord. This enables the two way movement of food, fluids, blood, hormones, chemicals and such other matter. These are well known to us and it is easy to comprehend that this exchange between the baby and mother is physical - however the signals and communications exchanged may be electrical, chemical, magnetic etc. A huge and continuous knowledge transfer is thus happening between the two.

 What is less known that the Father continues to remain connected to the child when it is growing in the womb. The signals which are exchanged between the baby and father are not physical. They are in more subtle forms of waves and frequencies. In fact this is the way other family members , members of society and the Universe at large connects with the baby. The baby receives and also gives back signals to them. It is a two way process here also.

 We all know the Gross or Physical - Science now helps us understand and appreciate the Subtle or Non Physical forces and energies.

BASICS 3 - PRENATAL EDUCATION

   

BASICS 3 - PRENATAL LEARNING

As a baby grows in the womb through the embryonic and foetal phases, the physical growth is a well known and understood fact.

 However, many other aspects also grow along with the body. Some of these are the Feelings, Attitudes, Thoughts , Emotions, Intelligence, Memory, Immunity and the like. Some of these could be due to Hereditary factors or Genes. The effect of Heredity is also subject to outside influences - this is the revolutionary progress achieved through the Epigenetic Sciences.

 What is more important is that not everything is predetermined. There are many things which are observed, learned and  inculcated into itself by a child,  as it grows. A true miracle of nature is that as cells divide and specialise, they also  begin to work and do their duty. Heart cells start working very early even before the full heart is made ! And such active work state helps in better formation of the final product !

 The learning at the Prenatal Stage  is the Fundamental or Formative Learning of a child. This will mould its physical, mental and emotional characteristics upon birth, growth and the full course of life. 

BASICS 2 - PRENATAL EDUCATION

   
BASICS 2 -  LEARNER BABY

 When a Zygote is formed by the union of a Sperm and Egg,  a new Human Being is made ! This being develops to become a society or colony of about 50 trillion cells ( 50 lakh crore cells ) !!!

 As the cells divide and multiply over 9 months, they also acquire many capabilities. They become organs, tissues and components . This is specialisation !

 How do they acquire these capabilities ? Where does this knowledge come from ?
This was presumed to be a God given thing or a natural process. With the progress in science, particularly Genetics,  for many years it was believed that the Genes from the Parents decided everything . Hence, it was thought that the process is predetermined and cannot be changed or reversed.

 Today there is ample evidence that this is not the case. The baby takes inputs from many sources. Genes are one. The Genes themselves could be changed due to other inputs ! So who controls this ? Epigenetics seems to answer - this  is above or beyond the genes !

 The baby is a leaner - it can and does take inputs / stimuli from the genes and from other things . The learning of babies  therefore happens in many ways- and it is not linear or simplistic !

BASICS 1 - WHAT IS PRENATAL EDUCATION ?

   
BASICS 1 - WHEN DO BABIES LEARN ?

A Child grows in the mothers womb over 9+ months. It develops not just physically and but also emotionally, intellectually and  mentally.

Did you know that a prenatal baby can use its sensorial faculties while in the womb ? It can hear, smell, taste and do many more things ! How does it learn these ?

 A child is a fully functional being from  the date of Conception ! The process of development goes on through the course Pregnancy, Infancy and Early Childhood. In fact, over the full life of that individual.

 Question -  Do parents have to wait for the date of delivery and three years thereafter to begin Educating their Child ?
Answer - No . The process of educating a child can begin right in the womb ! That is Prenatal Education.


Sunday

Mudras in Pregnancy

   
Pregnancy is a spiritual journey for the child in the womb, the parents and close family. The benefits of prenatal yoga are widely accepted. It becomes simpler for pregnant women to undertake prenatal yoga as a regular practice, if they are practitioners prior to pregnancy. Even in the case of yoga practitioners, the final trimester could be a challenge given the delicate and sensitive nature of the mother's body in these stages. Here, the practice of Mudras can be of great help as they offer similar benefits as Yoga.


How are Mudras beneficial during pregnancy?

For three reasons:
1] They can be done at any time of the day with ease and for as long as one is comfortable.
2] They give you enough flexibility to concentrate on your breath and accompanying prayers;
3] For the best benefit to reach the child in the womb both the parents can take up practice of Mudras.
However, Yoga or Mudra practice is not just an exercise. One needs to be initiated through a wise and realised Guru / mentor to be able to reap the benefits of yogic postures or mudra gestures. 

Pregnancy Care and Prenatal Education. What is the difference?

     , , , ,
Garbhini Paricharya and Garbha Sanskara

When you admit a child to school you are taken through an intensive orientation programme for parents. Thus parents understand the teaching methodology and are prepared to contribute and participate in the child’s education. Your orientation does not imply that your child has completed the grade. Similarly, Garbhini Paricharya is your orientation and Garbha Sanskara is your child’s education.


Many ideas and practices are popular in the context of pregnancy. It must be clearly noted that not all practices are meant for or reach the prenatal child. Most prescriptions on diet, usage of cosmetics, lifestyle and the like are meant for well-being of the mother. In the pristine Indian context all these would go under the banner of Garbhini Paricharya or well-being of the pregnant woman.

Prenatal Education, however, is a completely different concept and practice. The difference between Garbhini Paricharya and Garbha Sanskara is quite stark in terms of the effect on the child. The effect of the Garbha Sanskara is on the child in the womb. It causes the child to remain insulated from the harmful effects of the mother’s physical and emotional condition.