15 practices to avoid during pregnancy
Knowledge of how to create a healthy pregnancy and what to avoid is a traditional part of ayurvedic medicine. While a complete discussion is too much for a simple article, here I have identified 15 practices that should be avoided by all pregnant women. These become even more important in high risk pregnancies. (Please share this article with any woman who is pregnant or may become pregnant – it could make all the difference in the world!)
1. Avoid Aggressive Exercise: Aggressive exercise causes a disturbance in the vata dosha and may result in miscarriage or a child who is born weak. What constitutes excessive exercise is dependent in part upon a woman’s exercise regimen prior to becoming pregnant. Exercises that are jarring are considered to be of the highest risk. For instance, running and tennis are higher risk activities than swimming and gentle yoga practices.
2. Avoid trying to hold urine, bowel movements and sneezes: When these urges arise, it is important to let it flow. Withholding these urges also causes an imbalance in vata dosha.
3. Avoid looking down wells, large canyons or into the valley from a high mountain. By looking down the energy of the body moves downward and this is said to increase the possibility of a miscarriage.
4. Avoid taking in disturbing impressions through the senses: A woman should be careful to not expose herself to that which is significantly displeasing. Disturbing impressions cause emotional stress and alterations in physiology that are counter productive to the development of the fetus.
5. Avoid taking in disturbing impressions through any of the senses: Disharmonious music, smells and visual images should avoided as well as harmful touch and food that is disgusting. Basically, if it unpleasant avoid it.
6. Avoid sleeping on your back: This is considered to be dangerous to the fetus and can lead to the umbilical cord becoming wrapped around the neck of the fetus and places pressure upon the aorta.
7. Avoid sleeping in the open night air: This is stated in classical texts to invite evil spirits to enter the womb and results in severe psychiatric tendencies.
8. Avoid excessive sleep: This creates a child who is lethargic. This is a kapha imbalance. Woman must use discrimination to know when to rest and when to be active. Too much of either one is not healthy. Too little sleep creates a vata imbalance and weakens the nervous system of the mother and child.
9. Avoid contact with abusive people: Abuse creates unhealthy stress physiology and leads to a host of health challenges. Vocal abuse is stated in ayurveda to lead to epilepsy in the child. This may not be the only cause but it is clear that it is unhealthy. Being among those who are supportive leads to a healthier child.
10. Avoid disturbing emotions: A woman who is in constant grief is said to produce a fearful child. A woman who is angry produces fierce offspring and a woman who thinks ill of others produces a child with anti-social tendencies. A woman should focus on the positive and try to remain both calm and joyful. This produces the healthiest child.
11. Avoid Sexual Intercourse: While in the West this is only recommended in high-risk pregnancies ayurveda looks upon this in a manner similar to that of exercise. Any jolting activity should be avoided. As such, couples who do engage in intercourse should do so in a gentle and loving manner.
12. Avoid an unhealthy diet: The foods that are taken in affect the development of the body and mind. The diet should be as healthy as possible. This means fresh, organic foods and a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, milk and so on. Pesticides should be strictly avoided and it is recommended to avoid an excess of bitter foods such as raw salads and juices and also excessively hot or sour food. The best diet is not only pure and diverse but also building to kapha dosha. Still, While ayurveda generally promotes a vegetarian diet, it does allow for the intake of meat in woman who are becoming weak. Finally, avoid an excess of any one of the six tastes. An excess of any taste will lead to an imbalance. Thus the diet should be diverse.
13. Avoid alcohol, coffee and excessive sugar: Alcohol, coffee and white sugar alter the physiology of the body in ways that are not healthy to fetal development. Ayurveda teaches that the excessive intake of sugary substances by the mother leads to a tendency toward diabetes in the child.
14. Avoid overly controlling those unusual cravings: The stress of not honoring those unusual cravings for certain foods or activities is not healthy. Only restrict those cravings if the craving is seriously unhealthy such as the desire for alcohol. Ayurveda teaches it is the consciousness of the child that is responsible for the unusual cravings.
15. Avoid seeking only the advice of your physician: While your physician has important information to share with you and you should listen do not limit your council to just your physician. Seek also the council of alternative health practitioners and other women who have been pregnant. Mature, experienced female community is important. Woman who have borne children can provide a perspective that only those who have borne children can provide.
A woman who follows these 15 guideline increases the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy and the delivery of a strong, healthy child. Of course, all any of us can do is increase the likelihood. There are always factors we can not control. These are attributed to the karma of the child as well as that of the parents.
May the Divine bless you with a healthy child!