The Conscious Pregnancy

Dr. Deepak Chopra’s Tips for ‘Magical Beginnings’
By Jane Schneider

If you’ve ever been pregnant, then you’ve probably perused the host of prenatal books that jam booksellers’ shelves. Most provide an exhaustive examination of the physical changes your body experiences during this wondrous nine-month journey. But fewer authors delve into a more provocative aspect of pregnancy — namely a woman’s connection to herself.

Pregnancy tends to be a natural time of introspection for women as they prepare for this new chapter in their lives. So it’s perhaps fitting that Deepak Chopra, M.D., the nation’s popular author on alternative medicine, should produce a book that offers a more holistic approach to pregnancy, giving guidance on managing the body’s physical changes while also enabling women to get in touch with their own intuitive wisdom.

According to Chopra, there is an expression in Ayurveda, a centuries-old Indian medical science, that says, “What you see you become.” In other words, emotional and physical experiences profoundly shape who we are as individuals. Ayurveda takes that notion one step further, stating that what you experience while pregnant can also begin to shape your baby in utero. Research has shown us that a mother’s physical activities, such as smoking or drinking, can have toxic effects on the unborn. So too, posits Chopra, might high levels of stress, anxiety or depression. The good news is that stress-reducing activities – seeking out those experiences that leave you feeling happy and rested – can potentially nurture both mother and child.

While this perspective will seem foreign to some, the mind-body connection is one that Chopra and others have written about extensively during the past few decades. “You can’t separate the mind from the body, it’s all one thing,” he stresses during a recent interview. In his latest book, he and his staff at the Chopra Center for Well Being in Carlsbad, Calif., offer pregnant women and their partners a thoughtful, holistic pregnancy guide, blending prenatal research with the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda.