How I gave birth to an “Indian” child or The fascinating pregnancy experinces March 29, 2011

the baby in my belly

The state of pregnancy has been considered sacred in all cultures around the world. After having experienced it myself I can definitely call it a mystical, truly spiritual experience.

It’s commonly known that pregnant ladies may have sudden gusto for certain foods, but believe me, there is much more behind! I went through a clear transformation of my character, preferences and interests. I was watching myself carefully and detached  and made this notes for you. 

 

1.Food.

I had no sudden desires for this or that, nothing what is considered typical for a pregnant lady. Just the opposite: shortly after I became pregnant I had to become…a vegetarian! That was quite a surprise, because I did not think of vegetarianism as of a healthy diet, at least not for our climate. In fact I used to be vegetarian at 19, but this diet badly damaged my health (my hemoglobin parameters went much down) and I decided rather to eat meat in order to keep fit.

Well, it turned out that the baby did not like meat, any kind of it! No chicken, no fish. Sometimes eggs and caviar. I really tried hard but could not swallow even a piece!  That was truly the most unexpected experience, because it was so clear that I was not “alone” any more, that someone inside my body could dictate some other wishes.

 

2. Music and art

I have always been fond of Indian culture. However after getting pregnant I could ONLY listen to Indian classical music (ragas) and nothing else. Although before I loved to listen to Mozart almost every day. In my pregnancy even Mozart was too much, needless to say that other Western composers or bands sounded totally wrong for me at that time.

Another “Indian” thing was that I all of a sudden got interested in Indian temple and palace architecture: I had a book on it that I bought once in India but never read it. In my pregnancy I would open this book and admire the pictures for hours together…I aslo wanted to see historical Indian films and touch Indian materials and ornaments… That felt very special.

 

3.The baby’s name.

Since my husband and I are of a Slavic origin, we honestly were looking through all possible Slavic names in order to find one that would fit well the family name. But something felt wrong. One day we went through an Indian acient script of Lalita Sahasranama and stumbled upon a lovely melodious name “Malini” (stress on the first syllable) with a wonderful meaning “decorated with the garland of graciousness”. That felt like a perfect choice!

 

4.My character

Another manifestation of “somebody else’s presence” in my body was that my preferences in socialization changed. Being a communicative, active person by nature, I started avoiding communication, meetings and parties as much as possible. That did not look like me at all! People were wondering. Then, being a balanced, peaceful person by nature I became even more balanced and peaceful. And I felt that this was the nature of the child-to-be-born.

The silliness of gym-philosophy or why quit physical work? June 17, 2010

 

My attitude to sports of any kind has been always very suspicious. Any kind of mass obsession caused by a brainwash “it’s useful and healthy'”  causes some natural resistance  in me. Recently I found out what the reason for my sceptical attitude towards any kind of fitness and sports: why doing it while we can do something more useful with the same results?

Modern people in the “civilized societies”  have created an enormous level of physical comphort. They have learned to avoid any physical work and enjoy their laziness.  At the same time they realise that “the body needs to be shaken.” And that – regular! So, the clever modern mind has invented the need of fitness and sports.

Look at this amusing description:

“A man who spends his necessary, unenjoyed working life among papers and ideas will recreate his innate expectation of physical work through something like golf. Unmindful that its main virtue is uselessness, the golfer trudges about in the sun carrying a heavy load of clubs and every so often brings his attention to a sharp focus on the problem of persuading a ball to fall into a hole in the ground; this is done, very inefficiently, with the end of one of those clubs, not by carrying the ball and dropping it in. If he were made to do all this by force, he would feel sorely put upon, but as it is called recreation and is guaranteed to serve no purpose beyond exercising him, he is free to enjoy it. But there are now many golfers who have allowed the labour-saving impulse to spoil some of this pleasure as well, since it has been suggested by the relevant sector of the culture that carrying the clubs is not pleasant and, more recently, that the trudging between strokes ought also to be moved into the work category and little automotive carts are used instead. To re-create themselves after playing golf, they may soon have to resort to tennis.” (by Jean Liedloff)

Isn’t it hilarious?

Supposition: why multiple intelligence theory can be vital for a happy marriage September 21, 2008

The Multiple Intelligence Theory introduced by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983 is one of my favourites to explain the human nature and interactions. The traditional (western) take on intelligence is linguisticaly and logical-mathematically based (known as IQ). However that does not work for everyone, as there is obviously more variety of intelligences. Here is the Gardner`s classification:

	Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”):
	Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)
	Spatial intelligence (“picture, space smart”)
	Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)
	Musical intelligence (“music smart”)
	Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)
	Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)
	Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)

More recently, Gardner (1998) has nominated two additional candidate intelligences: Spiritual and Existentional ones, however he was less sure about how to define and incorporate them.

The theory says, a person has some of these intelligences highly developed, some less.

This is a cross-post from my Shaktipower Blog, my supposition on how multiple intelligence theory is connected with a happy marriage you will find here.

LOVE, axinia

Sports do not make us healthy! – recent studies October 24, 2007

photo by axinia

Great news for everyone who has always been feeling there is something wrong with that sport-hype. One has to do sports to stay healthy, fit, and all that… But why does my body oppose it so much (otherwise being quite wise in many questions)?

The fact is one can stay totally healthy without any sports (swimming, jogging and Co.). And actually, the classical idea of sport is a competition, an ambition for more fitness or muscular body.

We definitely need some motion. However the medically needed movement dose is easily reached by some daily activities: 187 min dish-washing or 172 min caring shopping bags home burns same amount of calories as 43 min of intensive swim training. We do not really need much to keep us fit! – hope the fitness Industry will not kill me at that point.