Birth may be a matter of a moment, but it is a unique one.

This tragic brow, these closed eyes, eyebrows raised and knotted.

The one you confront in Yoga is yourself. All that is rigid and stiff in you, all that says 'No.

Imagining birth as the baby experiences it was an entirely new way of looking at it.

Learn to respect this sacred moment of birth, as fragile, as fleeting, as elusive as dawn.

Being touched and caressed, being massaged, is food for the infant; food as necessary as minerals, vitamins, and proteins. Deprived of this food, the name of which is love, Babies would rather die. And often they do.

Once we remember that all that takes place during the first days of life on the emotional level shapes the patterns of all future reactions , we cannot but wonder why such a torture has been inflicted on the child. How could a being who has been aggressed in this way, while totally helpless, develop into a relaxed, loving, trusting person? Indeed, he will always never be able to trust anyone in life. He will always be on the defensive, unable to open up to others and to life.