Assisting Engagement
   In the last month, the increasing weight of the baby causes it to move lower down into the pelvis. In the last weeks, the baby’s head usually becomes “engaged”, meaning it presses more firmly against the cervix, although some babies don’t fully engage until labour actually begins. Failure to fully engage commonly lengthens first stage labour as the baby’s head is not applying sufficient pressure to the dilating cervix. A higher presentation also has a slight risk that during labour, the cord may prolapse or the baby may move into an unfavourable position.
   The best yoga practices to encourage early and proper engagement are Full Butterflies, deep squats like Utthanasana, Kaliasana, Namaskara, gentle Chopping Wood and Tadasana. Practices for engagement should only be done if presenta-tion is correct, and not breech or posterior. For those who have successfully turned a breech or posterior, engagement practices are good to help the baby stay that way until birth.

	~Naming Your Baby~

   Parents go about choosing their babies’ names in so many different ways. Some go straight for the respected grandmother or grandfather name; some use either of the parents’ names and add to it the qualifier “Junior” or “the III”; some use saints’ names from their respective religion; some choose names of popular stars, musicians, historical leaders; some avoid names foreign to their own ancestry and culture whilst others happily embrace them; some make up unusually spelled versions of common names and some even make up completely new and unique names. Some have a short list of male and female names prior to the birth and then choose the favourite according to the gender which arrives; some choose a name beforehand which can be made male or female by the change of a few letters; some name a child after an exotic place (perhaps where conception occurred).
   All the above methods are focussing on the word itself, either the sound of the word, the meaning of the word, the memory of that word, the compatibility of the first name with the other names, the imagined status of the name, ease of pronunciation, potential for nasty nicknames – there are so many variables which can usually affect the choice of a name.
   There are just so many factors involved in the modern way of choosing a label for your child. But all of these procedures are intellectually or emotionally based

and are all founded upon the parents’ own desires, preferences, prejudices and considerations. It is simply self-projection. It is one of the first and most long lasting condition-ings you can impose upon the child.
   The act of bestowing a name on something or someone is part of the ritual of bonding. But picking a name out of the Baby Names Book is only intellectual bonding. None of the above methods take into account the individual nature of the being who is going to manifest within your life. A name chosen by any of those ways listed above is not really your child’s own name – it is yours. It is merely parental emotional projection. It has no connection whatsoever with the baby. But there is another way, and that is the way of intuition, where the innate nature of that particular baby is discovered and used as the name. One can think of this spiritual name as that soul’s personality, its aspirational nature, its human mirroring of the formless divinity.
   As explained in Chapter 3, according to yoga philosophy nama (name) exists long before rupa (form) manifests. This means that your baby already has his individual nature and individual name before he is born, even before conception. Leaving aside whether or not you believe in the whole business of reincarnation, everyone would agree that some percentage of each person is unique and unconditioned, and that an individual’s particular nature unfolds as they grow and express themselves in life. Some of what we grow into is no doubt a result of heredity, familial and social upbringing, and yet some of it is not. Yoga maintains that it is the duty of parents to assist in bringing out more and more of their children’s individual true nature and not just push in external, familial, social conditionings. Towards this end, the system of spiritual naming has evolved.

The Process of Spiritual Naming
   The spiritual name can be discovered in many ways. For novices, asking a spiritual teacher is usually the easiest. This can be done by voice, letter, meditation or dream. If you have a relationship with a spiritual midwife, she may be able to help you or teach you ways of realising your child’s nature and name. Those with sufficiently developed intuition can literally ask themselves or the manifesting child. There are many different divination systems to get in touch with your baby and outside of the usual intellectual understanding of names. Whoever does it though, it is usually most easily done during pregnancy after the third month, although the name can be known any time in advance.