As mentioned previously, constipation can be a problem in the latter months of pregnancy but is less likely to occur in women who have healthy bowel function prior to pregnancy.   Remember that pregnancy will exacerbate any weakness in your body and I often wonder if the constipation frequently experienced during pregnancy is actually pre-existent constipation which has become more noticeable as a woman gets more focussed on her body.
   Therefore, it is both the biological and yogic ideal to consume, assimilate, and express enough energy to comply with the full potential of human abilities. Over time, as you continue practising the correct yoga methods for health of body and mind, this will restore what the yogis would say is "normal or proper" bowel function of 2 - 4 movements per day.

·  The thought, sight, smell of good food. Being around nice food, good cooks, happy eaters, healthy people, stimulates your own desire for good quality food.
·  Hard work (physical and / or  mental). Having worked up a really good appetite is the best way to feel before a meal.
·   A relaxed and healthy mind. Positivity about your life and creativity in your activities means that you will process and express food efficiently, and be keen to keep the quality of your food high.
·   A relaxed and healthy body. Flexibility around the spine, waist, bowels, and lungs, allows proper range of movement for food through the GIT and good circulation around the digestive organs. Hence the importance of loose, comfortable clothing during the day and night.
·   Good timing for meals. Eating 3 quality, regular meals a day at the most beneficial times for the digestive system, is really the best routine for the body's design.
·   Correct moisture within a meal. This is quite a controversial topic and opinions differ as to what is most correct, but we say there should be neither too much nor too little liquid in a meal. It is better to have dishes which are moist enough in themselves to satisfy, rather than to just dump liquid in the stomach at meal times (whether it be water, tea, alcohol, fruit juice, or anything). There is a lot of argument around, about whether or not it is good to drink liquids with a meal and what sort they should be. The truth would

depend upon the natural moisture in the meal and the nature of the liquids and their compatibil-ity with the food consumed. If all you have is a bread roll, some peanut butter, and a bit of dried up cheese for lunch, then you surely better have something to drink with it, or you'll have a gut full of concrete for maybe an hour! On the contrary, a well balanced meal in terms of dry and moist foods, will be severely spoiled, and the stomach will be drowned, if you add a litre of beer or wine to it. Before the stomach can get to work on digesting the solids you have eaten, it must first establish the correct moisture and pH for the enzymes to work properly. An excess of any liquid will therefore slow down that process until the stomach has absorbed the drinks, and a deficiency will cause the body to draw the necessary moisture from elsewhere in the system.

·   Inactivity. A sedentary life will limit the movement of the digestive organs, reduce peristaltic waves, and never stimulate a healthy appetite.
·   Mental tension. A tense or distracted mind will not care for food, but will be caught in neuroses and obsessions leading to under or over-eating and states of malnutrition.
·   Physical tension. Restricted movement around the diaphragm, waist and bowels (eg tight clothing and belts) literally blocks up the body like a kink in the garden hose. Wear loose clothes as often as possible.
·   Emotional Tension. Worry, fear, anger, depression are the most potent factors to decrease efficient digestion. Being around other people with such syndromes is also harmful to your own thoughts and feelings on food. Emotional tension upsets the chemical, hormonal and enzyme balance, and can cause unconscious dumping of food into the stomach.
·   Bad smells. Foul odours (eg pollution, burnt smells, industrial chemicals) not only damages the sense of smell but turns off the natural instinct to eat in such environments.
·  Lack of sense of smell. A bad sense of smell due to mouth breathing, blocked up nose or infected sinuses, takes away one of the switches which turn on appetite and hunger.
·   Mouth breathing. This reduces the sense of smell, cools the body, creates