Submitted By : Dr (Mrs) Shamanthakamani Narendran
To : The Department of Yogic Science, Bangalore University

Yoga is a world view, a way of life and a set of practices for the regulation of the body and mind. While the yogic practices yield to scientific investigation easily, the other two aspects are difficult to subject to any inquiry involving qualification. The Yogic practices also have a component of awareness that cannot be easily ascertained. It means that the effect of performing certain yogic practices on selected dependent variables will be the research data for a regular study on yoga. The credibility of such a research, however depends on the selection of the practices and dependent variables, administration and measurement of them respectively.

The thesis brings together yoga and a very important area of the medical field. It reports a very well-conceived and meticulously executed study which will advance our knowledge of yoga and problems of pregnancy both methodologically and conceptually. The conceptual bases of the study are anchored in stress and its effects.

The literature survey is exhaustive and covers the dimensions of yoga that are not manipulated for the purpose of the investigation. The selection of sample and the numbers is adequate considering the difficulty of recruitment. The measures are appropriate for the study and the data are treated adequately.

The author is well-aware of the limitations of her study and prospects for research in this area. Hence I recommend for the award of the PhD degree to this work. The significance of the study lies in the selection of sub-groups and also employment of control groups for clear findings. Studies such as these will help to appraise yoga for its curative, preventive and promotive aspects. The author deserves to be congratulated for the conduct of the study which might have been very demanding taking into consideration the recruitment of subjects and the measurement of variables.