27 March 2014

Yoga is a Family Affair: Poems from a Pregnant Ashtangi

Pregnancy and Ashtanga

Tic tac toe
Baby inside goes up and down
up and down
Easy and free - joyful jumps
Breathing with Momma is better than the jungle gym
and it's as easy 
as one two three
 
Let's sing songs to Patanajali
Vande Gurunam 
always we are grateful
Charinara vinde

Prepare and Cultivate
our warm home
 filled with thoughtful love
the sweetest practice ever is to come

Yoga is
preparing for Parenthood
Yoga is 
Birth
Yoga is 
a Family Affair 

Tic tac toe
The itsy bitsy spider
climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and 
washed the spider out

Breathe deeply yogi baby
Daddy and Mommy are ready for you
You are safe
come enjoy this beautiful world
May we be filled with loving kindness
may we all be loved

Om namah Shivaya Gurave
Little baby hush hush don't you cry
breathe with Daddy 
breathe with Mummy too
You are our source
our wisdom and joy
you are 
our Yoga

You are
our divine guide

**

At the tail end of being thirty weeks pregnant, I am happy to share with you all that little Baby Hatcher and myself are loving our pregnancy and our daily practice of ashtanga yoga helps us in every way. 

It's a family affair - an event we do together - the baby and me. Because of this, I never feel alone on the mat or wondering if I am doing anything harmful to myself or to him. He tells me while we are practicing; in fact, he is definitely an excellent teacher and sets me straight if anything goes squint. It's a team effort - some days I ask him, "Come on, get us up in this handstand, little man!"

The week is difficult to begin; Sunday is the first day on the mat for us after Saturday resting, and this practice is usually a bit slow and curious. Usually I focus primarily on my breath and how broad I can move the breath through my body and to the baby. Monday and Tuesday's practices are the most challenging, it is as though my body and the baby inside me are a bit slow to catch on...By Wednesday, we are singing. The asana and breath, including the chanting practice we do before we start each and every morning, are in tune and we are moving together in unison. This makes the last three days of our practice week, ending on Friday - a wholesome attempt at a steady and healthy ritual.

As I look to the future of being an ashtanga mum and continuing my studies with trips to Mysore and trips to see my teachers, my intention is that my yoga practice is a family affair. My husband practices, I practice, and so does our son to come. He has always practiced, in fact. From the very first day of conception he has practiced, and this routine I hope - will be comfortable and habitual for him.

As my son grows up, we will encourage him to have a daily personal time to himself; whatever personal time (yoga) that may look like, we will encourage him that there is an importance to carving out time in the day for "calm", "quiet", and "settling" activities. This doesn't necessarily mean he has to practice yoga - just any practice where he can purify his body, tend his mind and take care of his thoughts. 

This offering of the same time every day for him to go into a safe and quiet place is just like what his father and his mum do each day - we head to our mats for some quiet time where we rejuvenate ourselves through asana, pranayama and meditation; all this effort is a commitment to healthy living and overall personal wellness.

Patanjali serves as a beacon to the practice for us: maintaining optimal mental and physical health every day is a ritual we as humans can't afford not to do; and if you are a parent or soon-to-be-one, you can offer the wisdom you learn from your practice to them. We can easily overlook the basic daily ashtanga vinyasa yoga practice as being hard and challenging and filled with difficulty, but really it is all about rejuvenation and wellness. Through the daily potent practice (whether it be big or small - short or long - who cares which series you are practicing - whichever one you are working on), we discover new awakenings within us which we can take out into the world and share with others.

Until the end of May when our little one comes into the world to join us, I continue to get up early and practice, continue to teach my daily Mysore programme, and most importantly, prepare for the birth of the newest yogi in our lives - our wee son.






3 comments:

  1. Sarah! Your poem brought beautiful clearing tears to my eyes and a beautiful meditation shot out from my 5th to my 6th then in between the 3 halos I see ignight! love you sis beacons afar but closely burning...ahhhh wish you were closer though !!!! love from Kauai..

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