Sleep Cycles
“In yoga, the opposite of active is not passive, but receptive.”
-Cyndi Lee
Everyone and everything needs a rest sometimes. Lately I’ve been dreaming of a full night of sleep. At the age of two and a half, my daughter still wakes up and I find that I am attuned to her sleep cycles since I almost always wake up at least a few minutes before she does. My husband, on the other hand, sleeps through it all. Aren’t we all so different?
Fortunately, I find ways to rest after I’ve had a less than ideal night of sleep. Sometimes I take a catnap. Other times I sit on the couch and read. Occasionally I consider a slow and restful yoga session to be a valid form of rest, but lately I’ve rediscovered the practice of yoga nidra. It’s almost like a hybrid between a power nap and meditation. I’m really tired, I do fall asleep during the practice, but when I am actually able to keep my mind alert, I get to enjoy that floaty state you can reach when you completely relax your body for several minutes. You start to lose track of the outline of your body, that same melty feeling you get when you lay out on the beach or by the pool and let the sun wash over you.
Sometimes it seems like there are no real breaks in the life of a stay at home mom. On my most tired days, I believe that there aren’t. But on days when I can shift my perspective, I find that the breaks don’t always take the most expected form. I’ve written in earlier posts that even something like washing dishes can be like a break when done with awareness on the breath and the steady effort to let go of worries and stressful thoughts. Ha! It sounds strange to say that washing dishes can be a break, but I have actually enjoyed it as a relaxing moment during times when I’ve used my mind a lot on a project, like my masters degree.
As a writer, I’ve also (reluctantly) realized the importance of a break, a sort of sleep cycle in the creative process. Being constantly productive does not necessarily equal good writing. One of my writing mentors from my undergrad years used to tell us that the actual sitting down and typing or writing out a draft is only part of the process of creative writing and that you’ve got to go out and live life and have experiences and think about things in order to have something to write about.
So, as a yogi and writer, I’ve decided to take the cold, dark time of the year to build up more content for subscribers. I’ll still post for the general public but it might not be weekly and I probably won’t include many videos. Until February, I’ll be preparing some better quality videos, creating and testing out yoga sequences, and laying out a flow of themes for you all to follow. Until then, stay connected and I’ll keep sharing my ideas and practice from the quiet place of my hibernation pose...if there is such a thing.
What is your hibernation pose? Do you dare to let go of a project, practice, or task for just a little while in order to refresh yourself? Chance are, the world won’t fall apart if you do, but you might fall apart if you don’t. Self care is vital.