Somehow, my 21-month-old daughter fits yoga into her day even though she doesn’t even know what it is! This is a photo of her opening up into Ananda Balasana (Happy Baby Pose) while breastfeeding. As she has become more mobile, she’s tried such fantastic feats as nursing while she holds Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog - picture that if you can….), playing with her toys while sitting in Virasana (Hero pose) and watching TV while in Baddha Konasana (Butterfly pose).
But more importantly, she practices the more elusive aspects that we often forget about: breathing and being present. That’s the gift of childhood and also the potential gift of motherhood. It’s so easy to get caught up in the forms of yoga (poses, sequences, and postural alignment) that we forget that under the form, there is an underlying feeling that brings it all alive.
Recently I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. While it isn’t overtly a book about yoga, it absolutely highlights the essence of yoga: living in the here and now. It sounds so New Age and cliche, I know. But as they say, easier said than done. One thing that I really enjoyed about The Power of Now is that it delivers one perspective on the mental practice of yoga without the cultural attachments yoga has that some might find difficult to sort through.
Sometimes, the simpler the practice, the better.
I don’t know about you, but I was pretty tired postpartum. While I normally sought out more intense vinyasa classes prior to my pregnancy, after birth I looked forward to restorative and yin classes. But I also found that sometimes I didn’t want to commit to a full hour of practice. Sometimes I even felt more drawn to my meditation practice than my asana (posture) practice, which is so unlike my previous self. But as you know, after you have a baby, you’ll never be that previous self. And that can be both frustrating and liberating.
Silent meditation is my go-to, but now and then I like guided meditations. One series I recommend in particular are the meditations narrated by Wah (one of my favorite yoga musicians). You can find some of them on YouTube here.
Her guided meditations are fairly short, but let’s be real, sometimes we find ourselves at the end of the day ready for bed without time or energy left for anything. The nice thing about guided meditations is that they can be done reclining (watch out - you might fall asleep!) or at least comfortably supported in a chair and it’s a great prelude to sleep. And if you do them enough, you might find yourself standing there, washing dishes one day and spontaneously noticing your breath, relaxing your shoulders and bending your knees to release your lower back. Now that’s advanced postpartum yoga if you ask me. More on this in future posts….
P.S. I never tried doing yoga postures while nursing my daughter, at least nothing more than just trying to sit up tall with better posture!