Wow, I am amazed that I actually stuck with this blogging project for 45 days. It seems like it's taken forever, yet the summer is flying right on by at the same time. What a strange little time vortex I live in.
For a few days, I've been wanting to write about my gratitude for my yoga practice. Last Wednesday, I was driving home from my prenatal yoga class and I felt like a billion bucks. When I arrived at class I felt stiff, achy, uncomfortable, grumpy, and tired. After just an hour of stretching, exercising, pushing myself, accepting myself, and opening at the studio I was a completely different person. When I leave a great class like this I feel like the best version of myself. I feel centered. I feel energized. My head feels clear. I am ready to return to my family and my life from a calm, positive, forgiving, accepting place. I honestly feel like this is my true nature and yoga helps me to reach this grounding, centered, and authentic place from which I can then approach living my life. The annoyances and stresses of day to day life tend to build up and cloud this perspective until I feel overwhelmed and tired a lot of the time.
It's been a long journey for me. My very first yoga class was about 12 years ago. And I'm a far cry from living mindfully all of the time. I could spew out a long list of shortcomings of my practice here - judgments about myself - negativity. But, instead, I'm going to choose not to go that route.
It's hard for me.
This weekend, Miles and I took the "Yoga Way to Birth" intensive course for our birth education and preparation. When we were pregnant with Jude Bear, we took the full 8 week series from Emory, an amazing, inspirational, honest woman and mother of 3 boys. This weekend was led by Tina Lilly, who co-created the series almost 10 years ago. I'm in awe of her as well. Miles and I were able to connect and communicate about our assumptions, fears, as well as plans and strategies for birthing this time around. It was a beautiful weekend. More than anything, I am inspired to prioritize yoga and mindfulness practice further in my daily life. It's easy to find excuses for not taking 10 minutes for myself and to fill this space with cleaning, errands, tasks, and distractions. But, really, I believe taking that tiny amount of time each day will really benefit me. In turn it benefits my family; my husband, my son, and this little daughter who we are soon welcoming from my body out into this world.
I'm grateful for yoga, for continuing to practice and learn, and for the amazing people that have come into my life through yoga.
Namaste.
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