During my pregnancy I was in my perfect zen mood: I ate and slept well. I did my yoga and meditation practice every day. I avoid drinking too much coffee, and of course, I didn’t drink any alcohol after I did my pregnancy test.
I was on a top of the mountain, but at the same time I did know, that this balance-like feeling wouldn’t last long – like any period in life doesn’t. There is always change waiting in a corner. I knew that in a couple of months my first mission was to look after the baby and my little girl, and that I wouldn’t have that luxury time to focus on my wellbeing that much. But: I wanted to believe that this balance that I had accomplish would help me when the time would be tight and I would be that busy mum multitasking in our every day life.
So, where are we now?
After nine weeks of the birth of our boy I woke up one morning feeling completely block. I had pain in my back and shoulders, and when I did my forward bent it felt clumsy. I realized that I haven’t had time to step on my yoga mat for a while. I was stuck in mentally and physically.
This is what it does to me when I don’t have time to have my regular moments on my yoga mat.
Meanwhile my everyday life soundtrack sounds something like this: Wake up, feet the baby, make breakfast for the firstborn. Try to negotiate with her what to wear and eat. Try to get her ready to go to nursery with her father. Do the laundry, change durable nappies every two hours, maybe work two hours, and make lunch for my husband and me. Tidy the apartment. The firstborn comes home from day care. Diner. Tidy. Pyjamas on. Bedtime story. Then me getting up from the bed with the baby to feed him and then try to get sleep for two or three hours and then eat again. And bing the same all over again.
This everyday ritual and busy family life has made me forgot for a while what is really essential for me: my time on the yoga mat.
Luckily my body sent me a message to return back to my mat. It whispered to me and begged me to make that little time for myself. I learned my lesson, but I also learned a valuable lesson about busy everyday life that many of us are living. It is so easy when you have time and balanced life to give instructions to others, and as a yoga teacher I got good inside information and more understanding where most of us are coming from when they are entering in to a yoga class. Most of us enter in a class feeling tired and stressed. We have too much on our mind, and in this hectic life rhythm it is so difficult to stop and take that deep breath. Well all this I have learned.
Of course my mission for now is to look after the kids, but I do have to take care of myself so that I can be a happy mother to my children. I need to make space for my practice. So now when I have a little break (when the baby is sleeping) I enter to my mat and just do a short practice. It can be five minutes or a half an hour – you never know, but it is practice and I know that it is my petrol for life. And like in life, on my yoga mat too, I can always start all over again.
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