This morning I decided to do a bit of yoga. Not a big deal, except I haven't done any in months -- and I was enjoying my prenatal yoga so much before I gave birth. I've made a lot of time for dance lately, but taking the time to slow down my breath and really focus on the asanas just hasn't been part of the picture lately. (One exception has been Hala Khouri's Yoga for Stress Reduction.)
But here's the thing: there really is nothing like yoga. It got rid of my knee and back pains, and that deep breathing kept me going through a stressful year in my life. So yesterday I bought a copy of Yoga Journal, and today I got my husband to watch the little one while I did a simple, two-page routine for stretching and twisting the back.
I didn't have the right equipment. I was on a carpet (really not ideal for downward dog), wearing bellydance pants. But that barely mattered. It was so, so difficult to slow and deepen my breath at first. I think this is partly due to the fact that my dance courses have encouraged keeping tight abdominals and breathing into the rib cage, so I had to remember what the belly could do too.
It was wonderful. My back felt longer, and I was more relaxed. More than that, at some point, I started to feel just happy -- about life, being a mother, and so on. I'm always just a little bit skeptical when I read these Yoga
Journal articles about bhakti and radiant joy and love and all of that stuff, but you know what? Sometimes it works. No altars or mantras necessary. Not even a mat.Labels: Hala Khouri, postnatal, stress, yoga, Yoga Journal