March 07, 2009
Yoga Chronicles
Yes, yoga teacher training has been interesting while pregnant. For a while, before I knew I was pregnant, I simply noticed that my body was behaving strangely, which I might never have noticed had I not been practicing yoga so much. Yes, I had been pregnant before, but I tend not to pick up on cues sometimes, especially when I get busy. I might have a sore throat a couple of days before I notice that I might be getting sick, so when I started getting these signs, being immersed in the study of my body made me sit up and take notice.
Then, once I had the little pink plus sign, I started really feeling it--the nausea, the fatigue. They were unmistakable. After my February training session (we go for a whole weekend once a month), I found myself lying prone on the sofa for about three weeks straight. Sure I had to get up often and take care of my daughter but I was pretty out of it for a while, and we, uh, watched a lot of TV. I tried every home remedy I could think of to get the nausea to subside, but eventually I had to cave and call the doc. I needed drugs. Which immediately helped. I'm so glad I did get the medicine because I had a life that I was not able to live and the drugs have given it back to me. I am still taking one pill a day, not the three to four recommended daily dose. I take only what I need and that seems to work right now.
So needless to say, not a lot of asana was taking place at my house. I could do the breathwork and the meditation, but I could do no poses without thinking I might hurl. I tried stillness and focusing positive energy on the baby, I tried sleeping as much as possible, I tried prayer. All of which helped in their own ways, but nothing helped like the medicine. So now I am looking forward to a new month and I'm in the middle of my March yoga weekend and know that tomorrow when we show up and do our asana practice, which this month focuses on inversions, I will not be able to do any of it. But that is part of the yoga, too, learning what my body needs, learning to be kind to myself when I need to, learning to practice bramhacharya, or restraint, ahimsa, or non-violence, and satya, or truth. I need to be honest, kind, and gentle with and to myself, and none of these things come naturally to me (or many people). Therefore, it has been good practice to be pregnant while doing the yoga training.
It hasn't, however, made it easier for me to complete my required hours in the now truncated months that I have left (if I am to finish before the baby comes near the start of October, which I have every intention of doing). So this really will be an exercise in willpower and true integration of the yoga lessons I've been learning. Such a great experience, but like all great experiences, not. easy.
March 04, 2009
Blog mojo
OK, so I said I would be blogging more often and that pretty much never happened. I clearly underestimated the power of the blog mojo--or, perhaps the loss thereof. It's not that I don't want to blog anymore, but I simply haven't found the urge lately. Maybe Facebook has taken up all my time and energy, my desire to share mundane details of my life with the world, or maybe I'm just so busy being a mommy and a yoga teacher trainee that I haven't found time or desire to write contemplative essays with photos.
Speaking of which, I finally downloaded my photos off my camera today and found the oldest ones from early December, the last pics taken in maybe late January. January! I didn't even take any shots of opening presents on Christmas morning! Videos, but no photos. So I think the photo mojo and the blog mojo are closely related. I had to take some pictures of a car we're selling and downloading the photos made me want to blog (that plus a nice concerned email from a reader). Hmmmm, those two urges definitely must be located on the same gene.
In other news,
we're expecting another one in October! And I've still got this one who will be starting college in the fall:
