Things have changed around my house. My eighteen month old son, Josias, has started to sleep through the night. With a bit of gentle encouragement on my part, he now sleeps from about 8pm until four or five in the morning. This represents a HUGE change for us. Previously, he had been waking up four to six times per night to breastfeed. Obviously, that meant Mama was up four to six times per night and not getting a heck of a lot of sleep.
Eight o'clock is also a later bedtime for Josias. He used to go down at 7pm. By the time I got him breastfed and asleep it was usually about 7:45 and I had time to get in a short yoga practice before collapsing into bed. Now, though, he's not done breastfeeding until about 8:30, and since I have to get up at 4am, when he gets up, I just can't stay awake any longer to practice yoga.
I've been experimenting. Sometimes I get in 20 minutes before Josias goes to bed, while Papa spends time with him, or if Josias goes back to sleep after his 4am breastfeed, I'll try to get up and practice for a little while. BUT, I'm only able to practice about three times per week, whereas I used to fit it in five or six times a week.
I am so thankful that Josias is sleeping longer, for our whole family's sake. It is just a temporary downside that I can't practice yoga as much as I'd like. I know how important yoga is to my well-being and to my life. So, I am grateful if I get to practice three times per week. This also gives me the opportunity to reflect more on the other seven limbs of yoga (asanas or poses being only one limb), and to know that I have the opportunity to practice yoga every day of every week of every precious moment of my life.
It has also been an opportunity for me to examine my samskaras or negative patterns. I am a person who likes a schedule and a fixed way of doing things. Some might even call me a tad rigid. Josias' change in sleeping schedule has allowed me to reflect upon my commitment to a home yoga practice. Can I be flexible enough to change when I practice and for how long? So far the answer has been, yes, sometimes!
Has anything in your life required you to change your schedule or examine your commitment to yoga or anything else that is important to you? How did it go?
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A pain in the neck
Over the past few months, I've started having neck, shoulder and back pain. It's not constant, it's more of an on and off kinda deal, but it sure gets in the way. I don't need to see the doctor to know the cause: a 25+ pound human that likes to be picked up, carried, worn on my back and breastfed. Josias actually isn't very clingy, unless he's sick, but he is a toddler and does need to be picked up and held frequently. Sometimes it's not for his comfort, but to prevent mayhem from ensuing.
My husband suffers from chronic shoulder pain, so once I started feeling poorly, I was terrified that it was the same thing. Is shoulder pain contagious? I was so sure that my posterior parts were doomed that initially I didn't even attempt yoga as a way to deal with it. After a few days, though, I decided to give it a try.
My first ailment was my upper back and shoulders. I tried several poses, including cat-cow, cobra pose and my favorite standing poses. That felt pretty good, but I wasn't out of the woods yet. Then it came to me. Dolphin pose! It worked like a charm. After about three days of incorporating the above-mentioned poses into my practice, I was good as new. Or, as a good as an almost-forty, mother of a toddler, can reasonably expect to be.
This week a new ache arrived. Neck pain. In addition to the mama duties that brought on the shoulder and back problems, I think sitting at a computer for endless hours a day contributed to the latest discomfort. Fortunately I have a private office as well as yoga-friendly (or at least tolerant) office mates, so I could practice a few poses. But, neither my body nor my intuition was giving me clues as to how to deal with this one, so I consulted the Yoga Journal website, where you are able to find poses that will help with specific problems - both physical and emotional. In addition to the usual suspects, it suggested puppy pose for neck pain. I would have tried this pose for its cute name alone, but the fact that it promised relief from neck pain had me sold. After practicing the poses recommended by Yoga Journal, I was still feeling a bit stiff, but went back to work.
It wasn't until I arrived home a few hours later that I realized the pain was totally gone! Yoga to the rescue once again! Now, if I could only get my husband into puppy pose, maybe he would feel better.
My husband suffers from chronic shoulder pain, so once I started feeling poorly, I was terrified that it was the same thing. Is shoulder pain contagious? I was so sure that my posterior parts were doomed that initially I didn't even attempt yoga as a way to deal with it. After a few days, though, I decided to give it a try.
My first ailment was my upper back and shoulders. I tried several poses, including cat-cow, cobra pose and my favorite standing poses. That felt pretty good, but I wasn't out of the woods yet. Then it came to me. Dolphin pose! It worked like a charm. After about three days of incorporating the above-mentioned poses into my practice, I was good as new. Or, as a good as an almost-forty, mother of a toddler, can reasonably expect to be.
This week a new ache arrived. Neck pain. In addition to the mama duties that brought on the shoulder and back problems, I think sitting at a computer for endless hours a day contributed to the latest discomfort. Fortunately I have a private office as well as yoga-friendly (or at least tolerant) office mates, so I could practice a few poses. But, neither my body nor my intuition was giving me clues as to how to deal with this one, so I consulted the Yoga Journal website, where you are able to find poses that will help with specific problems - both physical and emotional. In addition to the usual suspects, it suggested puppy pose for neck pain. I would have tried this pose for its cute name alone, but the fact that it promised relief from neck pain had me sold. After practicing the poses recommended by Yoga Journal, I was still feeling a bit stiff, but went back to work.
It wasn't until I arrived home a few hours later that I realized the pain was totally gone! Yoga to the rescue once again! Now, if I could only get my husband into puppy pose, maybe he would feel better.
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