As I traverse the path of motherhood, I am constantly reminded of the ways in which yoga has saved my sanity. There have been days when yogic breathing has pulled me back from the brink, and nights when I have relied upon the power of relaxation to get me through the bedtime shenanigans. For every posture I’ve practiced I could tell a thousand stories. Instead of boring you with tales of which poses helped me through which milestones, I’ve compiled a list of five yoga poses every mother of young children should have in her arsenal, and why.
When I first started teaching yoga fourteen years ago, and writing about how it can benefit athletes, my running buddies were skeptical. But in the years since then, yoga has become mainstream, specific classes for runners are on the rise, and yoga and running are no longer mutually exclusive activities. Whether it’s through greater breath control, increased leg strength, better posture, relief of post-run tightness or simply a deeper awareness of the way our bodies move, yoga is a great complement to any type of running training.
It’s International Women’s Day. As I began writing this post, I was going to ruminate on the importance of women’s voices, on the power and strength we hold in our hearts and minds, on our ability to initiate change. But my mind kept coming back to one particular yoga posture. It’s called Warrior III (or Virabhadrasana III in its Sanskrit name).
It is a posture that requires strength, balance, grace, power, openness and concentration. It involves being grounded and focused, but is also most effective when practiced with a sense of ease and lightness.
Despite having practiced yoga for many years, I’m constantly surprised at the revelations I have on the mat – both the smaller "a-ha!" moments to the greater "scream-it-from–the-rooftop!" realizations.
Well, I had a revelation today.
I’m not sure where on the spectrum today’s revelation falls. The realization felt like a rediscovery of something I have always known - like a moment of déjà vu or the experience of an unfolding dream in which you seem to know what will happen a split second before it does.
