At the beginning of the school year, my youngest came home with a drawing of our family, each member labelled with a description of their various occupations. He and his brother were described in terms of their scholastic levels (kindergarten and pre-kindergarten); our dog was described as being a big fluffy guard dog. Next to the largest two figures were the following labels: “Daddy goes to work” and “Mommy goes to yoga”.
While yoga is not my main occupation, it is a passion of mine. Every morning I wake at 5:00 and sleepily head to my beloved studio [1], the only studio in the city open at such an obscene hour. There are very few things that can get me out of bed so early; there are even fewer that can get me out of bed and in public, with no makeup and dirty hair no less.
Every morning I get up and I do my practice and then I face the rest of the day, the day that holds the little joys and the tedium and the various drudgeries experienced by a stay at home mom [2]. After my children were born I did not do anything for myself for a few years. I rarely went out and when I did it was only briefly, and after the children were asleep. At the time my husband worked long hours while I was at home with two very small children, one a toddler, one a colicky infant. Suffice it to say that this was not a particularly happy time in my life. I was constantly exhausted, my back hurt from always carrying at least one child around, and my legs ached from swollen, inflamed varicose veins.
It sounds trite to say “and then I tried yoga and everything got better”, but that is exactly what happened. When I first started three years ago I could hardly touch my toes; now I am able to achieve postures that I did not know were possible. In addition to physical well-being, the tenets of yoga have spilled over into my everyday life: I’m much more patient, more positive, and, of course, happier.
My early morning practice is a gift I give myself every day, and I am a better person because of it. Yoga has given me balance [3]; in my body and in my life.