Yoga at 23 Weeks Pregnant

Daily Life at 23 Weeks: My husband was in Kansas City this week visiting a sick relative, so I spent Christmas with my cousin in Fredericksburg, VA, who was 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant. We sat on the floor drinking mother-to-be-tea, swapped knitting tips, and fished through her cloth diaper collection. It's the first Christmas we've spent together since we were teens. When I returned home that evening, I had a leisurely flip through  my Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood book (it finally arrived!) while my baby did goldfish flip flops in my tummy. I woke up to an email from my Aunt letting me know that my cousin had finally gone into labor. At 4:42 pm, she was blessed with a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and a healthy baby girl!

Practice at 23 Weeks: I'm on winter break from my prenatal yoga class, but my regular teacher was back at my flow class at the gym. I'm wondering if and when I'll have to stop attending that one. Meanwhile, I'm super excited to try out the sequences in Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood. It includes sequences for beginning and advanced students for the first, second, and third trimesters divided into poses that widen the hips and pelvis, lengthen the sides of the body, and open the chest. That's a lot to play with!

Yoga at 22 Weeks Pregnant

Daily Life at 22 Weeks: I'm beginning to get overwhelmed by all the stuff that's supposed to happen before my baby arrives. By 34 weeks, I need to choose a pediatrician. Since I'm blessed with a boy, I'll need to decide whether or not to have him circumcised. My husband and I have to agree on a name. I need a whole bunch of baby stuff, and don't get me started on everything that needs to happen at work before I exit stage left. Meanwhile, I'm experiencing growing pains, like round ligament pain and teeny tiny Braxton Hicks contractions that are getting my uterus in shape for labor.

Practice at 22 Weeks: My regular flow teacher at the gym was sick this week, and the substitute sucked. Prenatal yoga got snowed out. Overall, it was a bummer of a week in terms of asana. I did start a new book that I'm enjoying reading and practicing—The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. My therapist recommended it and said it may help me find the kind of discipline that comes from my self rather than the type that burns me out.

Rethinking Our Warped View of Perfection

What I'm about to tell you cannot be backed up with an academic understanding of Sanskrit or guru-like wisdom. It's one of those lessons that you hear through the yoga grapevine—usually a story passed down from teacher to teacher that's intended to distract you from the discomfort of a two-minute Chair Pose (Utkatasana) or some such nonsense. But this lesson on perfection spoke to my soul, and so, I pass it on to you.

East vs. West Approach to Perfection
In the West, we have a love-hate relationship with perfection. We see it as an end goal to obtain—a 100% on a test or a perfect 10 on a figure skating routine. In Sanskrit, the word for perfection is not an end point. Instead, it implies fullness, and something that is perfect can become ever more full. Perfection is a continuous process, just as a pearl can be continuously polished, a solution constantly strives for homeostasis, and a yoga pose evolves with the yogi.

Before we go on, imagine a situation, relationship, or goal you know is coming down the pipeline and are at least a tad bit nervous about how you're going to handle it. For me, of course, it's pregnancy and motherood. Now keep yours in mind as we proceed.

Sanskrit Applied to Daily Life
As a pregnant woman, I am becoming ever more full, and therefore, ever more perfect. My life is about to become ever more perfect by filling it with a new human being, new responsibilities, and new joys.

I heard this lesson in Thursday's prenatal yoga class while spending a good few minutes in Garland Pose (Malasana). My teacher topped it off with a pep talk that went something like this:

As a pregnant woman, life is becoming ever more chaotic, ever more full of responsibilities...ever more perfect. You are growing fuller and fuller every day. You have the capacity, the ability, and the power to birth this baby and to go forward into motherhood. You can handle it. You are strong. You are perfect.

This lesson reminded me that I am whole and that I am enough. May this post make you feel as peaceful and content as I felt walking out of the yoga studio last Thursday evening.

Yoga at 21 Weeks Pregnant

Daily Life at 21 Weeks: The weeks seem to be going by faster in the second half of pregnancy, although overall the days are still crawling. I hear time speeds up as you get further along in your pregnancy, just like the years go by faster as you age. Isn't it amazing how time dilates and contracts? (Okay, I admit. I stole that from my yoga teacher.)

Practice at 21 Weeks: Thank god I'm back to my energetic self this week. I'm beginning to have one or two sluggish days per week, and I was worried that fatigue was setting in already. Corpse Pose (Savasana) is enticing, but I'm still enjoying the more active standing poses. I even surprised myself and did a Crane Pose (Bakasana) in my gym flow class with no problem.

Write on Yoga Gets a Facelift

Notice anything different about Write on Yoga? Yes, it's been temporarily taken over by my baby-obsessed brain, but look. It's beautiful!

Although my summer design class helped me find my way around computer design applications, it did nothing to cure my lack of graphic artistic ability. So, I asked my talented coworker to take over.

Behold, the fabulous makeover of Write on Yoga by graphic designer extraordinaire Simone Jenifer Christian.

Yoga at 20 Weeks Pregnant

Daily Life at 20 Weeks: I'm tired of being pregnant. Yes, it's a special time. Yes, I'm immensely thankful. However, I'd like to wear my normal clothes, look like a normal person, and be able to let my baby play on the floor instead of in my belly. It's early to arrive at this feeling. I'm only half way through.

Practice at 20 Weeks: After waking up with a sore throat, I skipped prenatal yoga this week. An evening of rest, fluids, and homeopathic medicine kicked whatever was threatening my immune system. I'm starting to get just a tad bit nervous about approaching labor and birth. The inevitable discomfort is making meditation look like an inviting way to ward off worry and encourage myself to relax into the process.