I started practicing yoga eight years ago after my youngest daughter was born. It started as a way to get back in shape. It seemed gentle enough after a rather difficult pregnancy.
I have never been particularly athletic, but I had exercised on and off. I'd rollerskated competitively when I was in elementary school, which probably really makes me seem old, since I don't think there is any such thing as competitive rollerskating anymore. I could do all kinds of rollerskating stunts and Linda Ronstadt was my hero! In the eighties, I caught on to the whole Jane Fonda workout craze and did aerobics and weight machines at a gym for years. After my older daughter was born, I did Tae-Bo and Salsa dancing. But I never stuck with anything.
That is, until I found yoga. Yoga not only feels good for my body and tones my muscles, but I can breathe deeper when I am doing yoga regularly. I feel more relaxed ALL THE TIME when I do yoga regularly. I feel at peace in my mind. I feel centered and balanced and calm. I can focus better. I have more confidence. I feel more like the person I strive to be.
Last night, we let the girls watch 'The Blind Side", figuring there was nothing really bad in the movie and it would show them how other people live and also, hopefully, impart some motivation to strive to do your best and be a good person. Our emotional little girls really internalized the message of how bad Michael Oher's life was before he met the Tuohy family. After the movie was over, they had a lot of questions: Do places like that really exist? Do people really do things like that? Do kids really get taken away from their parents?
My girls tend to be very sympathetic and empathetic little individuals and they clung to my husband and I and thanked us for being their parents and got very upset by the possibility of anything happening to us. Our younger daughter had had a bad day in school and this just exacerbated her crying spell.
At 11pm, desperate to get the girls to fall asleep, I asked Jason if they could sleep with me. He wasn't thrilled, but he went to watch TV in the family room and my babies cuddled in with me and fell asleep.
Needless to say, sleeping with an 8 and a 10 year old is not an easy task. I had maybe 12 inches of mattress to myself. My girls slept at an angle, with their feet jabbing into my hip. I hardly slept, but laying in the dark, listening to my angels breathe made me feel happy and content. I marveled on how fast they were growing up and started anticipating summer, when we would all be home together all the time.
This morning I was stiff and sore from not getting a comfortable sleep. I was very grateful for my husband brewing my favorite kind of coffee, but two cups did nothing to lift the fog.
So, I did a yoga routine....and I feel amazing. I feel terrific. The soreness and stiffness is gone. I feel awake and rejuvenated and ready to face my day!
