Just come back to it

Last night I received an email from my friend Nicole asking for some advice on at-home yoga workouts.  As soon as I started typing my response, my body started craving yoga.  I haven’t practiced since last Tuesday. Yikes! There was no denying the craving. I unrolled my yoga mat and started my practice.  I knew I wanted a gentle flow class and not something that focused on too much strength and too much power.  For Christian’s birthday, I bought him Eoin Finn’s Yoga for Happiness: Surf Edition.  I decided to try the sunset workout on the disc. Doesn’t a sunset workout just sound relaxing?  It was wonderful.  Forty minutes of greatness!

The practice started with my favorite pose, child’s pose, and include shoulder stands, my other favorite.  Too bad my belly is now getting in the way! Don’t worry. I modified each pose. During the practice I also had to laugh at my balance.  Pregnancy is a crazy thing. It does so much to your body that you aren’t even aware of during normal daily routines.  During half-moon, I could barely balance on one foot.  As soon as I lost the pose, Eoin so nicely said (as if he were in the room with me):

If you come out of the pose, it’s okay. Just come back to it.

And that is when the light bulbs went off in my head.  Pregnancy is like coming out of a pose.  It slows things down. It throws off your balance. It shouldn’t be embarrassing. It’s something to embrace.  It is just as wonderful as holding a pose (even if you come out of it). You just have to come back to it.

For me the light bulbs went off about pregnancy.  I need to let myself come out of the pose if I need to, but I’ll always come back to it.  Some things can be returned to immediately. Somethings have to wait until January. I may or may not be able to remain active during my entire pregnancy.  While I can, I will.  If the time comes when I can’t, I will return to it post-baby.  Pregnancy cravings having me wanting a lot of foods I don’t normally eat.  It’s okay.  Most days I eat healthy. Even though there are nights I just really want a glass of wine, I’m willing to wait until January.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am ready to tackle my morning run before the summer heat turned on for the day.  I was dressed and ready until I brushed my teeth.  As soon as the toothpaste hit my tongue, I felt it happening.  The wonderful gag reflex brought on by pregnancy.  Normally I just gag A LOT, but today I threw up A LOT. The throwing up was definitely my way of coming out of the pose this morning. There was no way I was heading out for my run with an upset stomach.  I’ll try again tonight and see if the weather is cooperating.  If not, I’ll try again tomorrow morning.

There are so many other things in our life that we fall out of all the time.  Routines as simple as eating dinner at the table can be forgotten.  We can get in the habit of not kissing our spouse hello when we get home before we start venting about the day.  Sometimes we eat way too much junk food over the weekend. Sometimes we just lose our balance.  We just can’t forget to come back to the pose.

We all know how we want to live our lives. We all know how we want to love and be loved. Life throws us off-balance all the time.  It’s okay. We just have to come back to the pose.