Rox Does Yoga

Yoga, Wellness, and Life

Balancing Acts October 18, 2012

Filed under: reflections,yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 2:16 pm
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It’s been two weeks since I posted here. Um. Coincidentally, two weeks ago my husband F started back to work and YogaBaby headed to daycare. Until you have had such things happen in your life, you would not believe how complicated this gets. When I was at home on leave, F hung out with YogaBaby in the early mornings while I caught a little sleep, then got himself out the door to work; when F was at home on leave (and YB started sleeping more), he usually got up early with me and then waved goodbye as I got myself out the door to work. Point being, in both cases there was one person who wasn’t trying to get out the door to work and who could reliably have a baby placed on them while the other showered. Now I, F, and YogaBaby all need to get out the door in the mornings. Admittedly, YB is a pretty easy character in the morning – she often sleeps until or past 7 o’clock, so the grown-ups can get fed and showered in the 6 o’clock hour before she needs attending to. But it’s still a lot of stuff and humans to coordinate. And some combination of sleeping unswaddled, being at exciting daycare, and having a constant low-level daycare cold, has been affecting YB’s sleep schedule such that she was waking up 3+ times per night, so F and I were coordinating all of these morning things while barely conscious. (I think we’ve got that figured out now – the new plan involves feeding her more, and more often – but don’t quote me on that.) And don’t get me started on the craziness of the evenings, or how being a one-car household affects the new babyful commute.  Suffice to say, we are tired, and still seeking the new normal.

Besides the busyness of family life with two working parents and a small hungry hungry hippo, I think there’s been another reason why I haven’t been posting. It feels somehow wrong to write in a yoga blog when I’m not doing any yoga. Lately I’ve been thinking back nostalgically to the days of my teacher training, just last year, when I practiced my yoga every day – every day! – and even meditated on a regular basis. I felt so centered back then! I had so many good yogic things to write about, asanas to discuss and tips to share. And now, even if I found the time, what would I have to say about yoga? If I want to write about yoga postures, I ought to be actually doing them; if I’m going to write about teaching, I should be teaching some classes that I can then write about. How can I write about a yoga practice when I have no practice?

My practice, right now, is different from what it was. Instead of rolling out my mat, I lay a blanket on the floor and play with my baby. Instead of luxuriating in asanas, I remind myself to pee. I sleep when I can, and I don’t guilt myself for not getting up extra early to do yoga, because sleep is just as necessary as downward dog. Two weeks ago, a friend watched the baby so F and I could have dinner and go see my favorite band play a concert, and that was yoga. Last week I got a massage, a whole hour just to relax and not worry about getting anything done, and that was yoga. I ride my bike to the train station and that’s yoga too. There will be asanas again at some point, and even meditation, but right now my balancing act has nothing to do with tree pose and everything to do with responsibility and family and time. My yoga practice, right now, is to do the best I can with what I’ve got.

 

Etsy: home to all kinds of handmade yoga stuff October 3, 2012

Filed under: Miscellaneous — R. H. Ward @ 1:30 pm
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If you’re a yoga fan, you probably need a bag to tote your mat to class. You can get pretty decent yoga mat bags at stores like Target, but you can also find some really fun, handmade bags on Etsy.com. My current yoga mat bag was made by Jackie, whose shop XcessRize has bags made from a variety of fabrics and cool prints. I love my bag – it not only holds my mat, but also has enough room for a change of clothes, and it has several pockets to store small items like jewelry (great for ID, keys, or when my necklace keeps smacking me in the face during downward dog). There are tons and tons of Etsy sellers who offer similar bags in different styles and patterns – just search for “yoga mat bag” and see all the fun stuff that comes up!

Another shop I love on Etsy is Yogaworks. Sarah makes lots of different things, including yoga mat bags, but I love her scented savasana eye pillows. Really relaxing!

My husband has found lots of fun yoga-related jewelry pieces on Etsy that have made great gifts. I have a small collection of pendants made from Scrabble tiles: the side facing out is painted with art, and you can flip it over to see that it was originally an E. I have one that looks like this and another like this (not sure if those are the sellers who made my pendants, but these pieces are just as pretty). I’ve seen some really cool jewelry designed around yoga poses, the Om symbol, you name it. Etsy is a great place to find pretty things that display your yoga love (and a great resource for spouses on holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries!).

 

Reading: Yoga Journal September 2012 issue September 27, 2012

Filed under: yoga,yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 1:21 pm
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Now that my maternity leave is over and I’m trying to get back in the swing of my normal life, I’ve made a start on the stack of Yoga Journal issues I have saved up, in the interest of getting my yoga groove back and getting back in the spirit of teaching again at some point. The September 2012 issue of YJ has a nice photo of India.Arie on the cover – it’s always interesting to see what musicians are also yogis.

In this issue, I really enjoyed the basics article focusing on downward-facing dog. This core pose is such an integral part of almost all yoga traditions, but it seems like it’s rarely taught in detail. I’ll be tearing out this article to review more carefully later . I’ve done some reading on down dog in the past, but it’s such a crucial pose that I want to have as many tools for teaching it as possible!

I’m also tearing out the section on smoothies. F and I used to make a smoothie every morning; with the baby, we’ve gotten away from it a bit, and I’d like to get back to having some liquified fruit in my diet. This article had good tips for incorporating green ingredients like avocado and kale into our repertoire, which is exciting!

 

Postnatal Yoga September 24, 2012

Filed under: yoga — R. H. Ward @ 1:53 pm
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My body seems to have bounced back quickly from my pregnancy and birth, but there are definitely still some sore spots and changes to contend with. My hips are very tight, and my abs are still weak. I also notice that my calves are still quite tight – during my pregnancy my calves would get so tight that I’d get leg cramps at night, and that tightness seems to be persisting. I’m also trying to build up some arm strength again after taking a break from more strenuous asanas and exercise towards the end of my pregnancy.

As I try to rebuild my yoga practice, I’ve been naturally gravitating towards asanas that will stretch my hips. Pigeon feels great, and it’s nice to be able to rest on the floor again! I also love cobbler pose, especially because I can hold and play with my baby in this posture. I practice downward dog to help open my calves, and plank pose with repeated vinyasas to build back my abs and arm muscles. I’m also finding that standing postures like the warriors work all of these areas.

These are some of the asanas I’ve been focusing on, but I was also curious about what asanas are recommended for postnatal yoga practice. Here are a few resources I found:

Postnatal Yoga: Conditions and Cures for Both Mama and Babe (YogaJournal.com): I like this article because it gives a few suggestions for simple poses that might be helpful to your baby too. I know I put YogaBaby into knees-to-chest and it seemed to feel good to her.

Postpartum Yoga for New Moms (BabyZone.com): This article discusses some of the same postures as the YJ article, but it adds a few more strenuous asanas as well, good for when Mom’s feeling a little stronger, and a few different postures to try for strengthening the abdominals. I love practicing cobra again!

It looks like Shiva Rea has a few popular DVDs for new moms. Her Postnatal Yoga DVD has received some good reviews on Amazon, but it should be noted that the DVD doesn’t include any “mom and baby” postures. Rea addresses this in her new DVD, Mama & Baby Yoga. This looks to be brand-new for 2012!

 

Gratuitous YogaBaby Photo September 20, 2012

Filed under: Miscellaneous — R. H. Ward @ 4:06 pm
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In lieu of actual substantive content, please enjoy this photo of my Buddha baby chillin’ peacefully.

YogaBaby at 8 weeks

 

Back in the saddle September 17, 2012

Filed under: checking in,reflections,yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 1:00 pm
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I haven’t blogged much in recent weeks because I’ve been preparing to go back to work. Last week was my first full week back at the office, and already I feel swamped, overwhelmed, snowed under by the work. My colleagues did their best to watch over my projects all summer, keeping things going and responding to author queries, but I’m now responsible for getting things to the next level. I’ve also had to travel for a business meeting already: just from Philly to DC, and only for a quick day trip and lunch meeting rather than an overnight, but still. All this while I’m still trying to adjust to pumping breast milk and lugging my Medela InStyle everywhere (including to DC); working out transportation/commuting issues now that my husband F, temporarily home with YogaBaby, can’t just run me to the train station; crying every night when I see my sweet little one look up at me and realize I just missed a whole day of her brand-new life. Discovering, in short, what it means to be a working mother.

The main thing on my mind lately is time. Time has separated itself into two distinct categories: time with my daughter, and time doing anything else. The “anything else” is often necessary (like working is necessary for keeping the little one in diapers), but I’m finding that I want to keep anything not involving the baby to a minimum. When we’re talking about shortening my commute time (by getting me a bike so I don’t have to walk to the train station – which by the way is really fun) or taking a 30-minute lunch so I can get home earlier, that’s one thing, but how do I prioritize yoga and meditation? They’re things I need for myself, to be a healthy person and therefore a good mom, but how do I take that time away from my child when I already by necessity have to be away from her so much? And how do I justify healthy social things – meeting a girlfriend for a drink, or going to a lecture at the library or museum – when first of all I feel like I barely see my kid, and secondly I’m not making enough time for yoga and meditation? It all has to fit in somewhere, right? How? (That’s not a rhetorical question. If you have the answer, please tell me!)

I think, in the near future, that I’m going to try to revisit what the yogic scriptures say about time and reflect on what that may mean in my situation. I’ll post here when I can, and only when it won’t drastically interfere with my baby time. (For example, I wrote this post by hand in the “mothers’ room” at the office while I was pumping, and I’m now typing it up six days later with a sleeping sweetie in a milk coma on my lap.) In the meantime, I’ll try to take a lesson from my YogaBaby and keep my focus on the present moment.

 

Veg Link: Five Religious Approaches to Thinking about Meat Eating August 23, 2012

Filed under: reflections,yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 5:12 pm
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Ever since that terrific radio program with Matthew Sanford a few months ago, I’ve been following NPR’s On Being series on Facebook. Earlier this week they posted this piece on the ethics of eating meat: Five Religious Approaches to Thinking About Meat Eating.

Because I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, and because I do a lot of thinking about the intersections of Christianity and Eastern religious practice, I found the five approaches described here very interesting. I hadn’t realized that most religious traditions begin with a vegan worldview. I also found the discussion of compassion to be compelling, since ahimsa, or nonviolence, was at the heart of my conversion to a vegetarian diet. However, all of the approaches given here may come in handy in future conversations about why being a vegetarian is right for me.

 

politics and relationships August 21, 2012

Filed under: yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 1:35 pm
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As election madness ramps up here in the US, I thought I’d share this insightful post from Chrysta at Live Love Work: When Politics Affect Work And Family Relationships. There will always be someone in your life who has political opinions different from your own, but Chrysta offers some good concrete ideas for how to relate to those people without getting upset.

Especially when talking about politics, I try to remember the parakarmas, four attitudes discussed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras that help us keep our calm in relationships with other people. Check out my past posts on the parakarmas: friendliness and compassion, and celebrating the good, staying impartial to the bad.

 

Mom and Baby Yoga August 14, 2012

Filed under: yoga,yoga lifestyle — R. H. Ward @ 3:06 pm
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Mom and Baby Yoga Space Now that it’s been a few weeks and I’m feeling stronger, I’m starting to think about getting myself back in shape again. I definitely gained 30 pounds during my pregnancy, which seemed like the right amount – I stayed vegetarian and mostly ate a healthy diet (other than the vanilla milkshakes), but I definitely didn’t try to limit my eating in any way. I don’t know what my weight is now, but other than my massive baby-feeding appendages and a little bit of tummy, I’m back to what feels like my former size. Also, my pre-baby jeans fit again at only three weeks post-baby (they’re snug, but they button!), so thank you yoga and vegetarianism for that.

So, time to get myself moving. I took a walk a few days last week, in the mornings when it was cool enough to take the baby out in the stroller. I’ve only been going two blocks; I was exhausted after the first walk, but a few days and a few more walks later, I felt pretty solid.

I’ve started practicing some yoga again too: just maybe 20 minutes, and I’m starting off gently, but it feels really good, and it’s easier on my body than walking, interestingly. I’m surprised at how quickly my strength and flexibility is coming back to me. I had thought I’d lost a lot of strength during my pregnancy, but I guess there’s a difference between having the strength to lift my regular weight and the strength to lift my weight at nine months pregnant.

I’m including a photo here of my current yoga space. In order to do yoga at all, of course I have to work around the babe. Rather than waiting until she sleeps or sticking her in her swing, I’ve concocted this setup where she can hang out on her little jungle playmat while I do my asana practice. At first she was not into this at all, but I think I first tried it when she was a little too young for the playmat. A week or so later and she was way more interested in looking at things. The past few times I’ve tried it, she’s been cool looking at her little parrot and butterfly friends for a good 20 minutes, which is enough for me to get some yoga done, at least at this point. Eventually I’m going to want to get back to the yoga studio – I’ll have to, to get myself back in good shape physically and for teaching – but this setup is perfect for home practice.

 

 

Lead Me August 10, 2012

Filed under: Miscellaneous,yoga — R. H. Ward @ 1:51 pm
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Just a quick post today: my teacher N’s story “Lead Me” is up on The Yoga Diaries. N is an amazing person and she’s had a heck of a year. I’m always impressed by her serenity and her fortitude. I hope you’ll check out her story!