In my pre-baby life I read somewhere that only doing yoga in a class setting was like exclusively going places by being driven around in a limousine. At some point, you are going to have to learn to drive if you want to get where you want to go.
Enter the home practice.
Friends, I’m not going to lie. Practicing yoga at home is hard, especially when you’ve been spoiled with excellent teachers like I have.
Where do I start?
What should I do?
What poses do I do?
How long do I do it for?
What does my body need right now?
What the hell does that even mean?
When practicing at home was first brought up in my yoga teacher training I may have actually guffawed. The joke is now on me.
I now have a home practice. I’m pretty sure it looks different from yours or his or hers, but I have one.
What changed?
I started teaching restorative yoga regularly (first Sunday of the month and needing to feel what I was teaching) and getting myself a baby thus limiting my time outside the house alone.
What does my home practice look like?
Depends on the day and what hurts or needs my attention.
Sometimes, like say when my brain is on overload or I’m so tired I can hardly stand it, I simply lay in Savasana (corpse) with Ruby on my chest while she has a nap. Since I usually don’t fall asleep, I just rest and try to quiet my mind without obsessively checking my Google Reader.
Sometimes, if my back hurts from all the constant forward bending and lifting from chasing an active 10 month old around, I will lay in Savasana with a bolster under my shoulder blades while she’s snoozing with Papa. If I don’t have a bolster around I use a rolled up blanket, towel or pillow. When my back is particularly sensitive, I’ll keep my knees bent and feet on the floor to have the stretch be a bit more gentle.
To come out of the heart roll, be sure to roll to one side off the support and rest for a minute or two before using your arms to help you up.
Other times, I’ll sneak in some gentle neck rolls, an easy twist or a puppy while playing on the floor with her
Every so often, I’ll let Ruby lead and we usually end up in Happy Baby.
What about you? How do/did you take care of yourself when your baby came home?
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I have a home practice. And though many days it’s not as fluid as it once was pre baby, I find it satisfying. Sometimes I think I’m better at tuning in and listening to what my body needs more so than I’ve ever been. Might be because I know the clocks ticking on how much “real” mat time I have and/or I know my little one will soon join me on my mat! We also go for walks as a family. (o:
i took lots of walks. i sorely missed/miss a formal sitting practice with a community. whenever i was nursing a baby, i would try to meditate (and not unlike in the zendo, i would fall asleep). i would meditate at other times, too: on the toilet, brushing my teeth, rocking/walking them to sleep. many many many deep breaths
the koan of taking care of myself while mothering is one i keep exploring with my mama friends, even as the “babies” stop being babies.
Well, I don’t have a baby (hopefully I will, one day), but I have a really hard time doing yoga at home. I just have no clue what to do and how to move on from one pose to the other, so this post is really inspiring to me! :) And The Rubes is beautiful, congratulations! :)