Many women come to yoga during pregnancy and/or for a mom/baby class and have not had the pleasure of studying for years before parenting.. I really feel the BENEFITS of studying yoga are just fully coming into bloom NOW!
Backbends, balancing, heart openers, inversions,  forward bends, mediation.. all have implications for our physical mat practice, our parenting practice and our OWN self awareness..

After a recent conversation with a friend about balance.. I wrote some thoughts about the connection between our balancing postures and our lives..  no.. this is not a polished essay.. more just thoughts. love for you to share your as well. ( See  the beautiful Yanna balancing so well below.. )

How do you want to BALANCE your precious  time ? I want my children  to have plenty of mommy time but see me working in a way that helps this world. That creates peace and healthy living for families- where I am connected to others and working on service- giving my life in a meaningful way to things that are important to me.

There are many benefits of practicing balance postures such as an increased awareness strength our in our physical body starting from the feet and moving up the body  to an increased awareness of our own thought patterns and  tendencies. For example, while standing in tree pose we can notice how we stand, where we lean and bring ourselves back into alignment. The same is true in our lives, we can step back when we feel out of balance and see what areas are pulling us down or off of our center, and we have a chance to re-align ourselves.

In yoga, our postures often represent more than just what physical arises on the mat. In balancing postures, we “ground down” with our feet in order to rise up with our heart and to align our skeletal system, bring ourselves into a full expression of  the pose and ourselves. Balancing poses give us a chance to notice our patterns and practice new ways to come into the pose and new strategies to come FULLY into our life.

When you come into a poses there are often has physical and mental implications. One benefit of yoga is the centering and realigning that occurs with your body and your life. Balancing postures help us to center our selves physically and mentally.

Able to help clear the path of intuition for raising my family, living with intention, what do I want to do with my time? Who do I want to spend it with- living with intention and clarity and returning to the mat, cushion, nature,  movement to help give me space and clarity.

For me, Yoga is as  Judith Lasater has said, “When one is deeply in the state of yoga, who you are really is most evident, and when we are most truly ourselves, we express what yoga truly is.” She went on to liken yoga to the actions of a sculptor uncovering the shape already present in the stone, removing the obstacles to letting whatever is present reveal itself, shine forth."