practice of a yogi mam

This morning at 4am when Adarsh got up for his practice and I was wide awake after comforting Evan back to sleep, I decided to get up too to get my own practice in.

My sweet little man Evan is 7 months old now and since his arrival my yoga practice has seen quite a shift. There were challenges during my pregnancy and I heard stories of Yogi mams being frustrated not to get a practice in anymore, mams who gave up on yoga altogether or ones whose bodies had completely changed and no asana practice was the same anymore. Quite scary to look forward to. Well....I haven't been frustrated and I haven't given up but yes, my body (and a whole lot more) has changed quite a bit. If there was ever any ambition of getting anywhere with this Ashtanga Yoga, doing whatever series I desired, that ambition is completely out of the window. In a good way.

Instead of being tempted to focus on the physical bit I have learned to just be present with what is going on. Be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. In fact, my lack of physical ambition during all the years of yoga now finally makes sense. This is not why I practice yoga. I always felt like a bit of an oddball out within the Ashtanga practice because I truly never felt the urge to move on to the next thing. I wasn't pushing or working awfully hard. I would just rather practice every day rather than be too knackered one day to do anything. That wasn't always a good or bad thing but it did constantly make me question my goals of practicing Ashtanga Yoga. Now that it's more challenging to find the time and energy to get a practice in I have gotten closer to the answer to that question.

Evan his presence in my life has made my body more sore and tight but my mind so much more flexible. That has been such a blessing because now it all makes sense. I practice around 4 times a week now depending on sleeping patterns, Evans changes and my need for that one hour more rest or not. The length of my practice is never certain so when I do step on my mat I am fully present with every move I make. That sounds so easy but believe me it's never been more clear to me how important that "being fully present" is and also what it truly means. One of my main promises to myself in being a mam is to be fully present with my child at every possible moment. Quite the promise ha?! Yes it is. Especially for this girl whose mind is a master at living in either the past or the future. Now that I have given birth and gained a stiffer and tighter body, the physicality of Ashtanga Yoga makes me be more present in the moment. If I get to do some of second, wow! If I get to do the full primary series, great! Doing half primary, quite something! But doing the standing sequence and some of the closing sequence, now that is dessert! And if I get a savasana in as well I'm really on top of the world. Whatever the sequence I end up doing it's completely unimportant. Important is how I do the practice and with what intention. This helps me to be completely present with Evan during the rest of the day which is what is really important to me. One could ask; hasn't that taken away from your yoga practice? A full and complete No is the answer. I feel stronger and more flexible than ever in my life and that is quite and extraordinary feat for this rather uptight girl. The Yoga practice of being a mam has opened my heart and mind to a whole new dimension. It's been the most liberating experience for me and I am so grateful for every moment of it. The body is just the body but what lives in it is the key to a true yoga experience. I feel so lucky to have been given the practice of a yogi mam :-)

Heleen

It Eats!

photos from our last days in Thailand

Enjoy the new slideshow to the left or link here

Inspired and rejuvenated

We have been so blessed to be able to come to Yoga-Thailand and teach at our friends beautiful dedicated Ashtanga Yoga Center. Our time here has been incredible; sharing yoga with wonderful people, having time with dear friends and meeting new beautiful souls.

Yoga-Thailand is going through a transformation at the end of the year as they are moving into their own purpose-build retreat center on the other side of the Island of Koh Samui. Paul and Jutima showed us the progress of things and it's going to be just beautiful. The story of how their vision has organically grown over the years is such an inspiration to us and we are so grateful to be spending time at their wonderful yoga home.

Life has been really good to us here which you can see on our smiling faces in the pictures below. Evan has charmed literally everyone and he has grown so much, we can't even believe it ourselves. He moves, he chats and brings so much joy! Lana, the residential teacher here at Yoga-Thailand has nicknamed him "Evan from Heaven" which says it all.... There are so many great pictures of him that it's hard to choose one but I picked one of him in the pool.

We are in the last days of our teachings here now and are flying back home next week. We look forward to that, feeling re-inspired, rejuvenated and excited about the next step in our lives: sharing our love and dedication of Yoga with fellow yogi's again back home, in a dedicated, well loved Ashtanga Yoga space. So much joy to share.

land of smiles

We are so happy to have arrived at Yoga Thailand. After quite a long travel (over 18 hours of flying time-even more including layovers, hotels, and taxis) we made it. All the credit goes to Heleen for organizing our family adventure. Also have to give a shout out to little Evan for not getting fussy once during the three flights- that guy rules. ( I wish I could say as much for the other screaming babies- but who can blame them, it's hard to fly.)

When flying to the island of Koh Samui, I felt this wonderful sense of peace and ease. It's like taking a deep breath without trying...Ahhhhhhh.....yes happiness is here for us in the land of smiles.

Our first of two retreats has begun- I just wanted to post this video of the boy and me having a swing. Enjoy!

I had to show off a few more pictures.....

between trips

Phew, just returned from Evans first trip to the homeland (Adarsh's homeland at least). We went to Georgia to visit grandma and grandpapa and then on to Florida for a visit with Guruji who opened his Ashtanga Yoga shala in the USA.

Evan is a natural traveller for sure, only got fussy on one flight out of 5 flights which is better than we did ;-). He had his first experience of the humid and hot south and stocked up on many hugs and kisses from everybody. We had a great time and are already getting ready for our next trip which will be to Thailand. Evan will be a happy camper over there as everyday will be naked time on the beach (see blog below). He's quite a little boy already with 4 months, rolling over and moving around more and more.

You can see new pictures on the slideshow to the right.

More soon....

Bath Time Baby

Everyday is Thanksgiving around here. Pretty much since we met each other, Heleen and I have been in the habit of counting our blessings and noting how lucky we are. Having a baby has dramatically increased these feelings of gratitude. It is so much fun to share little adventures with Evan, to watch his wonderment as he takes in the scenery and to see how much of a kick perfect strangers get by having some baby time.

This past weekend, we were able to drive south down the coast to visit with friends in Monterey and further still into Big Sur and the Esalen Institute. Esalen is world renowned for it's epic beauty, hot sulfur baths teetering on the edge of the Pacific, and enlightened community.

Baby E made quite a splash in the hot pools! We ran a family bath so he could enjoy swimming around- such a little fish that one. He looooves being in the water. We enjoy bath time at home on a near daily basis, but nothing beats the views down in Big Sur!

naked time

There exist a little ritual in our house- Evan loves to have his diaper changed to our hit song "Naked Time" sung to the tune of Flight of the Conchords "business time."

Feel free to sing along:


Oh if you want to see a recent photo shoot of the man, you can check the slide show in the right side bar of visit the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adarshwilliams/NakedTime

c ya

horsin' around

I tried to feed the baby to Oz the horse (but I found out he's vegetarian.)

Whoa, really though this horse was soooo big and beautiful- He's leaning his head down here to greet us (because Evan is short) and you can imagine the wind from the nosebreath!

It was a very cute experience to be introduced to our friends horse and....to see her ride and jump the big fella- also props to K for the foto I snagged from facebook.

Adarsh

Lady Killler

Whew! Busy here....Evan is also busy....growing! As you can see he's almost catching up to mamma. And this brother has skills too. Most recently he's figured out how to maneuver his hand-usually to his mouth. He's always had a thing for hands though. For instance he loves to watch me eat. He'll sit in his little chair and enjoy as my hand places the food in my big (according to Heleen) mouth.

Presently, Easy-E is enjoying some belly-time and mastering the assisted roll-over. Like I said, he's got skills.

Stay tuned for more braggin' on my baby!