Time. The single most important thing that I took for granted in my pre-motherhood life. I could practice yoga when I wanted to, whether it was 9 in the morning, 7:30 at night … my practice consisted of 6-7 times a week on my mat. I think at the time I didn’t even realize how much yoga was benefiting me because it was just what I did. I practiced 7 times a week, I taught 7 times a week. I was living the yoga life! I didn’t understand when people told me they didn’t have time to practice yoga. “You just have to make the time,” I remember saying. “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way.”
Well, easier said than done, right? Right. I got married, we bought a house, I got pregnant and had a baby girl … I was gaining all of these beautiful and amazing things in my life, but guess what went away? TIME! I no longer had it. Where did my 7 times a week practice go!? Why was I finding myself getting frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed, and REACTIVE!? My yoga practice seemed so out of reach, I almost gave up on it. The couple of hour’s stretch I needed to practice was non-existent. I now understood why people told me they couldn’t find the time.
Now, 14 months after having my daughter, I have truly realized that I HAVE to find the time. My yoga practice is a part of my life that I can’t sacrifice. If I can make time to spend 80 minutes on my mat a few times a week, I truly am a better person. I’m a better wife, a better mother, a better friend. Showing up really is the hardest part, and once I’m there, everything else seems to fall in place. Yoga is so much more that a workout. Yes, it does help tone and build strength, but that’s just the beginning. In a yoga practice I learn to be kind, to be humble, to be less-ego driven, to be more compassionate, to spread more love. And if I can learn those things during 80 minutes on my mat, I can begin to share those things with everyone else in my life. Even if it’s a struggle getting there, I have never regretted taking a yoga class. And I ALWAYS feel better when I leave, even if I spent the majority of my class breathing in child’s pose. My yoga practice is something that I will never take for granted again. Practicing yoga is so much like life. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it makes you smile, sometimes you’re crying and you don’t even know why. But in the end it’s always, always worth it.
If you identify with Stephanie’s story and want to bring the same peace into your life, she and all of the instructors at Sumits can help you find it.
