Being present

Yoga is one of the activities I have enjoyed the most over the past several years. It's so wonderful for the body, mind and spirit, and it's also a nice way to spend time with good friends (as I learned during my prenatal classes and more recently during mom & baby yoga w/ S.) One of the core principles of yoga which I believe is so important is the ability to be present. We so often live in the past (evaluating what has taken place) or in the future (planning all the things we need to do) that we don't spend a lot of time just being conscious, alert and mindful of what's going on right now. While it's important to learn from the past and plan for the future, we are living in the present and will never get back the moment that is happening RIGHT NOW!













Now that I have a beautiful daughter, it's never been more important for me to be present. S is growing and changing so much every day. Sometimes I just gaze at her in awe of her sweetness and innocence, or feel totally in the moment as I rock her to sleep, singing and drinking in her beautiful baby smell. But then other times I catch myself lost in thought while I'm with her. For example, I'll be playing with her while changing her diaper and then something will cross my mind which will monopolize my focus (for example, a blog post I want to write, people I need to call back or how I plan to schedule my time over the day), then all of a sudden I'll come back to the present, see her looking at me expectantly and have no idea how long I was gone for! 1 minute? 3? And what was S thinking or feeling while I was lost in my own mind? Was she worried? Confused? Hurt? I'd inevitably feel a bit sad and guilty in this moment, and tell myself not to let it happen again! But yet it would happen again. When it comes down to it, that's me - I'm a thinker, a reflector, a planner and somewhat of an introvert. It's easy for me to get lost in my own head! I like that I have the ability to do this in general. It allows me to delve deeply into a problem which needs to be solved and block out noise when I need to focus on the task at hand (certainly a boon when I was working!) And it helps what could otherwise be a mundane event (for example, driving somewhere or showering) become more interesting and productive. It's only a real problem when it creeps into other activities which need me to be alert and mindful. Case in point - those beautiful moments with my child that I can never get back!

So today I made a vow to myself. I am going to make a conscious effort to be present when it comes to spending time with S. I'm sure that saying is true - that no one ever looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time cleaning (or planning, or scheduling, etc.) But many people do, unfortunately, look back and regret that they did not spend more good, quality time with their loves ones. I don't want to be one of those people!!

Small world part 2 - Baby yoga!

When we were pregnant, Ange and I took yoga together at Queen Street Yoga in downtown Kitchener. It's a spacious studio with terrific instructors and many types of classes - I highly recommend it! They teach a Parent & Peanut class as well so I thought we could get back into yoga together with our little ones. However, it turned out that these classes are on Wednesday mornings and Ange has Leena then (who is 2 1/2) so this didn't work out for her.

But! She found another "Mom + Baby" class at the Svasukha yoga studio (Uptown Waterloo) which is on Tuesday mornings, so we made plans to check it out this morning. Unfortunately Ange & Sam didn't make it until near the end of the class as he had his 2 month checkup beforehand which ran late, but S and I managed to get there on time (impressive for us, as we're still honing our time management skillz when it comes to getting places, especially in the morning!) The class was a nice combination of baby bonding/cuddling and flowing postures designed to help new moms regain strength and restore abdominal muscles and back stability. I alternated between taking part in the poses and feeding, changing and snuggling S who was, for the most part, in good spirits and enjoying the new environment but also had a couple "Whoa - what's going on?" moments!

Of the five other moms who took part in today's class, it turns out I know two of them and Ange knows a third! Shara was there with her little boy Sam who is 4 months old; I've known her for awhile and she's another blogger and cloth diapering mama! It was also good to see Jenn Forristal, who is a naturopath at the Roberts Centre of Integrative Medicine. I saw her a couple years back when Chris and I were starting to think about getting pregnant. She has the funniest little guy who is really vocal and had us thoroughly entertained during the class! Finally, Ange and Naz worked together several years back at Conestoga-Rovers & Associates. S was enraptured with Naz's little girl Taryn - possibly because their names are so similar? :)

All in all, a fun class and a great group of ladies! Ange and I are planning to go back next week and will likely grab the discounted 8-week pass. Many thanks to Kerri, our instructor, for allowing S and I to join despite the fact that we didn't (realize we needed to) pre-register. Oops! We'll definitely drop a note to confirm next week!