My New Yoga Practice
This month marks a full year since I last stepped foot into Sonic Yoga’s Hell’s Kitchen studios. I am reaching that milestone a little earlier than most because at the end of January, I embarked on what I thought would be an eight week break from teaching yoga to give birth to my second baby. All went well with the birth of my beautiful healthy baby girl, but what happened in the world shortly after was certainly not as planned.
I won’t dwell too much on what I’ve missed (because we all have missed so very much in this time), but most yoga teachers will tell you that teaching in a studio, especially one like Sonic with such a strong community, helps bring life into the teacher’s own yoga practice. The positive energy I received from teaching at Sonic stayed with me as I moved through the rest of my day.
What I do want to talk about is what I’ve gained: bringing my yoga practice more fully into the lives of my family.
One thing we’ve started during this period is a weekly family gratitude practice. Every Sunday night, we go around the dinner table to say what we’re grateful for. For my 2-and-a-half-year-old son, this can be at times adorable, silly, and also heartbreaking. Some recent entries: playgrounds (of course!), cars (the little matchbox kind), and grandpa (who we haven’t seen in person since the beginning of March). For my partner and me, it gives us a chance to say out loud the nice things we don’t always remember to tell each other.
Being at home together has also given me something I’ve been wanting for the last seven years – my partner finally has a regular yoga practice! He developed some major back pain from a combination of stress, working from home in an uncomfortable chair, and sleeping on the floor of our toddler’s room. So we started small with very gentle movements for stretching the back and strengthening the core that he actually does almost every day, sometimes even without me guiding him now! He says he always feels better afterwards and my little yogi heart swoons.
During this year away from in-person yoga with the Sonic community, it may for some feel like time is suspended, but in this time period, I watched a brand new human learn how to smile then giggle, roll over then sit up then stand. Maybe this coming year she will learn how to say her first word and walk. There is so much to be grateful for, and so much still to learn.
Gentle yoga movements for back pain
Cat/cow
Balancing stick (on all 4s, opposite arm and leg stretched out)
Child’s pose
Half camel
Locust
Sphinx
Supine twist
Legs up the wall
