Part of being pregnant - let's be honest, part of being human- is feeling out of sorts. Off kilter. Off center, caught up in chaos. Sometimes that storm is hormonal, sometimes it's emotional, sometimes it stems from a physical condition. Other times we get caught up in external chaos - work, family, friends. It's easy to feel swept away by the churning winds.
I've been feeling very off-balance these past days. As I told Dan "twelve shades of wrong."
So my yoga practice today was based upon finding the eye of the storm, that place of peace and centeredness that we can come back to again and again and regain our focus.
We can use the yoga asanas as one tool. Lots of balance postures and hip openers were on the agenda this morning. Balance poses, though requiring physical effort, can be very calming to the mind. We are forced to quell the spinning frenzy of the monkey mind, otherwise we fall over -literally! Balance poses are always a great tool to use when we're feeling out of control and out of focus.
Another tool is the breath. We used the nadi shodana pranayama today. Nadi shodana, or alternate nostril breathing, brings harmony to the two sides of our energy - the ida and the pingala. Especially when our hormones are running amock in overdrive our energy gets out of whack. Nadi shodana is a breath practice that brings us back to center, and evens out the highs and lows.
Meditation is another path to the calm center. Yoga asana can be meditative, as can pranayama. Mantras and mudras can be used to deepen our meditation.
Essential oils can open and harmonize our emotions. Several good essential oils for balancing are lavender, neroli, mandarin, bergamot, and juniper berry. Use of essential oils on our dogs when we detect they are feeling off center is something simple we can do for them. I often use lavender and lemon grass for anxiety, stress, and panic with dogs. Citrus scents, like mandarin and grapefruit are uplifting and cheerful, helpful with depression. PLEASE don't forget - no essential oils for our feline friends! It can be toxic to them. For pregnancy and infants, many essential oils are off-limits (such as peppermint, myrrh, cedarwood) so if you're unsure if an oil is safe- ask!
Speaking of oils, this coming Wednesday June 29 is the next scheduled Yoga Mama prenatal focus yoga workshop at All One Yoga. We'll touch on essential oils during the class, but a more complete discussion is in the workshop handout packet.
The eye of the storm, the calm center of the chaos, is our true nature. The more tools we have at our disposal, and the more frequently we come to that calm center, the easier it becomes to find out way back again.
I've been feeling very off-balance these past days. As I told Dan "twelve shades of wrong."
So my yoga practice today was based upon finding the eye of the storm, that place of peace and centeredness that we can come back to again and again and regain our focus.
We can use the yoga asanas as one tool. Lots of balance postures and hip openers were on the agenda this morning. Balance poses, though requiring physical effort, can be very calming to the mind. We are forced to quell the spinning frenzy of the monkey mind, otherwise we fall over -literally! Balance poses are always a great tool to use when we're feeling out of control and out of focus.
Another tool is the breath. We used the nadi shodana pranayama today. Nadi shodana, or alternate nostril breathing, brings harmony to the two sides of our energy - the ida and the pingala. Especially when our hormones are running amock in overdrive our energy gets out of whack. Nadi shodana is a breath practice that brings us back to center, and evens out the highs and lows.
Meditation is another path to the calm center. Yoga asana can be meditative, as can pranayama. Mantras and mudras can be used to deepen our meditation.
Essential oils can open and harmonize our emotions. Several good essential oils for balancing are lavender, neroli, mandarin, bergamot, and juniper berry. Use of essential oils on our dogs when we detect they are feeling off center is something simple we can do for them. I often use lavender and lemon grass for anxiety, stress, and panic with dogs. Citrus scents, like mandarin and grapefruit are uplifting and cheerful, helpful with depression. PLEASE don't forget - no essential oils for our feline friends! It can be toxic to them. For pregnancy and infants, many essential oils are off-limits (such as peppermint, myrrh, cedarwood) so if you're unsure if an oil is safe- ask!
Speaking of oils, this coming Wednesday June 29 is the next scheduled Yoga Mama prenatal focus yoga workshop at All One Yoga. We'll touch on essential oils during the class, but a more complete discussion is in the workshop handout packet.
The eye of the storm, the calm center of the chaos, is our true nature. The more tools we have at our disposal, and the more frequently we come to that calm center, the easier it becomes to find out way back again.
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