The yoga sages say that awareness is healing.
One of my favorites, Maya Tiwari , a fashion-designer turned monk and author of a wonderful book called The Path of Practice: A Woman’s Book of Ayurvedic Healing, reminds us that we ARE awareness.
This means we are not our thoughts.
We are not our worries.
We are not the stories we’ve heard, or the stories we tell ourselves.
We are not the person we think we should be, or the person we want to be.
We are not a set of problems to be fixed.
We are awareness. When we remember this, we can flow through the greatest challenges, including labor. We can find happiness anywhere, even amidst the worries of pregnancy. And we can connect with our little one no matter what’s going on.
To me, being awareness means:
- offering my child a hug when she’s mad at me for taking her toy away because it’s time for dinner, and having her accept it gratefully while she cries.
- letting my plans go when I realize I’ve been overdoing it again.
- knowing we are on this earth for a purpose, and setting out to re-discover it.
Awareness parenting has freedom, happiness, and healing in it: for us and everyone we touch.
In yoga we teach tools to become awareness: the sound of om, visualizations like Stepping Out of the River, and easy home practice like simple movements with breath. Some people find making soup puts them right into awareness.
Whatever works for you, Mama, do it daily: for you and your little ones!
