We’ve all heard stories of people who get terrible diagnoses of scary illnesses and they say that it was the greatest gift of their lives. They say that it helped them appreciate each day, each moment in this body.
Why does a diagnosis do this for people?
My guess is that it’s one of the first things that has happened to a lot of people in their adult lives where they couldn’t in all reasonableness blame themselves. This was something that happened TO them.
Something that made a big truth super clear: WE ARE NOT IN CHARGE. That we are part of something bigger and we have a short time here – and we might as well stop trying to change things that we can’t.
When we learn this, we start to bring our awareness to the things that we are in charge of: our response to the world. OK, so this is what the universe is giving me. What am I going to do now?
This is where teaching prenatal yoga comes in: people who decide to do this journey consciously, learn its lessons, and grow from the experience, are in this same, grace-filled space. They are starting to receive this great teaching: we get the pregnancy we get, and stressing out about controlling the process is not going to help.
As teachers, it is an amazing experience to be guiding people toward the ways they CAN positively affect their experience. Breathing fully. Aligning their bodies. Moving in to their higher Self. And when people do this, there is great joy to be experienced and shared; a great appreciation for each moment on this journey.
This is why I teach prenatal and post-natal yoga. Not because it’s gentle yoga – it isn’t. Not because I think babies are really cute – ok, I do. But because I want to be there to see the light turn on in women’s eyes when they start to listen to their deepest wisdom, when they start to pay attention to not just how much they’re eating but what, how, and when, because there’s a new awareness of the deeper energy and rhythm of things, and if it didn’t matter enough before, now there is a baby who will be learning everything from them and it all MATTERS.
