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yoga, pregnancy, excuses and committment issues
By heather | June 3, 2008
As a yoga teacher, lots of people try to explain to me why they’ve never tried yoga. Why the unprompted justification, I’m not sure – it isn’t like I stalk around the gym throwing accusing looks at the weight lifters.
Someone asked me the other day why so many women try yoga for the first time when they get pregnant and I had to really think about it.
Why does anyone try it? It’s like broccoli – good for you and you can’t say you don’t like it if you’ve never tried it. There’s a certain guilt carried by people who haven’t.
“I really should…,” they say, trailing off.
Some people will try it once but get a teacher or style that’s uninspiring. Then when someone asks, they can state with a clear conscience that they don’t do yoga – they tried and didn’t like it – even though there are hundreds of different styles.
Or there is always the excuse of being too busy – the fitness coordinator at my gym is wound as tight as a yo-yo and has had several surgeries for overuse injury, but has never once in 4 years taken my class, even though she’s told me she “really should…she is just so busy…”
Pregnancy is different. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, then by extension you aren’t taking care of your baby. For a lot of people, that is the motivation to finally find the time to get thee to a class and maybe even stick with it, because a committment is more acceptable when it’s an obligation to someone else.
That’s why penciling in personal time hasn’t ever worked. If you aren’t letting someone down by not showing up it’s easy for you and other people to assume that committment is flexible and expendable.
Today, I will teach my last yoga class until September. And although I sometimes practice alone, much of my practice is rooted in planning my classes, reading related books, and teaching.
I’m wondering how my yoga practice will change for the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and post-partum. I’m wondering if I can commit to it without the obligation.
I’ve studied pre-natal yoga and I could easily continue practicing on my own, but just like with vacations I need to get out of my house and head to be effective.
Pre-natal yoga videos and classes for the most part are designed for the woman who has never tried yoga. There is only one class in my area anyway – on a Saturday when I’m usually napping.
I could attend my own classes with the substitute instructor but that doesn’t feel right either. It’s hard to attend a class that you built up and watch another instructor owning it.
What I’m most afraid of is that my practice will slip away altogether, eroded by chores and errands and TV and life.
I recognize my excuses in each of the options above – not right, bad time, too busy. If nothing else, teaching yoga while pregnant has taught me about what it’s like to be the overweight person or the injured person in class. Soon, not teaching will test my ability to go beyond the excuses.
I teach about making the committment to practice, now I’ll see if I can live it without the obligation of teaching.
Topics: pregnancy, yoga | 1 Comment »
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June 3rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Let your readers be your accountability partner. It helped me when in April when I knew I’d have to blog about my progress each Friday.
Vicki’s last blog post..Sale at Sew Petit!