ASHTANGA PRACTICE AND FAMILY LIFE When you have a family and children your responsibilities grow so asana practice will be less. Save some energy for your children and wife. Asana practice every day until we die, but number of asanas will be less, but keep practicing. One set of asanas – keep practicing. - Sharath Jois Ashtanga Yoga is a householders practice. However it is important to keep in mind that when we have a family that is the BIG yoga, that is our practice. Yes we still get on our mats each day (well unless your child or family is sick or needs you in some way), but we need to ensure we have some energy left for our householder responsibilities. The time of life when children need us is in reality so short compared to the entirety of life that we have to undertake asana practice. So while it is still very helpful to remain steady in practice with these responsibilities, we need to be aware of how much energy we give to our practice. So what does that mean? Well when you dont have young children to wake you up throughout the night you can full throttle throw a lot of energy and perhaps time into your daily practice. Once my son settled at school (and having not been in any formal care before school this took AGES - until half way through year one) I refound the bliss of long interrupted practice with ample time for savasana and rest before picking him up from school. Now pregnant again the little boy inside of me laid down the law from week 6 of the pregnancy - my energy was to go to him and yoga asana would be limited. At least when he is on the outside I will have more time for for my asana practice. But the real yoga will be the attending to his needs, being responsive and compassionate as he eases into this world which can seem big and scary. Then until he is well settled at school I (or we really) face many years of sharing my (our) energy for formal practice with how much energy I (we) have to be a responsive parent. Still I get on the mat - but will I be doing drop backs and hand stands every day? Maybe not! It is important to remember that while we may get addicted to our practice people need our presence in their lives. Our practice hopefully can enhance that presence, so it is one of love and compassion. But if you go home to your family, or people who need you and are totally exhausted, it might be time to consider slowing down a little and redirecting some of your energy. Namaste
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 09:21:21 +0000
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