Seeking Balance

I've been doing yoga for about eight years now - started right after the stress of grad school wore me out! Ha! Such "stress" pales in comparison to what I face now that I'm a mom. Yet, maybe it's not so much "stress" as it is imbalance. Or rather, the effort of seeking balance.

I went to prenatal yoga classes at East Meets West yoga on Church Street throughout the long winter. My previous yoga studio was in DC and when I worked downtown, I was always schlepping my clothes, mat, purse and laptop to the studio, arriving frenzied for the practice. So being just a few minutes drive from East Meets West is a nice change - I hop in the car and go. The studio is decorated with tributes to Eastern philosophies. I've had a good experience with the classes and instructors there.

Once I was given the all-clear to exercise again after the baby, I headed back to the studio for some sorely needed stretching. But I am out of shape and it's been difficult. On the one hand, I am proud of myself for picking it back up and trying to regain some semblance of my body's abilities. On the other, I am so sleep-weary that getting through the class is a real chore. It also doesn't help that I feel more out of shape and slower than anyone there. I struggle through the downward dog poses, and the plank positions that demand that my abs be harder, work better.

Ironically, the poses I can actually do the best are the balancing poses on one leg. Ironic because everything seems so out of balance these days as I adjust to this new life. My time versus family time, sleep versus awake, resting versus exercising. Where's the balance of trying to be healthy and actually being healthy? Do we give ourselves points just for trying, or do we need to reach a goal of a certain level of health or fitness before we can celebrate achievement?