Thriving

One aspect of yoga that I've really appreciated, especially at this center, is that at the beginning of each class you choose an affirmation; something to center you throughout your practice. When I first began, my mantra was often, "I am Whole". With all my pain issues and limitations, its hard to feel like a complete person sometimes, and yoga was a wonderful way to focus on the positives. Especially since the poses also were, in part, healing for my body.

In prenatal yoga, we also choose an affirmation, but now it is for both ourselves and our baby. That first prenatal yoga class, where I started making my affirmation "I am..." but had to switch it to "we are..." was this really meaningful moment - where I realized it wasn't just me here practicing yoga. The class has made me feel more like a soon to be mom than really anything else, mostly because so many times in the class we bring one hand to our belly and the other to our heart to consciously become aware of how our breaths and heartbeat go to our baby - giving it oxygen and helping it thrive.

So, today, my manta was, "We are Thriving." I spent most of the first 8-9 weeks of knowing I was pregnant worrying about everything. Worrying the pregnancy wouldn't last. But since hitting 12 weeks (and especially since hitting 14), I've been able to let go of a lot of that fear. I think seeing my body changing has been a wonderful affirmation that things are going well. Part of why I was so inactive the first trimester (besides feeling sick a lot of the time) was because I was so worried about doing anything that would harm the baby. Everything felt so fragile.

But now, I'm getting increasingly confident in exercising, in getting healthier and stronger for myself and for my baby, too. I did two run/walks this week (averaging about 15 minute miles for 2 miles), which has been lovely.

(glad my running skirt still fits! It's getting quite cold in the mornings, though, so I'll need to get a new pair of running pants. This was before I went to the gym last week)

I'm setting a goal of being active 4-5 days a week, and am going to try to do a little yoga every night, since I need to work on my flexibility more than just on Saturdays.

So, I am enjoying this phase of pregnancy. Where I can really feel like we are both Thriving :).