Corona & Yoga

With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, it’s been crazy. Since everything is closed down, including yoga studios, it’s hard for me to get my yoga in the way I want. As soon as guidelines for #socialdistancing were given I immediately knew that I was going to be staying home because I don’t want to risk catching the virus or passing it on to loved ones. However, once I committed to that, the selfish part of me was upset because the only time I get much needed ME time, is when I go to the yoga studio and attend a class.

Yes, almost every yoga studio and teacher out there are doing videos and having virtual classes (shout out to @shelbyadina @khonafit) but for a new mom like me it’s not that easy to tune to a livestream and hop on the mat. Our apartment is teeny tiny, and now with a baby there is nowhere I can go for a quiet place. With working from home and watching the baby at the same time since the sitter closed, I am constantly shuffling back and forth between “Work Gini” and “Mom Gini”. By the end of the day I’m D-O-N-E.

So how does a yoga obsessed girl like me make time for yoga when I seemingly feel like I have no time at all? My practice right now consists of stealing 15 minutes here and there a few times a week. My yoga teacher training was in Ashtanga Yoga; a set sequence of poses that you do over and over again as you deepen your practice. While initially the thought of that was alarming, the more I did it the more I realized it helped me get into a rhythm and relax as my muscles knew what to do next. When I practiced, I noticed I would feel something new here and there. It helped me to explore the movement within my body more than I could have imagined. Ashtanga yoga is helping me get through this self-quarantine. I can get on the mat and immediately my body knows what to do. I don’t have to think about what pose comes next. I don’t have time for that. I just start the sequence and stop when I run out of time. I can also do the short form versions when I don’t need to worry about tending to the baby.

I love yoga, I do. My practice means so much to me. But one of the most important things I’m working on right now while the world is turned upside down is practicing yoga off the mat. I personally do not have much free time, and that’s with just one kid! It is very difficult to allocate my energy away from the baby and household. However, if I can focus on ways to improve my practice throughout my day then I am doing something. Taking deep inhales and exhales in the shower. Practicing good posture when I’m sitting at my kitchen table (aka my new workstation). Forward folds in the morning and before bed. Thanking my body for everything that it does for me throughout the day. And of course, stolen moments of practice. These are ways that I am practicing yoga while seemingly not practicing yoga. Everything is connected, what I work on today may seem minute, but I know one day it will all come full circle. This is what my Ashtanga practice is giving me.