As Long As I’m On My Mat

Thirteen days.  That’s how many nights we stayed in hotels, living out of our suitcases and whatever was in my truck while the rest of our belongings remained locked up in the moving truck.  Two (and a half!) humans and two dogs, one suitcase, one duffel bag, one laundry basket filled with a random assortment of shower stuff, hoodies, towels, and water bottles, and a yoga mat.

Thank goodness for that yoga mat. . .

Surprisingly, I felt pretty great throughout the trip from North Carolina to Colorado.  I was worried about having to drive, since usually Dave takes the wheel for the majority of our trips up and down the East Coast.  He actually likes driving long distances.  I don’t mind it either, but I much prefer to have my feet on the dash, knitting needles in hand, and a neck pillow for naps whenever I feel like it.  This trip, however, Dave had to drive the big moving truck towing the Jeep while I drove my truck with the dogs in the back seat.  But, it wasn’t so bad.  Before the trip, my midwife advised me to stop every hour to stretch my legs and to drink plenty of water, which were both easy to do because being 7 months pregnant, my bladder encouraged me to stop every time I saw that blue rest area sign from the highway.  The dogs were motivation to stop as well, seeing as though we’d be on the road for about 4 days and they were used to daily hour long walks and lots of yard-playing time.  So, we stopped plenty, and while Dave played catch with the dogs at the stops that had nice, big, open fields, I used that time to get in a few downward facing dogs and standing pigeon variations – not really caring how silly it might look to passerby’s.  It felt GOOOOOOODDD.

Once we got to Colorado Springs, our new home, we were still hotel-bound until our house was ready for us to move in to.  To pass the time and keep the dogs happy (as well as explore this amazing mountain city) we went on a new hike almost every day!  Both the excessive movement and the stress of the unknown and the in-between called for plenty of hotel yoga sessions.  Again, thank goodness for that yoga mat!   Since I had no internet besides my smartphone, my practice looked something like this:

Put Krishna Das Pandora on phone

Easy seat with pillow under tailbone with palms facing down for grounding – I needed that badly.  Deep breaths in and out.  Start moving when all of the “I wonder where we’ll put the couch” and “I wonder how far the closest yoga studio will be” and “I need to stop spending so much money” stopped crowding my overwhemled, over-excited mind.

Side bends, neck circles, trunk circles, wrist circles – basically move anything that aches a little.

Move into Table and do some cat/cow stretches, then get creative and move the spine however felt good at the time – side to side, circular, combination of all of those movements in a way that I probably looked possessed by the devil or a belly dancer on hands and knees.  Whatever, it felt good and I needed it.

Down dog – aaaahhhhhhhhh 🙂 Stretch out the calves, go high up onto toes and stretch the feet, sway hips side to side.  Feels.  So.  Good.

Walk feet up (and out – belly’s getting in the way!) to hands, then place hands on two bottles of water (didn’t have blocks, had to get creative) and stretch tailbone way back and chest way forward for awesome hamstring stretch otherwise known as preggo-Uttanasana.  Stand all the way up – check to make sure not dizzy from altitude – one hand on heart, one over baby D kicking up a storm in my belly (he either loves or hates yoga because he’s always moving when I practice) and breathe for a few.

Few modified Sun Salutations – I miss jumping up and back and getting really deep into upward facing dog, but I have my whole life to do those things.  For now, Sun Sal’s include Chaturanga’s from my knees and plenty of Child’s poses.

Low lunge with both hands on the inside so belly has room.  Maybe a little twist.  Maybe grab the back foot for a quad stretch.  Definitely some hip circles and then straighten front leg for a nice big hamstring opener.  Yes.

Warrior I.  Shorter stance than usual due to some round ligament pain, but I’ll take it.  I’ll either do Eagle arms, Gomukasana arms, or simply interlace my fingers behind me for a shoulder/chest opener here.  I’ve been told to keep the upper back and shoulders in good form now, because when I’m breastfeeding and holding the baby all of the time these areas are going to get TIGHT!

Warrior II.  Reverse Warrior to Side Angle, back and forth, back and forth.  This makes me feel strong and graceful at the same time, which is something I haven’t been feeling much throughout this pregnancy.  Also, it feels REALLY good to stretch the side body.

Triangle.  One of my favorites, pregnant or not.  Sometimes I’ll go into Half Moon from here, if I’m feeling stable enough.

Goddess Pose – another one that makes me feel really strong.  I’ve also heard this is good for positioning the baby.  To keep my mind off my burning legs, I’ll do one of those arm stretches that I mentioned in Warrior I that I hadn’t done yet. 

Wide-legged Forward Fold with arms way out in front so it is more like a wide-legged downward facing dog than anything.  It’s nice to hang out upside down for a while, since I haven’t been practicing inversions too much.  It’s not that I think that it’s going to make my baby turn upside down or that I’m scared to fall, it just hasn’t felt good while pregnant so why do it?  I’ll just hang out here in this downdog/forward fold combo pose.

Sometimes I’ll balance in tree or dancer.  I try to fit a squat in there, too.  Sometimes I’ll do some other variations from Warrior I or II, but generally I’ll just go to the floor from here.

PIGEON!  Hell yeah.  The best.  There’s usually pillows stuffed under hips and one in front of me to hug while I chill out there for a bit.

Bound-Angle with heels way out in front.  I hardly come down at all, but it still feels great.

Wide-legged forward fold on the ground.  This is one of my favorites since being pregnant!  I don’t know why, but I love it, and I need it daily.  I’ll usually stack pillows in front of me and rest there for a while.  I should really invest in some bolsters. . . .

Some sort of seated twist here.  Gentle, of course.  No squishing baby D!  Then I’ll sit for a bit in easy seat, with one hand on my heart and one on my belly, feeling the kicks and turns and hiccups, and reflecting on how good I feel now that I’ve practiced and why it’s so important for me to get on my mat every single day.

Savasana that looks much more like “sleeping on my side snuggling with 5 pillows”.  I’ll take it!

When the pups come over and start licking my feet and/or face, I’ll slowly get up, turn Krishna Das off, roll up my mat, and give myself a pat on the back for practicing.  Go me.

As soon as the Comcast guy left after hooking up our internet, I unrolled my mat in the huge master bedroom next to the window that overlooks our backyard so the breeze was coming in.  I placed my Mac in front of my mat, logged into my YogaGlo account, picked a new prenatal class with Stephanie Snyder, and did a 45 minute practice.  Today I plan on checking out a prenatal class at this baby store nearby that sells wraps and diapers and other fun crunchy baby things.

My practice is needed more than ever when I’m in a state of change, whether that change be a trip (vacation or otherwise), a move across the country, the physical change of starting up a new activity that might leave you sore or just changing the intensity of that new activity, or the physical change of growing a baby!  Or, in my case, all of the above.  It helps to ground me when I’m feeling misplaced, and it helps to uplift me when I’m feeling bogged down and stressed.  It always reminds me that I’m exactly where I need to be, as long as I’m on my mat.