I have had a daily yoga practice for over twenty years. I began yoga as a means to relieve the symptoms of peri-menopause, however, yoga did much more than help my body adjust to its new cocktail of hormones. Yoga helped my mind and my soul join my body in The Now.
Both my daughters have practiced yoga on and off since they left home. When I visited my older daughter in New England in 2019 — she signed us up for an aerial yoga class. This type of yoga was a brand new experience for both of us. Savasana took us to a new level as we swung gently in our hammocks at the end of class. I felt myself melt away and regroup as though I was a caterpillar nestled in my chrysalis.
The Magical Creatures hung out with me on my mat so much that I began to buy them yoga for kids books. Soon, I was buying them their own mats. And just today my daughter told me The Middle Magical Creature signed up for a yoga club through her virtual school.
Yoga isn’t just a way to get one’s collective crap together. Yoga means ‘yoke’ and, in My Life, yoga has not only helped me yoke mind to body to soul — it has helped form a bond between three generations of women.
Yoga gives us a place to take our bodies when we are out of balance. Even The Magical Creatures understand that they ‘feel better’ if they practice some yoga after a frustration or a challenge presents itself. Their yoga books have been repaired several times over as they are well-loved and used often.
Being able to practice casually with my family has also taken a lot of the ego out of all our practices. No one is stressing out over their tree pose when there is a five-year-old toppling over and bouncing back up with joy. Nearly every asana is modified for the younger (or older) crowd. It is about being together, in the same space, with love, kindness, and caring.
I am extremely grateful that my daughters and granddaughters share my love of yoga. And I am happy to report that my sister has recently discovered chair yoga in her seventies.
This just goes to show it’s never too late — or too early — to begin a yoga practice.
Namaste.
