It’s happening all the time, is entirely inevitable, and often uncontrollable, but seems to throw up so many emotional difficulties in us all. Nature teaches us this change through showing us the beauty of the seasons every year, yet we still feel surprised when those first leaves start falling and the nights draw in.
In the past 5 months my partner and I have found out we’re expecting a baby! We’ve been in the throes of moving from Sussex to Wiltshire-new jobs, new social life, new lifestyle. So pretty much the two most dramatic changes you can go through! The pregnancy is changing my body every day, physical changes are something I’ve never really been through, I’ve always stayed a similar weight and thankfully have always been able to stay active. Being advised that I can’t do something because I’m pregnant or having no control over my growing belly is definitely a new experience! (As is having boobs!)
I had planned a trip to India before the move, my gift to myself to aid in closing an old chapter, unaware fully that my next chapter would contain pregnancy-life does like to surprise us! I arrived in India 5 weeks into my pregnancy I stayed in the beautiful Hinterland Village-Kerela where I had 2 weeks of total me time to get my head around the possible upcoming changes and challenges that might come up! In addition to all the gorgeous massages, I was also able to spend some 1-2-1 time with one of the teachers-Hari to adapt my yoga practice for my body, and learn why and how to change different postures. I felt so loved and supported by everybody on my trip, we became family. The more we all talked the more we learnt we were all looking for or going through a change and were turning to yoga to support us.
At the time I was practicing a strong dynamic practice 4 hours a day in Indian heat, hand standing, coming down to upward dog through Chaturangua, I really couldn’t comprehend not continuing to be able to! Now I’m 27 weeks in and I’m making sure always on and off the mat that I’m listening to my body and doing what feels good (yoga teacher verbal prompt cliché I know) and wanting to totally slow things down and relish those yummy hip openers and stretches in my practice, gathering my focus and strength too for birth and motherhood and enjoying every moment of feeling that connection with my body and breath.
Moving to a new house was pretty long, slow, and tiresome. If pregnancy has been my physical challenge this summer the move has been my mental one! Yoga practice, my loved ones, journaling, affirmations and general mindfulness has kept me strong and given me an invaluable way to channel emotion. Saying that, we did have a gorgeous summer in my parent’s lovely house while the paperwork got sorted and purely being out in nature is always pretty awesome way to zone out.
We all have our coping mechanisms for how we experience change and the possible stress that comes with it-some more healthy than others I guess! (going out drinking for example is one way to forget about something. Although you’ll still need to deal with it in the harsh light of day!) The point is: change is inescapable and often a great thing! If we can learn positive reactions to change and imbed them in our automatic responses, we can work towards being much more resilient to changes. We can cultivate a mind that is robust and conditioned enough to stop and think before that panic button gets slammed and those stress hormones run riot through the body. We can have a little word internally with ourselves and ask the mind to CHILL. Pleasure is temporary, pain is also temporary, change between these two states of mind is inevitable. By embracing these 3 truths we can find happiness comes much more willingly.
Yoga can help us to practice this nowness-through meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises) and asana (postures), stilling the chattering mind and finding a mental discipline that ensures that we focus on the present moment, letting go of what has been or what might be. Through our practice our awareness of self grows, and the closer we become to realising that happiness is already within us, we need only clear the path to reach it.
Namaste.
“Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer.” Eckhart Tolle
If my post has intrigued you and you’d like to read more about embracing change and the path to a happier mindset. I recommend checking out these books (try to do your bit for the planet and source them 2nd hand from bookshops or Ebay!)
The Power of Now-Eckhart Tolle
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali–with translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda
