The Challenge

I thought I would not be able to blog at all this week during teacher's training, but after the first day I had about a hundred things I wanted to blog about. But of course, I was exhausted. Today was day three and there is so much to share, but I will just share one thing before I crash.

There is a saying in Khalsa Way (which is the name of this method of prenatal yoga) that says "As a woman lives, so shall she birth."

Today we did a great exercise to illustrate this. And if you feel like mentally doing it now, feel free. First, we had to think of the most difficult thing we have gone through in our life, and then think of how we dealt with it. Then we had to pair off and share. We each talked for a couple of minutes. It was good. There were some tears. I'm amazed at what the woman across from me had been through. And i think we all realized that what we did then was similar to how we got through or will get through birth.

Then Davi asked about our trials and challenges: What made it harder?

People gave answers like: resistance, avoidance, fear, isolation, etc.

Then she asked: What made it easier? The answers included: letting go, surrender, support, faith, God, etc.

And when we all looked at our answers, those are the exact things that make birthing harder or easier.

So to answer to the question many people ask: Can I do this? The answer is: Yes, but do you want to?

That is one of the things we are learning to teach women in prenatal yoga is to welcome challenges. Sure, we all might prefer things to be easy, but if we resist challenges when the come, or try to avoid them, they are harder.

Food for thought.