Yoga & Parenting

Ever thought about how the breath plays a role in your parenting (or in your relationships)? The breath awareness keeps us from judging and allowing our opinions to take flight in our brains and into our speech.

It's funny, I've been teaching so long now... and am such a believer in the power of the breath with movement... and "preach" how we can take our practice off our mats and into our lives... but into my parenting? I honestly have to say that I have not yet made a conscious effort (continuously) to draw my awareness to my breath when I am with my kids. I think I get so much into a re-actionary mode with them... especially when there's a lot of daily training (teaching them to stay and be organized, reviewing homework, & shuttling them from games to home and back again all the while, hands are flying and general car craziness is going on. (I'm probably one of the few suburban moms left who doesn't have a dvd player in the backseat, or who doesn't allow the ps2 in the car or anywhere other than on special occasions. Let's just say, I'm not very popular with the kids we carpool with when I take their gameboys or ps's away! "Talk, tell jokes, stare out the window, let's sing along to Queen's We are the Champions!", I say! Be a kid!!)

So this week's experiment: I'm taking one hour of silence when I'm with the kids and will just play charades if we need to communicate. Without words, I will allow my breath to replace the words I'd like to say. And, then, to help me begin a new habit (samskara), when my son walks in from school, that will be my trigger to smile, breath in and out, bear hug and begin to draw full attention to him and my awareness to my breath... and see if I'm not a calmer, more centered mom.

PS the front flips into the pool... enough to scare any mother, let alone a mother who does not breathe fully.