An Epiphany of Mind and Body

So those of you have have spoken to me in the last, oh, 2-3 months or so have heard me lamenting the fact that I can no longer play Ultimate or run or do the physical things that I'm used to doing. Now, I'm aware that one can run for many months of pregnancy, but who wants to do that without chasing a plastic disc? I played goaltimate during my first trimester, but once I hit week 13 and was told to keep my heart rate below 140, I gave up contact sports and anything that makes me sweat or breathe too hard.

Not that I've had the energy to do sports much anyway. Just walking up the stairs or saying a run-on sentence can make me breathe heavily. It started with weeks 8-14 that were pretty rough on my physical stamina. Since then, despite the increasing energy levels of the second trimester, my naturally lazy personality has encourage a growing relationship with my couch.

So, the bitching was continuing and sick of myself, I started walking. My neighborhood is a fascinatingly diverse and strange world. Exploring it has been fun and a break from the boredom of pregnancy-sloth-life. But it still wasn't satisfying the athlete in me, the part of me that loves a challenge and wants to sweat and run and throw elbows.

Then I had an epiphany.

I was talking a few weeks ago to a friend who was days away from giving birth (Congrats to CJ and MA!). She started telling me about the prenatal yoga class she attended and made references to the birthing "moves" she was practicing on a yoga ball at home. As I listened to her, it was like something inside of me finally accepted the new state of my body. I thought to myself, "Duh, you're freaking pregnant. You have the biggest challenge before you- birth- and you want to run around and play with frisbees? A due date is not unlike a race day or a tournament. Labor has been compared to running a marathon a thousand times and athletes train for such events. Why would I not start training myself for birth?"

So I finally tried the yoga dvd that I had bought myself but had left on the shelf in its shrink-wrap. Within the first few minutes, I was in namaste when the video instructed me to "Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your growing baby." I was immediately in tears. It was the first time I had settled down, the first time I stopped to really feel what was happening in my body and to consider the profound miracle/weirdness that is pregnancy.

I'm now trying to do the dvd or part thereof daily. It not only helps my increasingly sore hips, but it gives me the meditative, reflective time that I need to promote a sense of calm. It's helped me think about breathing deeper, eating better, and relaxing more so that the baby will feel good. I'm not sure why I initially resisted this critical piece of pregnancy for so long; I'm just glad I found it when I did.

Namaste.