Toddlers: born yogis

Since returning from my teacher training at Bodhi Yoga in Utah, I find myself with much more time to sit and watch my children.  I can't seem to figure out why I was running around so quickly before!  Constantly trying to get something done or meet an arbitrary goal that I had given myself.  Even when I "took time to relax," I wasn't relaxed.  I was passively doing something rather than actively doing something.  We'll see how long this delicious inner peace lasts...

Anyway, the point of this post is that watching my children has made me realize that toddlers are natural yogis!  Every posture they assume is an asana.  K crouches down to look at a bug and she's in Malasana (squat).  As L plays, she bends over until her head reaches the ground and she's in Prasaritta (wide-legged forward fold).  Meanwhile K has moved from her squat into downward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) to follow the bug as it moves between her legs.  Even when they stand and look upward at our front window, they're standing in Tadasana (mountain pose).  All of these stances look totally normal and fluid in their little tiny bodies.

When did we decide that standing with one hip cocked to the side is more comfortable than a strong, solid mountain pose?  At what point did we decide that moving into these wonderfully free, natural poses is something only weird people do?  :)

Watching my girls ebb and flow effortlessly through their own natural progression of asanas has inspired me in own practice.  If I were to drop all ideas of what I "should" do and "what comes next?" in my daily yoga practice, where would my body move?  From a standing mountain pose, where would my 1-year-old twins go?  What would my body do if it were simply trying to get comfortable where it is?

That's the other remarkable part for me: the girls don't go into a pose and "hold it."  They move into and out of positions in order to make their body comfortable wherever they want to be.  I want my practice to have a little more of that comfort within the movement.  A little more Yin to balance the Yang I often bring to my mat after a long day of chasing the littles.

L and K in cobbler pose.