Space to Breathe: Yoga and Lung Capacity

Yoga is the proverbial Room of One's Own of the exercise world. Practicing yoga increases both lung capacity and function. Yoga creates more space in one's body--space to breathe. Space to be. As a mom, I am always looking for some space. Pregnancy, nursing, and early bonding with our babies prepare us for the fact that we moms are going to be sharing just about every aspect of our being, and everything we possess--our bodies, our time, our energy, our resources and possessions, our attention, our very being--with our young children. As my son grew out of infancy and into the toddler stage, he needed some aspects of me less, but suddenly started to demand to share everything else with me--my food, for example. He mimics my actions and habits around the house. He wants to close the dishwasher and play with the (my!!precious!!!) coffee maker, even my make-up. He wrenches open the closet and wants to pull my clothes down. If I pull out some make-up, he immediately points and makes a grab for it. If I take a sip of (my!!precious!!!) coffee, he pulls and climbs and reaches until I put the coffee in an even higher place. Sometimes I feel like nothing is really mine anymore--maybe it never was mine. Maybe I just believed it was.

We moms know how to seek out the cramped spaces of refuge when we need to--we've all sought silence by hiding in the car, or found our only alone time of the day in the shower. But when I practice yoga--that is real space for me. I'm not a refugee but a pilgrim. I'm not fleeing, but seeking. I'm creating space inside and out--space to breathe, and space to be.