Some mornings I wake up around 4 AM or 5 AM, either because I have to pee, or because the baby is kicking me.
I have been having a hard time falling back asleep after I wake up, so I started going to morning yoga early in the day. I figured I might as well calm my mind and bring more harmony to my body if I can’t sleep. And normally exercise, no matter how tired I am, gets me back to sleep again the next night.
Today, in my morning yoga practice, I ran into one of my favorite teachers. I hadn’t seen him in months. He saw me and his eyes opened wide at my five-month pregnant belly and he whispered, “ohhhh, congratulations, what an honor to be bringing a new life to this world.”
He closed his eyes and paused and then continued:
“This baby chose you. He wanted to come to life, and he chose you to be his vessel, you two to be his parents. Not only that, he wanted to live here, in this time, in this age, in this place.”
“How wonderful that you get to be with this person. How beautiful that he chose you to be his parents.”
It’s hard to put into words what hearing this meant to me. I’ve worried so much about what’s coming, and felt the (at times intense) effects of being pregnant, and I’d lost sight of the bigger picture.
I settled into my (much modified) yoga routine and practiced.