Students in Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana (High lunge) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I started practicing yoga nearly 8 years ago, I started with the asanas, the physical poses. Practice meant spending at least an hour a day on the mat. As I learned about pranayama, meditation, and the other 5 limbs of yoga, I tried to work them in, study them, and understand their role in my life. I was single and without children, and working in a job that have very flexible hours, so I could take an hour here or there to attend a class, I could attend kirtan or retreats and fully embrace a wide-ranging practice. I started reading the Yoga Sutra and many of the classic texts and great teachers, hungry to learn as much as I could.
In the last 8 years, I’ve gotten married, moved overseas, changed careers and had a son. Each of these changes has improved various aspects of my life, but they have also constrained my ability to practice yoga as I once did, with a mat-centered practice. It is also difficult to meditate on a schedule or go on retreats, or any of the other luxuries I had in that previous existence, especially with a small child and a job with regular hours. At first I was frustrated – I felt I was losing touch with yoga, or somehow not as dedicated as I was. And then I remembered the readings I had encountered about yoga in various life stages. According to the texts, life ideally is spent in four stages. The second stage, which ideally lasts between the ages of 25-50, is called grihastha, or life as a householder. To be a grihastha means living in the world and practicing around daily life. It is understood that this is the time of raising children, of working, of attending to the needs of the daily world, and not a time of retreat from the world. Continue reading
