“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.” -Tozer

I have found that the mornings I begin with yoga become much more productive days. I started yoga back in the Autumn to increase core muscle strength, routine breathing, and overall muscle endurance for the purpose of benefitting my lap swims. There was an immediate improvement in my breathing, arm stretches, body lengthening, and tummy pulls while swimming.

After we conceived our baby in February, I was very sick and extremely weak for 7 weeks straight (I have never felt so helpless in my life). Since I was barely making it to the office on time and sleeping whenever possible, I stayed away from yoga and swimming, though I missed my healthy routine. Around 8 weeks of pregnancy, I started to feel like a new person, gaining back my strength to do simple tasks like take a shower, make the bed, fix meals, take a walk; I decided to jump back in the pool again. Alas, my fish-sense was a little too eager for the occasion, and within two days I was back in bed again and knocked down with a second round of the flu.

Now here we are at 15 weeks of pregnancy, and I am beginning to feel my old self rise up again. My girl friend said, “I’ll pray some of your ole’ kick is revived. Cuz you’ve got a lot of that!” This morning I had my first prenatal yoga session via a youtube channel that I really love (which I’ve referenced here).

Esther Ekhart – a well versed and well trained yoga instructor/therapist of the Netherlands – has various playlists on her youtube channel, two of which pertain to learning about the benefits of yoga during pregnancy and how to properly practice yoga during the trimester stages. This particular recorded interview provided a foundational understanding for natural birth and how yoga routines prepare the brain and body for labor and delivery:

This demonstration of simple leg and pelvic strengthening exercises to practice during the earlier months has also gotten me on sure footing:

On Ekhart’s website, she has a host of pre/postnatal exercise routines, which I’m looking forward to investigating: see Ekhart Yoga.

Referring back to my opening quote, after completing my morning exercises I popped onto Facebook briefly and the first post I saw was that quote shared by my midwife, which caused me to appreciate the fact that God wants me to stop and rest and relax and trust HIM with my day and my health and my baby.

In the hands of the potter,