No Longer Underestimating

Being a new parent and not having taken a class on the subject, sometimes you have to feel your way through it. Many times I catch myself thinking, “Gosh, I’m the parent now,” when Blythe requests something of me or looks up with those beautiful brown eyes and questions why something is.

Everything right now is about teaching and learning for both of us. Her brain is the proverbial sponge that is soaking up so much, and much of what she’s soaking up is what I’m ‘teaching’ her through my actions. The pressure!

When Blythe was just a little thing, two I think, she wanted to play blocks; a gift from her grandparents, wooden blocks with letters on two sides and pictures on all others. For example: the S block contained pictures of the following: S, s, sun, star, sandwich, and snake. Blythe was so taken by the blocks, she wanted me to read them to her and go through all the pictures. Soon, she would pick only the ones she didn’t know so well: Q, X, Y, U. If I picked up our old friend S, she would politely say, “no” and move it to the side (or throw it across the room if I tried too hard) and grab for the V, her little diaper-clad bottom hoisted in the air as she sought out the letters she didn’t know. So, we talked about the volcano, vase, vine and violin.

One day, as I read to her about a cat, she said, “Cat…K.” I looked at her in amazement, this little person, just two as she stumbled onto phonics. I underestimated just how much she was learning, and even how much she wanted to learn.

In yoga, I have found that I’ve underestimated myself numerous times. I remember the first time I saw candle pose and the instructor told she would walk us through it. I thought, “yeah, right!” In candle pose, you start out lying down, you then bend your knees and bring your feet as close to your bottom as possible and hoist yourself up, keeping your shoulders on the floor. (Also important to keep you chin tucked, but I’m not instructing you, just trying to give you a visual). You’ll find yourself in bridge pose. From there, you take a block and place it at your sacrum. Allowing the block to absorb your weight, you balance on it and point your legs skyward (think candle).

Candle looks more intimidating than it really is. So imagine my surprise when I tried it and did it! I surprised myself in much the way Blythe surprises me. Through yoga I have learned to stop underestimating both of us, and to be open to new experiences. I’ve come to expect the little wonders Blythe performs, and I anticipate my growing flexibility and subtle body changes (more muscular) that have come as a result of my practice.