Yoga and your full potential

Natasha Al-Riyami

One daughter, three miscarriages, a divorce, finding the love of my life and one son later… The gift of yoga

I have been practicing yoga since I was 18. I had a little break when I had my daughter and didn’t practice during one of my unsuccessful pregnancies. Although my journey to having two beautiful children has been a rocky one, I can honestly say that yoga gave me some serious suspension! The journey over that rocky path felt much smoother than it may have done had I not had my practice.

Yoga is the practice of unity, to join ones physical body with their spiritual body. Everybody's experience of yoga is unique, but the fundamental benefits are the same: yoga calms the mind and strengthens the body

When we are given tricky situations to deal with, we can either feel out of control or we can utilise that experience to make us stronger and wiser. Yoga kind of reflects life in that we may find certain postures (asanas) difficult and challenging, but if we stick with it we can learn so much from one posture. Our body and mind can adapt and evolve, we find our place of calm within the struggle.

I am in no way saying I am perfect. I can only go by what I have experienced and try to pass that on in a way that might be helpful to others, but please don't think I am flawless… Nobody is!

Now there are lots of articles out there that will tell you that if you eat a certain food/take certain supplements/practice yoga you will get pregnant. But I think we both know that this isn't the case. Of course by doing all that you can you may increase the likelihood of conceiving, and making the best choices you can will benefit you and your baby. However, when you do make certain choices, I would recommend allowing yourself some flexibility. Health is flexibility and ability to adapt. Being too ridged about things creates stress and can also make us feel like everything is in our control, which often isn't the case. Sometimes we just get dealt a bad card, it's not our fault and there is absolutely nothing we could do to change that outcome… We can, however, change how we deal with it

I would recommend anyone to take up yoga, especially those of you that are going through the stressful experience of trying to conceive. Stress gets in the way of all sorts. It can stop you from enjoying your life, reaching your true potential and can even effect the likelihood of conception. By improving the way we deal with stressful situations, we can eliminate all of the nasty side effects of stress. We can enjoy our life and find our true potential, no matter what we have thrown at us. I wish you the very best on your journey. Namaste