(Lack of) Sleep, New Motherhood, and Avidya

(Lack of) Sleep, New Motherhood, and Avidya

How Yoga Guides Us Back To Self-Care

In yoga philosophy, the kleshas are the obstacles to our enlightenment or the causes of our suffering. There are 5 of them. Avidya, wrong-seeing, is the first one. Avidya can translate to misconceptions, misunderstandings, or incorrect knowledge. While yogic thinking does not specifically point to emotions or talk about self-care, these things often play an important role in avidya. (I know, I know... self-care generally seems impossible when you're a new mom or parent. But hang with me.) 

This past spring, I traveled with my daughter to Seattle to see old friends. By the second day of our trip, jet lag was hitting us both, and my kiddo was having a rough time. I found myself regretting the trip, wondering if it was too much, and contemplating how foolish it was to travel solo with her. I got spun into my own thoughts about the trip, and my child's bad mood (and my own jet lag, too) pushed me into wrong-seeing. Despite this spiraling thinking, I somehow made wise decisions: we left my friends, and we went back to our Airbnb and watched a movie. We had a simple dinner, I stretched and did easy yoga while she played, we cuddled up, and I prioritized sleep. 

The next morning we talked about the challenge of being in new spaces and about how time changes can make us feel so weird. We discussed the type of day we wanted to have. The rest of the trip was much easier, and I found myself thinking about what a great trip it was, considering how special it was to introduce my child to my old friends, and contemplating what a brilliant mom I am to have planned it. :) Ah ha -- and here you see how sleep, self-care, spaciousness, movement, and breath helped me on the path to right-seeing. 

Sometimes clearing out our wrong misconceptions isn't that simple: it involves long discussions or therapy or helpful medication. 

But often the simple, mundane, basic things can help us see more clearly: sleep, eating well, taking time to be and breathe. And svadhyaya (self-study; self-knowing) can help us recognize when we're slipping into avidya, not seeing the world as it truly is. Moving from avidya to vidya (right seeing!) is one way to minimize our suffering. But sometimes that means we have to challenge our immediate perceptions or even mistrust our immediate emotions, knowing that our perceptions and emotions might be influenced by something as simple (but huge) as being hungry or sleep-deprived and exhausted. 

This leads us back to the actual practice of physical yoga, of course, which gives us time, space, movement, silence, and opportunities for breathwork. Yoga gives us a chance to see clearer through the practice of self-care and self-listening. 

Whether your yoga practice as a new mom means closing your eyes and breathing for 2 minutes or it means coming to an online or in-person postpartum class or workshop, practicing, moving and breathing-- along with checking in and connecting with one another-- are all ways you can self-regulate, and you can help yourself see more clearly -- important stuff when your entire life sort of feels like jet lag!