What do yoga and maternity have in common? Does control of the body let you control other spheres of life? Or is it the opposite – it frees us from expectations towards ourselves and the world?

I am doing an Utthita Parsvakonasana – an Extended Side Angle Pose. I am wobbling a little, yet I keep tightening and stretching my left leg, trying to push my bended right knee towards the elbow of my right arm. My awareness goes towards my left foot. At least that’s what the teacher wants. In practice, however, it means making sure that my left foot is not bent too much and that it stays on the mat. I am supposed to breathe and enjoy the position. The face should be calm and the breathing steady. It is a little difficult to be enjoying it, while at the same time taking care of all these bends, keeping things straight and tight, when my body wants to do exactly the opposite of what’s needed for the proper Utthita Parsvakonasana. I feel, however, that in the long run, when I have stretched and strengthened all the muscles involved, there’s something pleasurable in reaching the position, which will give me joy, or at least satisfaction. That I’ve mastered it so well, that I can reconcile opposites, that I’m in control of my body and have an awareness of all its tiniest parts, of the tensions and contractures, which I am systematically working on, mastering my Utthita Parsvakonasana to perfection.

Awareness of the right foot

“Thanks to yoga […] we can fill every cell of our body with awareness; each and every particle. We can know them, each one separately. We can control them, each one separately.” These are the