There is a word in yoga called ‘aparigraha’, which means non attachment or non grasping.  Really it’s about letting go.  It’s one of the hardest lessons to learn, particularly when it’s related to our longing for a child.

I’d love to say that from the beginning of our fertility journey I summonsed all my yogic skills and managed to let go of these thoughts of attachment. But I didn’t. I was holding on so tight I could barely breathe. And  I was in shock.  How could this happen to me?  What did I do wrong?  I partied too hard, I waited too long…the list of blame goes on and on.  

It wasn’t until I gave up my stressful job and went back to college and studied yoga full time for a year that I really started to look at how I was acting.  I was in a cycle and I couldn’t find a way to get out of it. By practicing yoga regularly and using some really simple stress relief techniques I was able to find some calm, balance the body and replace some of the negative emotions I was feeling with positive thoughts. My wish for a child was still there but this extreme holding on ‘attachment’ was lessened.  

Some of us go through these extremes of emotions, highs and lows, hope and despair – it’s exhausting.  I believe yoga can help to balance that out, so our feelings aren’t so extreme.  When we are balanced we tend to make better decisions, we look at things in a more rounded way.  Our hold is lessened and slowly, slowly, we are able to let go.