Pregnancy changes the body forever

Today, when looking at the mirror after showering, I noticed my waist. It seemed crooked for the first time in years. My pelvis was pushing my belly outward to the anterior side, making a curve in the spine. When I tucked in my tummy, all of a sudden the spine was straight and I felt an ease.

I am a relatively short person; and for my body the baby was relatively big, both in terms of weight and length. As a result my weight gain has been substantially bigger than my previous weight. I added 45 lbs extra weightl about 50% of my body weight prior to pregnancy. This caused the center of gravity of my body to shift to compensate for the extra weight

I delivered my son 10 years ago, but this was the first time I realized how my body had changed because of the pregnancy. I had a gravitational shift when I kept putting on weight. After the delivery, I did nothing to help shift that back to normalcy; however, my body made changes to compensate for this shift in ways that kept me functioning. These changes that happened unconsciously created several posture issues for me. And I suffered from Carpal Tunnel to Plantar Fasciitis; slouching, mouse shoulder (RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury) to lordosis or hyper-lordosis; lower back pain to shoulder pain with a tear.

After living through all that, I finally started making changes consciously to fix my postures by practicing Ashtanga Yoga. I am ever-grateful to the Yoga teacher, Lucy. I came across her at Santa Clara CRC and her practice not only helped me love Yoga but her calmness influenced me to learn Yoga to teach others. Yoga in-turn has helped me remove the extra weight that was lingering on me for years, and my body is learning to change. Thanks to Ayurveda, and the inner teacher inside us and the power of breath, I am finally realizing how to stand on my feet again.

I am certain that I am not the only person who experienced this and will not be the last one either. And to all those who are still suffering I just want to say, its not too late; start your journey today !!