Ayurveda teaches us about critical periods, or joints, in our lives, where great healing or great harm can occur depending on how we treat the moment. These tend to be periods of great vulnerability, and I think that speaks volumes about who we are as people and about the human experience.
Postpartum: one foot in each world
One example is the postpartum period. After you have a child, you are very weakened, and most people don’t realize there is a large wound where the placenta detached. So Ayurveda places great emphasis on rest and self-care during this period, and doing so can reshape your health and well-being for the rest of your life. It is said that the postpartum woman has one foot in this world and one foot in the next. It is that vulnerable a time.
The change of seasons
Another example is the change of seasons. If we take time for self-care, to cleanse and rest, we reset for the new season and build strong immunity. If we don’t, we can set the stage for being under the weather again and again.
Every space between
Any period of transition can be seen this way: the space between ages, between relationships, between jobs, between phases of our lives, the time after a loved one passes. These times are often looked at as very negative, and our culture may even encourage us not to take care of ourselves through them. There’s the buddy encouraging us to drink away our sorrows, or the people who perpetuate the hurt of a lost job by speaking ill of the old employer, and the list goes on.
What this wisdom tradition teaches is that these moments of change present us not with a hindrance but with an opportunity for vulnerability. That’s where we can truly get into the places that were once closed, locked up tight within ourselves, and reset, reorganize and heal.
Bring it to your practice
As you bring this lesson into your yoga practice and your life, try as hard as you can to be present in every part of your experience. Whatever comes up for you in a given practice, the fear, excitement, joy or anxiety, give yourself permission to be vulnerable with it all. Give yourself permission to take what you need, and use it as an opportunity to get better.
Even when it isn’t encouraged by others, and even when it isn’t convenient, self-care has to be a priority. After all, we are the only ones living in our bodies and experiencing our lives.
