Happy Mother's Day

I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling too comfortable with the idea of this day where I'm supposed to be suddenly special for being a mother.



I mean, it is special being a mom. As well as exhausting, rewarding, confusing, and frequently humiliating. But why am I more special than ever on this day? And what does that make me the other 364 days of the year? (365 in this leap year, yet.)

It's probably not the time for me to delve into the reasons I feel so uncomfortable being lumped with the greeting card-posed mother models, in their Sunday best and pearls, as Special Mothers. Instead, I'd like to offer this lovely facet of Mother's Day I just learned:

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, after writing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and then apparently recoiling in horror when she saw her poem used to symbolize the carnage of the Civil War, organized a Mother's Day for Peace. Her proclamation began:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

Timely? Oh, yeah. Relevant to YogaMama's? It's all about peace, baby.

My Mother's Day gift to you: a restorative pose to bring you peace within. Your gift to others: spread that little bit of peace to everyone you see today. In this way, we can bring peace to a world greatly in need of it.

Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose)

When your partner and/or child asks what you'd like to do today, tell them you need fifteen minutes of absolute peace and quiet. Then grab a bunch of pillows and blankets and head to a room where they will honor your request.

1) Sitting on your mat (or any other firm, comfortable surface), place a bolster, firm pillow, or a blanket folded into a rectangle and then into thirds, right behind you with the short end against you and the long end stretching back. It will be touching your sacrum (lower back), waiting for you to recline into it.

2) Place the soles of your feet together in front of you, forming a diamond shape as your knees splay outward. If you own a strap, you may use it to bind yourself: place the strap behind you, holding the ends in your hands. It should pass along your sacrum. Drape each end over your knees and under your feet. Close the belt and tighten so it is gently supporting your knees.

3) Place pillows or folded blankets under your knees to support them. The idea here is to be peaceful with yourself -- no strenuous stretching. Give your knees something to sink into.

4) When you're ready, recline back so your spine is supported comfortably on the bolster or blanket. Make sure your neck is supported -- sometimes a little kink in the blanket is all it takes. Or you may find a flat pillow to cradle your head.

5) Let your arms fall to the sides, palms open to the sky and receptive.

6) Close your eyes and relax into the pose as you breathe deeply. Let each exhale sink you into your pillows. Trust the pose. Trust the peace you are building. Trust yourself.

Think about how important it is to let yourself be special. And when you've given yourself the gift of this pose for five, ten, fifteen minutes -- or longer -- gently come out of it by loosening the strap if you are using one, rolling onto your side, and very slowly coming back to seated.

When you are ready to rejoin your family, let them treat you like you're special. Because, by bringing peace into the world, you are.