Yoga: how to be less of a nut

I picked up the January issue of Vogue (found it at the office. I don't have the money or the time for high fashion magazines.) And this issue actually had some text in in - not just dramatic ads of wafer thin models with shocked looks on their faces in high winds on expensive grass.) The article was called "Balancing Act: As a new mom chasing perfection, Claire Dederer turned to yoga to quiet her neurotic tendencies. Here in an excerpt from her book "Poser: My Life in 23 Poses" she finds freedom in imperfection." I immediately related but given that my time spent reading these days adds up to about 2.4 minutes per month, I only glanced on the next page at one paragraph. It was this one below and I can't wait to get the entire book. Maybe I can finish it by the time my toddler hits highschool. 

"Mine was a generation of hollow-eyed women, chasing virtue. We, the mothers of North Seattle, were consumed with trying to do everything right. Breast-feeding was simply the first item in a long, abstruse to-do list: Cook organic baby food, buy expensive wooden toys, create an enriching home environment, sleep with your child in your bed, ensure that your house was toxin free, use cloth diapers, carry your child in a sling, dress your child in organic fibers, join a baby group so your child could develop peer attachments. And don't quit your job. But be sure to agonize over it. Also, don't forget to recycle. I looked around and saw eye bags everywhere. When I got together with my girlfriends, fun seemed not to come into the picture. Forget about going out drinking or dancing; we seldom met for coffee anymore - nothing for the baby to do."

I did a search on Claire Dederer and found that she wrote regularly for, among other publications, The New York Times, Real Simple and Gaiam's Stream of Consciousness blog.  She wrote a post about her book and I found yet another nugget of inspiration from her. Read: another moment of relief that explained my current state of mind.   So here's an excerpt from that blog entry which you can read in it's entirety on Gaiam's blog:

"I was, frankly, a nervous wreck. And then I started doing yoga. Yoga was, to be honest, part of my plan to be an even more perfect mother. I would be serene! And have that famous yoga glow! But the longer I did it, the more it made me feel that maybe I could, you know, relax a bit. Yoga was something I enjoyed, right down to my toes, and yet the notion of mastering it was absurd. I was never going to perfect my Monkey, or be able to transition from Scorpion into Chaturanga. I was faced, inexorably, with my imperfections. It took a while, but eventually yoga’s lesson — the idea that you are fine the way you are — began to take hold.

And, consequently, I started to be less of a nut at home. I began to loosen my standards. I stopped watching my husband with an eagle eye, trying to figure out how he was going to fail me next. Lo and behold, he slowly emerged from his depression. I’m not saying I was responsible for his depression, or for its fading away, but I believe it was a dynamic, and that I contributed to it."