I continued verbalizing in a loud voice until he suddenly yelled out to me and kicked the person with whom I was having the discussion. That stopped me cold immediately, and I looked down in surprise, “Whoa buddy, what’s that about?” I gently asked, hoping to stop him. He then began to cry and repeat “no more talking please Mummy.”

Well, at that moment I realized to what extent my frustration and actions had affected him. Talk about calming down in an instant! To see my child react in such a hurt and emotional way and even act out by physically kicking someone just to get our attention was such a huge lesson for me.

Nothing could have opened my eyes and ears up as quickly - and affected my heart so completely as this moment. My breath calmed immediately and my eyes filled with tears of empathy as I held him and apologized, explaining to him that I was not angry but just overly excited - in a manner that I will attempt to curb in the future.

We both held each other until he stopped sobbing and realized that all was safe. His Mummy was safe.

And that’s how my little Zen master, in a fleeting moment, taught me yet another wonderful and powerful lesson of awareness and consciousness.

Let me explain. Last week, a good friend of mine and her husband came over for dinner. Great company, great time. After dinner, when the husbands went off to watch the hockey game, my friend and I settled down for coffee and a chat.

Sometime during our conversation, Gwen mentioned that she was having aches and pains - “nothing specific, just age catching up with me,” she said. This from a friend who’s at least five years younger than I am! She also pointed out that she’d put on a few pounds and couldn’t seem to get them off as easily as she used to (singing my song she was)!

In an uncharacteristic fit of generosity (okay, perhaps insanity would be a better word), I offered to lend her my precious “The Gift of Yoga” DVD. “It’s great - you’ll love it, trust me!” I enthused. This was greeted with a dubious response at best. “Okay, okay, I’ll give it a try if it’ll make you happy.” Oh thanks for allowing me to do you the favour!

Well, it’s been three weeks now and she still has my DVD. Every time I call her, she tells me how much she loves yoga and how she’s been practicing every day. Well, great - I’m delighted and all that but I want my DVD back. I’ve hinted, cajoled and all but demanded that she return it to me, but she’s obviously stalling.So okay - the good news is that I’ve “recruited” another yoga aficionado. But that’s far outweighed by the bad news, which is that I doubt if I’m ever going to see my “Gift of Yoga” DVD again!

That’s what I tend to call it - detoxing. Why, some might ask? Especially in light of this H1N1 scare that has affected the nation.

Well, my son, being 2 ½ - or to be more exact, 2 years and 7 months - is still dealing with growth spurts and his final molar, which is coming in at about 25%. Every time he goes through one of his teething periods, he has a high fever. Also during these times, he sleeps at least a few hours more every day, and eats very little for about two weeks. Then suddenly, when the fever stops, the power eating begins and the energy is heightened.

The Chinese have an excellent term for this, which sort of translates to “the bones releasing the heat.” I find this fascinating.

My partner, on the other hand, began coughing when the fires were raging here in the southland. When he was almost over it, he began the Parasidial Cleanse. Whoa, within the first two days his coughing increased, and he began to have headaches and a fever. Not for one moment did I even believe it to be the flu. Quite commonly, these are symptoms when the body gives off all the pent-up toxins. It’s certainly not pleasant for anyone to go through, but believe me, he and I would prefer to go through these uncomfortable days than have the toxins build up inside us, as that would lead to other more destructive situations.

As for me, I just made sure I had my trusty Essential Oil mixture beside me and didn’t forget to use my Neti Pot. I’ve been using these daily - and so far, I’m feeling great.

Until now…

The other night I was really tired. It had been a long day filled with frustration, so all I wanted to do was go to bed and have a good night’s rest. I went through my usual nightly ritual and then all but fell into bed, exhausted.

That’s when I remembered my Neti Pot. Oh, so much for my “nightly ritual” - I’d forgotten a very important part of it. I lay there for the next five minutes, debating whether it was worth getting up and doing the cleansing or just forgetting about it and going to sleep.

Of course, after debating on that for a while (I can always give myself a great argument), I realized I couldn’t sleep anyway, so I thought I might as well get up and commune with Neti.

I went through my now usual routine - I measured out the usual dose, poured in the warm water, lent over the sink, tilted my head, poured the liquid into one nostril… and made a complete mess, somehow managing to pour the liquid up my nose, resulting in an intense pain shooting through my head, which in turn caused me to gag and choke. “Not pleasant” would be a major understatement! I then proceeded to blow my nose for the next 20 minutes until my head exploded… or at least it felt like it had exploded.
Once I was through blowing my head off, I sulkily cleaned up the mess and changed into another sleep shirt before getting into bed, all the while grumbling to myself and cursing my Neti Pot.

At least I’ve learned one very important lesson - the next time I’m tired and just want an early night, I should just go to bed and not worry about missing one night with Neti!

This year, however, is the first year that I’ve been practicing yoga while in school. I’ve been finding it difficult to get to the evening classes I like, so I’ve been trying to use The Gift of Yoga DVD at least once a week. The upshot of this, however, is that this is the first time I’m noticing exactly how de-stressing yoga can be. And the results are nearly immediate.

Last weekend, for example, I was tearing my hair out over a lengthy and complicated animation exam. Our teacher asked that we do it all the old fashioned way: pencil drawings and flipbooks. Before continuing my work on Sunday morning, I decided to procrastinate with a bit of yoga. The workout was intensely relaxing. I finished the workout, lying in shivasana, feeling refreshed and ready, if not eager, to hit the drawing table.

Apparently, the half-hour yoga session turned my irresponsible stalling into an academically responsible course of action.

Since then, I’ve been inspired. Yoga has become an incredibly useful technique in a manner I didn’t expect. Not only does it provide me grounds for procrastination, but it makes my dawdling worthwhile. It’s perfect. Anything that can actually make me ready to work while slightly gratifying my laziness is an invaluable life technique that must be preserved and explored further.

However, getting ready for YogaHub’s first Teleseminar Series was not - I repeat - not easy on my mind, body, or spirit. I was rattled for several days. I felt myself going through all sorts of emotions and feeling physically nauseated. And my spirit…well, where on earth was it?

Fear, fear, fear. Of what? Well, it wasn’t just a matter of picking up the telephone and making a call. It was, “Will the conference line have issues?”; “Will the technology we set up work?”; “Am I able to work three computer screens at the same time?”; “Am I going to put my foot in my mouth and stumble all over the place?” Blah, blah, blah.

Okay, I confess that it was also the beginning of my Moon cycle, but still, this was ridiculous! I felt like a teenager getting ready for a first date.

Hmmm, what a minute, let’s consider that perspective. Maybe it wasn’t fear - maybe it was excitement!

Well, this is an “Ah Ha” moment.

Yes, I’ve chosen to call it nervous excitement generated by this next big step forward for YogaHub.

Okay, I feel much better now. Thanks for helping me clear this up.

After eating ourselves silly, the kids went off to play while the adults lolled about chatting and trying to digest all the food we’d consumed. But when some of us started to drift off to sleep, I decided it was time to get some exercise.

No, not yoga this time - I knew there was no way I’d ever be able to persuade the men to join in (unfortunately). Instead, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea (oh-oh). I saw the kids playing “Capture the Flag” and noticed that there weren’t enough of them to make two full teams.

“Let’s join them,” I suggested. “Let’s not,” my hubby replied. “Okay, I guess we’re all too ancient and out of shape,” I responded, knowing fully well how that would go down!

“Let’s do it!” was the testosterone response from one of the men, so we approached the kids and broke into two “fairly distributed” groups, each group having some men, some women, and some kids.

My hubby somehow managed to convince his team that it would be beneficial for him to plant himself squarely in the “neutral zone” to keep my team from progressing past into their territory. So all he had to do was stand there and threaten little kids!

I, on the other hand, was dumb enough to agree to defend our flag, which I soon found out meant having to run around like a madwoman. And, of course, hubby’s team sent my nephew over to get our flag - my 5’7” nephew who’s a sprinter for his high school - need I say more?!

But I was determined that my nephew wasn’t going win the game by getting our flag over to their territory.

Strategy was called for.

So I let him run past me (like I could stop him) and grab the flag. But on his way back he had to run past me again - and that’s when I made my move.

I think it’s known as a “flying tackle.”

We both went down, with me (fortunately) falling on top of him. My nephew easily shrugged me off and then looked at me in amazement. “What the heck was that? Talk about vicious tackles! Did you learn that in your precious yoga?” Well, that last remark totally cracked me up.

Speaking of cracked, I then belatedly remembered my rib. I gingerly got up - it seemed fine but I was sure I’d be suffering the following day. In the meantime, there were other injuries to assess - my sister-in-law fell on her backside, my cousin bruised his ankle, and a friend hit his shoulder…. The kids, of course, were all fine, including my nephew, whose only “injury” was bruised pride at being taken down by a 52-year-old woman.

So we all limped back to our rest area to tend to our various wounds. Just as well we’d brought lots of ice packs for the coolers because we used every single one of them!

“So whose great idea was this?” my cousin asked, and everyone turned to look at me.

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” I retorted. “Like one of you couldn’t have been the voice of reason?!”

“Well, it’s not as if you’re in any pain”, grumbled my sister-in-law.

“Hey - that’s true!” I responded. “It must have something to do with my…”

“YOGA” everybody shouted out!

At that point, I decided to do something totally alien to my nature - I shut up….

This reminds me of how the western world has adapted yoga and other forms of healing arts in such a way that we have forgotten the balance within the forms themselves. I admit I am no expert, but I do listen to my body. I am a very active outgoing person and have always been. Some have called me “hyper” or said I must have “ADD.”

When my yoga instructor informed me that savasana was one of the most difficult poses, she was right. I had never had to bring my body to that state of being - ever - until then.

I think individuals who come to yoga for a “workout” still need to find the form that feeds the stillness side of them. Many people I know go for Power Yoga or Bikrams, and yet I believe that they too have the savasana at the end.

“Honestly,” my friend said in disgust. “These pro-lifers are something else. When are they going to give up and get with the program?”

“What makes you think it’s all one sided? It takes two, you know,” was my response.

“Well, anyone with half a brain would be pro-choice,” my friend retorted, and then looked at me suspiciously. “You’re not pro-life, are you?” she asked in the same horrified tone of voice usually reserved for perpetrators of hate crimes.

“Actually, I’m personally pro-life,” I responded.

“WHAT? Are you mad? How can you be one of those pro-lifers? I always thought you were an open-minded person and here you are telling me that you’re pro-life?”

“Okay,” I said, trying not to lose my temper. “So you’re pro-abortion, not pro-choice.”

“What do you mean by that?” my friend was just about shouting at me now, which was making it increasingly hard to continue driving. So I pulled to the side of the road and turned to her.

“I told you I am personally pro-life,” I explained. “But I’m not judging other people’s choices. You, on the other hand, are judging me. If you really were pro-choice, you’d respect my choice of being pro-life.”

She was totally flustered by that. “You’re just sitting on the fence,” she said.

“No, I’m not. I totally respect your right to choose but wish you’d respect my right to choose. But isn’t it sad that our conversation is a typical example of this whole pro-choice/pro-life issue?”

The rest of the ride was made in uncomfortable silence and when I dropped her off at home, she barely acknowledged me. Hopefully, she’ll get over it but, if not, that’s fine too. As individuals, I think we all have the right to feel the way we do while respecting each other’s differences of opinion.

So for the record, I’m not sitting on any fence. My choice is pro-life - but I respect every individual’s right to make their own choices.

I only wish we could be more careful about how we apply the word “choice.”

I gently informed him that I had to work as the team was waiting for some things from me, but I promised that after 7pm I would be all his. That is how our average day is spent. Well, this was not acceptable to him this time. He whimpered again and said, “please, no work.” Not his usual self.

If you are a parent, I am sure you know how that pulls on the heart strings. How helpless you feel when you know you still have to go on with your work day. I am fortunate as I work from my home office so I do get to spend in-between time with him, but others may have to leave their children for the whole day.

I don’t know if what he had said to me stuck in my subconscious all day, but I found that I was quite useless at work. I could not focus. I could not remember what I had done moments before or what I was supposed to do at that moment, despite my lists.

That day, I took him for his nap in the afternoon. This is where I usually practice my savasana. If I find time to do any yoga at all during the day, this is the one that has truly become a ritual. I take this time to get completely released for 20 minutes, but this time I actually ended up napping with him for 45 minutes. I was exhausted.

And that’s when it hit me. What I thought was not his usual self was, I believe, actually the fact that my little Zen master knew that I needed a time out. It wasn’t him being fussy - it was about me and how I needed to take a break.

Sometimes, we just have to remember to recognize the wisdom of children.