Vatsalyam "A Mother's Love"

Listening to Alicia Key's Superwoman, I retreat to days of living with my beautiful, most fabulous, Superhero of a Mother. Some days I wanted her to go away forever and other days I wanted to crawl onto her lap and never leave.


I'm not sure many people know, or even if my Mother knows, but my Mother gave me permission to fall in love with the ancient practice of Yoga. Coming from Oklahoma, thick in the heart of The Bible Belt, Yoga was top secret stuff and I knew exactly NOBODY practicing yoga back when I received a book in early 1993 from my Mother. That book gave me the permission to explore what I already knew deep in my heart, as a five year old, sitting in the Southern Baptist church pew being told I was imperfect and unworthy of God's love. The name of the book eludes me now, but it catapulted me on the journey of self love and then to the acceptance that I believed differently than most people in my "home" state. With this acceptance and new quest for knowledge, I was truly at home in my heart.

A mother at age 16, my mother always made sure I looked nice, ate well, and performed well in school. Like other kids I had parties, sleep overs, and extra curricular activities such as dance and swimming lessons. I had my first child at age 28 and still, at age 37 I have a hard time getting my kiddos to all of their activities without complaining and I often think of what a hero my mother was to have done all of this at such a young age and I really had no idea at the time. Because my mother was so young, we were often mistaken for sisters and to this day you can see people who meet us for the first time going through the math in their heads when they learn of our ages. In the 70's this was not as acceptable as it is today, but my mother held her head high and forged through making a better life for both of us. My mom and I grew up together and I often joke that I was in college in the late 70's and early 80's. When my mom met the man who would become my father, she asked me for permission to marry him. The only objection I had was the fact that we would have to eat meat more often, other than that, I was down with it. From this Union came two little sisters, two more little girls to cloth, feed, and more working through girl-drama. My mom sacrificed and we all thrived.

My mother is an artist, a chef, a model beauty. My mother is classy, adventurous, but prefers to plant her flowers and stay home awhile. My mother can dance like Tina Turner and make a home comfortable, no matter where it is. My mother is freaking amazing. My mother is just now, with all of her little girls happy and healthy, able to live her life for herself.

So, whenever I touch people with the gift of yoga and they thank me, I have to give props to my mother for giving me the permission to express what was stuffed inside of me until she gave me the book that sent me soaring on my way.