My Red Yoga Mat

Tara Carpenter, NC, CPES.

Originally published on July 15, 2015.

Like a loved teddy bear, my red yoga mat has been with me through thick ‘n thin since I was 20 and taught myself how to do each yoga posture with a little book written by Richard Hittleman.

This was before my children were born and my career took off; when days were seamless and I went where the wind blew …. one of those places was Esalen in Big Sur where my love for yoga deepened into the practice I continue to this day.

Since those carefree days, I have moved 12 times, become a single mom, married, divorced, and now married again. I birthed two beautiful boys and lost a baby girl so small she fit in my hand. I have built a loving home and career I love. I have found my niche in life 🙂

When I roll out my mat, I breathe in deeply and fall onto its plushness. I let my body stretch in whatever way I go. Other times I follow a video. No matter which way I begin, the end result is the same, a whole centered ME.

I did yoga through my first pregnancy. The photo below was taken the day before he was born. Once my belly button resumed a slightly normal position, I rolled out my mat, put my baby next to me, and began ‘mama yoga’. As my baby got older and started to crawl, he wandered quietly while I was upward and downward on my mat yet never crawled on my mat. As if he knew this was my place. To this day he is calm and quiet when I roll out my mat.

As a single mom, I worked 60+ hour weeks for years straight and woke early to do yoga. My source of calm! When I became pregnant again, I was even more sick with hyperemesis gravidarum and rolled up my mat for 2 years. When I got back on, I felt like an old car starting up after a long time sitting still in the driveway. Thank God!!

Yoga is my sanity, freedom. There is nowhere on earth, except the ocean and deep in the woods, where I feel more at home, most myself. This is why I keep getting on my red yoga mat.

Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of a peaceful mind. ~Yoga Sutra