I have been practicing pranayama and meditation for a few years. In the beginning, I would find space for practice beside my bed or in the middle of our living room while the house was still asleep. When we moved, I found space in our spare room in the basement. I was excited to designate a space for my practice. The practice itself was relatively new to me, not very comfortable, like the space itself (being in the basement), but I continued. I continued because I enjoyed my days more when I did practice. Naturally, I also tried to find a way to share it with my family. One idea was that I would hold Yoga classes on Saturdays. My son, quite young at the time, would peek around while in meditation (I knew this only because I was peeking at him myself).
In the end, the organized family sessions did not find their way into our daily routine. I realized that it was challenging enough for me to stay consistent with my own practice without organizing others to do the same. Deep down I knew it was changing me even if I could not put my finger on as to how. And, every once in awhile, my daughter would find me and join, simply intrigued.
One day I thought of moving our guest room to the basement and using the main floor spare room as my practice room. This room is relatively small with large windows to the outside. I added a bookshelf with all my cherished self-help books (who doesn’t have a stack of those?), a basket of mats, a pile of pillows and our little fire ceremony table. The space was simply delightful. I would wake in the early morning looking forward to the peace and quiet I would find in my little room. I added a table and placed on it items that made me feel peaceful. Then, one day, my daughter joined me. She came in, found a pillow and sat down. She asked what she could practice. She started by watching her in breath and her out breath, then sat in square pose. She stood up for shoulder shimmies counting to 30, followed by 10 sit down/stand ups, laid down for savasana and ended with a prayer.
The next morning she woke 30 minutes earlier just to have time to do “her” practice. Since then, she has come every morning. She says she loves what it feels like to sit in silence, next to her mom, and watch her in breath and her out breath.