Olivia Hsu On Mindful Parenting

Ashtanga Yoga teacher and professional rock climber Olivia Hsu talks motherhood and why she finds her yoga practice more liberating since having her son.

- Amanda Tust

Having a kid was never a major goal...

in my life. It wasn’t a huge want or desire, so to end up becoming a mom has been a real gift and a really surreal and cool experience. It’s been the ultimate practice on so many levels. It puts everything into perspective and demands a new level of presence. I used to think about being present in a more fleeting way. I’d focus on something for a set amount of time, and then it’d be done or I wouldn’t think about it. But for the first four weeks after my son, Walker was born, I literally carried him 12 hours a day. It was all-consuming. When you’re getting up at 3 a.m. to feed your child, that’s a whole different level of being in the moment with another person.

I used to have this idea that things needed to be a certain way...