A mother’s love
I am the proud mother of four cheeky fur babies, two hilarious pugs and two mischievous cats. Ziggy, Maggie, Mowgli and Keesu are the names of my ‘kids’ and although there are vast differences between them and human babies, they certainly demand the same amount of attention! Recently I was thinking about the idea of motherhood and how it comes in more ways than one.
Although I don’t have my own (human!) children yet, I am surrounded by kids all the time and have been for many years. I love these children, I care for them, nurture them, teach them and protect them. I can’t imagine feeling any other way about them and I believe that it is this love that enables me to commit to my role as teacher so strongly. I once received a card from a mum who’s little boy I had been teaching for years and she referred to me as an ‘Earth Mother’ for taking care of her child with so much love. It struck me how many Earth Mothers there are out there and how we are all connected.
For sure, I have developed skills and methods as a teacher through experience but the raw emotion that is at the root of my passion for teaching doesn’t come from experience, it comes from somewhere else. It comes from a line of strong, hard working, funny and loving woman. It comes from having been witness to the protection and unconditional care that mothers offer their children.
My Mum is like no-one else I know. The older I get, the more I appreciate her as, not just my mum, but also as a women. I have never known her to take on a task with any less than 100% commitment and she quietly and humbly helps others without anyone really knowing, no big scene or need for praise, just recognising when help is needed and doing what she can when she can. Above her was my nan, a tiny lady who’s sense of humour towered over the tallest of people. She only recently left us and in all my 34 years, I never heard her complain and never saw her in a bad mood. By my side, my big sister, in recent years becoming a mother herself and displaying such tender feelings for her two beautiful children that it added a whole new element of love to our family. My two god-mothers have guided me with sensitivity and respect since I was a little girl and I continue to look up to them today.
It is because of these incredible mothers and all the other mothers that I encounter on my path that I can be the best ‘Earth Mother’ to the children in my care and to my animals. In every classroom, yoga studio, garden, community hall or front room, whether at the foothills of the Himalayas’ or in the mountains of Tanzania, when I’m teaching children, when i’m telling them stories, making them laugh, hugging them or drying their tears, there are fragments and reflections of so many mothers in those actions and of that, I am so proud.
About Clair-Louise Walsh
Clair-Louise is a trained Montessori Teacher, a registered Children’s Yoga teacher and trained in India for a 200 hour teaching certificate in Vinyasa and Hatha Yoga. For the past seven years she has lived and worked in Luxembourg offering Yoga to children, adults and families. Most recently, Clair graduated from university with a degree in ‘Drug and alcohol addiction therapy’ and now uses yoga and mindfulness in her work as a holistic therapist.
You can find Clair-Louise Walsh on Facebook: @theyogatreelux or email: theyogatreelux@gmail.com.
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