Post authored by Kiran’s mother, Mary Hannah.

It’s almost time for our first COTA event! “Flow for Kiran” led by the truly incredible Purvi Lippincott. Please come for an outdoor, all-levels class Sunday, October 24 at 4 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Indianapolis, Ind. 

I met Purvi this summer when Kalyan and I began working out in earnest to be “kidney donation” ready.  In addition, I wanted to get healthy again and do something for myself. 

We brought Kiran home from the NICU March 12, 2020, just as the world shut down.  This meant all the resources and help we had been lining up in the NICU – gone. No home nursing help. No family help. Nothing. I quit my job, and it was just me and Kiran. Mixing special renal feeds, pumping round the clock, managing a seemingly endless amount of vomit, trying very desperately to get Kiran to eat something, anything, by mouth, and finishing the feed with his gtube pump. Managing dialysis that wasn’t working well (the machine is designed for adults, so using it with a baby is tricky at best) with alarms all night. And setting up the basement bedroom in case Kalyan caught covid and had to quarantine. To summarize, life was ROUGH. 

We stayed more or less in survival mode until this summer.  As cases declined and vaccinations increased, we found a wonderful NICU nurse to babysit Kiran so we were able to focus on our mental and physical health.  I took one of my first yoga classes with Purvi. No exaggeration – I cried at the end of the class.  It was amazing  to be moving my body again, getting stronger, and a relief to have the mental space to think about something other than kidney failure for 45 minutes. 

Purvi is an incredible teacher and individual.  I initially asked her if any teacher-trainees were interested in volunteering to teach a class, and she volunteered herself.  Yoga with Purvi has helped me start to find some footing outside of Kiran’s diagnosis and be a better mother, partner, caregiver, and human because of it. Please come and enjoy the class!