Life has its stresses, and yoga can help balance it all out…even if you don’t have time! Here’s 5 easy ways to incorporate the benefits of yoga into your busy momhood.
Being a mom of two with my oldest just about the age of two, I now know what it feels like to have the responsibility of being a mom. It’s stressful and never-ending! It’s the best thing in life but also the hardest thing in life. And it’s so worth it. But between the cleaning, the dinner time, the crying, and the late-night wake-ups, moms need time to balance it all out. We need to have time for ourselves and relax so we can continue to be our best. I’m a yoga teacher and have found that having yoga in my life helps balance out all my stress. Yoga helps to balance the body when things get tough, when the oh-so-very-hectic-life of being a mom kicks in and I just want to pop!
Here are 5 tips to keep yoga in your life during your busy days to help you do your best and most importantly be your best for your kids.
Start your morning or/and end your night with meditation. This simply means listening to yourself breathe. Get into a comfortable position, lay down, or sit up straight. Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest and start to notice your breathing. Feel as you inhale and your belly rises, and as you exhale your belly falls. Take five breaths noticing the rhythm. This often helps you relax from the night time shenanigans or gets you prepared for what’s in store for your day.
Strike a pose with your kids. If you have a baby, try a Down Dog! Lie your baby down right under you and get yourself up into a down dog. To get in, start on your hands and knees. Curl your toes under your feet; press into your palms and slowly lift hips and knees up and back. This pose stretches the whole body, lengthens the spine, and lengthens the legs. A few breaths goes a long way in terms of releasing tension from holding groceries, babies, laundry, plus your baby is looking straight up at you. What will make them happier!? If your kids are older, they’ll copy you!
Strike a seated pose during tummy time with your baby or during playtime with the kids on the floor. Integrating yoga into whatever you are doing can help make you feel more at ease. You can do something like a child pose, a simple pose that will lengthen the spine and open the hips. Knees wide on the floor, bring feet together, and lengthen torso over legs. Or a cobbler pose, sitting up straight with soles of the feet together, knees open wide. This pose helps open the hips. These are ways to keep working the body to keep yourself open and strong when you find you can’t make the time.
Try restorative yoga. When the kids are out of sight, sometimes a light yummy yoga pose is all you need to recharge. Try Legs Up the Wall. Start seated. Sit as close as you can to the wall and swing your leg up against the wall. Your legs can relax from your busy day and all you have to do is listen to yourself breathe. It’s very calming and a helpful way to reduce stress.
Do nothing. Sit and just be present. Yoga teaches us to be present, not thinking about the future or the past. Sometimes we are running around like a racehorse, trying to do everything we can. Let’s just try to take time to do absolutely nothing. Sit and drink a cup of coffee or tea and just be present without any distractions.
Hope some of these tips work for you as they’ve worked for me!
Love this! Is it safe to do during pregnancy? I assume so just want to be sure
Yes the poses I mentioned are safe but always important to be cautious. there are def a few restriction for pregnancy . Avoid twists and being on your belly! Stay in legs up the wall for as long as you’d like. Enjoy the benefits!
Looove this!! Right on!!
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Hi
Thank you for this great article.
I have loved yoga for a long time but recently heard it may be chukas akum due to its original source in other religions with Avoda Zara. Does anyone know where I can find more info on this?
Thank you
Rav Ginsburgh’s position is that yoga is treif. Yoga is intrinsically connected, at its source, to Avodah Zarah. And therefore there can be no such thing as a kosher form of it. It would be like making the statement: “Kosher Avodah Zara” again, a contradiction in terms at the most fundamental level.
If you look up the definition of yoga it is clear that yoga is inherently connected to Hinduism, all of the poses are a translation (or are) from Sanskrit, and its literal meaning is that of “union” or “connection” which is the belief system in idolatry.
Furthermore, yoga, in its practice, is intended to be a holistic union of mind, body and soul which is why the movements are intrinsically connected both to the worship of things (be it animals, nature, etc.) and is done with specific breathing as the breathing is intended to connect to one’s soul as the breath of life.
As Jews, we are intended to move like the angels, not like animals, which is foundational to yoga. The majority of yoga poses are named after animals and much of yoga philosophy explains that we are intended to connect to the animals through these poses and to understand and emulate them.
I never heard of any problems with yoga before googling it just now. I do stretches and follow videos all the time to learn new stretches. From the comment above, I did a quick Google search and there’s loads on the topic. I guess ask your own LOR…
I loved the idea for pre pesach prep stretch