Yoga is a practice that can help you relieve stress, improve your mental health and gain a sense of peace by shifting energy and focusing more on mindfulness. By practicing yoga regularly you will feel more relaxed and calm, which will help you to cope better with the challenges of motherhood.
The physical benefits of yoga include increased flexibility, strength and balance. These are all important aspects for parents who are constantly running around after their family and trying to do too many things with little time for self-care.
Yoga also helps to reduce anxiety by increasing blood flow to the brain while relaxing muscles throughout the body – this means that when we’re stressed out we can feel less on edge!
How can you incorporate Yoga into your life
You can incorporate yoga into your life in a variety of ways. You may want to try a class at a local studio, or you might prefer to take some time out of your day and do some online yoga. Whatever method works best for you, it’s important that you find one that fits into your schedule and allows for enough time to focus on yourself without feeling rushed or stressed out by others’ expectations.
Even 5 minutes of yoga will benefit your mind and body, it doesn’t have to take long if 5 minutes is all you have.
When choosing which type of yoga class is right for you, look into what you are trying to get out of it. Is it more mindfulness, fitness, flexibility, emotional release. There are so many different styles of yoga. I tend to focus more on vinyasa and yin so we have a balance between the faster fitter style and the slow and flexibility focused style. The yin and the yang.
Once we find our style, then it’s time set up some sort routine so we can stick with our new habit long term without getting overwhelmed, once things start getting busy around housework, chores, kids, homework etc. Remember 5 minutes is all you need to get started.
Let’s see the different ways to get started.
Yoga for Beginners
- You can try an online or in person beginners program – click here to check out lakora yoga’s beginner course
- You can look up some beginner yoga on youtube (be careful with this as some that are classes as beginners, i would say are intermediate)
- You can sign up to a free challenge – check out lakora yoga’s – 28 day yoga habit journey with 5 minute classes.
Mindfulness
Yoga and mindfulness are two practices that can help you to feel more relaxed and present. Yoga is a physical practice that involves moving your body in different ways, while mindfulness is a mental practice that involves focusing on what’s happening in the moment. Both of these approaches help us to be more aware of our thoughts, feelings and sensations without judgement or criticism.
When we’re feeling overwhelmed by stress or worry it can be hard to take time out from those feelings in order to focus on something else (like yoga). But doing so will help you feel better afterwards!
Yoga isn’t just the phsycial poses. Being mindful can look like:
- fully focusing on interacting with your children or partner, with no distractions
- sipping a drink in the garden and noticing nature around you
- closing your eyes for a moment and taking deep breathes.
As long as you are fully present on the moment you are in, you are being mindful.
Help support your Kids
When are kids are calmer, we feel calmer. So how can we get our kids to start trying yoga…
Yoga for kids is a great way to introduce your little ones to the practice. There are several ways you can adapt poses for children, but one of the easiest is by using props. For example, if they’re not able to sit on their own in child’s pose, place a blanket or pillow under their bum so they can rest comfortably while stretching out their legs. You can also use blankets as props when doing seated forward bends or twists, they’ll help keep your child balanced and supported through these poses.
Another way you can make yoga more fun for kids is by creating an environment where they feel safe and comfortable enough to try new things without fear of judgment or embarrassment! This might mean dimming all lights except one small lamp on low power so it doesn’t shine directly into anyone’s eyes; turning off TVs/computers/phones (or making sure they aren’t within reach); putting away anything else that might distract from focusing inwardly during meditation time; etc…
This may not work for all kids but you won’t know unless you try. If this doesn’t work you can try some grounding exercises with them. Get them to tell you 5 things they can see, 4 things they can hear, 3 things they can touch, 2 things they can smell and 1 thing they can taste.
Try cosmic yoga on youtube, they are great for kids!
Self-Care
Yoga is a great way to create a practice of self-care, which can be especially helpful for overwhelmed mums. Self-care is all about taking care of yourself and making sure that your needs are met before those of others. It’s also about setting boundaries: knowing when it’s time to say no and putting yourself first in order to be able to give more fully when needed.
You can use yoga as part of your self-care routine by practicing regularly (ideally at least once per week), or even just once or twice per month if that works better for you right now and build it up. The key thing is that you’re doing something positive for yourself on a regular basis!
Yoga isn’t just physical. Taking care of yourself is also a form of yoga. It could look like
- Having a pamper night
- Eating healthy
- Seeing a therapist
- Doing Yoga
Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is an important part of yoga. It’s the act of being kind to yourself, even when you make mistakes or feel like you’re not good enough. When we’re stressed out and overwhelmed, it can be hard to be compassionate with ourselves because we think that we should be able to handle everything on our own without any help or support. But this isn’t true: everyone needs some extra love sometimes!
There are lots of ways that you can practice self-compassion in your daily life, here are some ideas:
- Keep a journal where you write down things that make you feel happy, grateful and loved by other people (friends/family). This will remind you that there are good things going on in your life too!
- Take time each day for quiet reflection where no one else is around so that all of their attention is focused on YOU! This could include meditation or just sitting quietly with eyes closed for 5 minutes each morning before getting up from bed; then again at night after dinner time has passed…or maybe even both times 🙂
Self-Expression
Yoga is a great way to express yourself and connect with your body. It’s also a way to understand your body better, which can help you feel more at ease in it.
When we’re stressed out, it’s easy for us to forget that we have control over our bodies and minds. We tend to let things happen instead of making them happen. But when we’re relaxed and calm, we become more aware of how much power we actually have over ourselves!
How can we create self-expression
- Make up your own yoga routine on your mat
- Do something you want to do, right now
- Journal, Meditate, Dance, Sing
Conclusion
Now that you know the benefits of yoga, it’s time to get started. Remember that yoga is not about perfection, it’s about being gentle with yourself and doing what feels right for your body at any given moment. So if you don’t feel like doing a full-on sun salutation sequence, just do some simple stretches in bed before getting up in the morning or at night before you go to sleep. Or if all those hip openers and back bends are too much for your lower back, focus on strengthening muscles instead by sitting on a stability ball or holding plank poses longer than usual. Remember your yoga will look different to others. We are all different.
Whatever form of yoga works best for you, remember: there is no right way or wrong way, just do what feels good!
If you would like to get started in your yoga practice, came and join Lakora Live Membership. We have 2 weekly zoom classes you can chose to attend if you would like but most importantly you get an app with all the replays and additional classes. PLUS a 5 day free trial. Click the button below to join.