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THE ONLY WAY TO MOM AND YOGA

THE ONLY WAY TO MOM AND YOGA
You may or may not know, but I recently had a baby and I’ve desperately been trying to get back into my yoga practice. It’s not going so well.
Being a single mom, means I’m with my daughter all the time. She also refuses to take a bottle, no matter what I have tried, so leaving her for long periods doesn’t work so well (“long” = a yoga practice in our world). So I have started doing yoga all day long in tiny little five minute spurts and guess what?
It’s working out like gang busters!

Here’s how I’m able to get a full practice in throughout the day – I call it, THE YOGA SPRINKLE.

MORNING:

My daughter, Luna, is at her best first thing in the morning. After a long cuddle in bed, I get up and with her still in my sight, and start by putting on a song – my fave is “Hari Om Ganesha” by Janet Stone & DJ Drez. I stretch up nice and tall and then do a few Asana postures to wake up. Nothing crazy, just three sun salutations, then a wide leg forward fold, triangle, into warrior two and vinyasa to the floor.

Choose three postures you want to work on for the day (it helps if they flow together) and hold each one for three deep breaths. Luna usually giggles from the bed and the song helps to keep her happy as well as providing me with a sweet timeline.

Once the asana has been completed, I get ready and put on my morning chants from Sivananda Ashram on Youtube and chant along, working out my throat chakra and practicing some bakthi yoga while I make breakfast or get Luna ready. It takes about 15 minutes to do the full chant – try not to get lost in thought, and instead keep your actions mindless and your focus on the call and response singing. Don’t worry how you sound, just try to put a little heart into it.

If you’re not really feeling this part, try to practice some meditation. Even just a few solid minutes of removing all thoughts and distractions can work miracles and set you up for a good day.

If you’re keeping score, that’s 20 minutes of yoga already and the day is just starting.

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Some yoga inspo via Nude Yoga Girl 

AFTERNOON:

Sometime in the afternoon, I stretch it out and practice my three postures from the morning. Usually there is some downtime for Luna after she wakes up from a nap (that she only takes in my Ergo carrier, against my body – Duh!) and is sitting happily in her bouncy chair, entertaining herself by grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth.

If you need to regain some focus, try a couple sun salutations first to get you into the groove and loosen up your body. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much your kid enjoys watching this.

Here’s a video from yours truly to get you going:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUxGAkvhCWA?feature=oembed]


EVENING:

Luna takes about an hour to fall asleep while she nurses, and I am usually lying in bed with her and have the lights turned low to get the bedtime vibes flowing. I either put on a 10 minute guided meditation while we are lying together, or a 5 minute one once she is sleeping.

If you feel pretty energized and want to work on your three postures then you can do that, but I usually do postures that work lying down: twists, bringing one knee to my chest and then the other, straight legs to the ceiling then slowly lowering them to the bed with control, all the while breathing deeply.

We are now approaching 30 minutes of yoga in a day! If you want to get really fancy and you have the time, a guided Yoga Nidra Session lying in bed is a nice way to end the day and take your practice to an hour.

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So that’s it! It’s the yoga sprinkle and it works just fine. Letting go of the need to carve out a specific time slot for yoga really helped me to actually get enough in for the day, with meditative moments that helped to keep the vibe alive – not to mention work out the kinks of my sore back from carting a squirmy little queen around all day.

Rinse and repeat your three postures for up to a week then switch to new ones.

You’ll feel relaxed, limber and hella productive all while sprinkling some me-time into your day and likely inspiring your spawn to replicate all your moves when she hits toddlerhood and has ants in her pants.

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Keep up with Anna on Instagram and Facebook, and keep an eye our for more solid mom hacks and worldly adventures from this Rebel.

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