Nine Reasons Moms Need Yoga

One of the most common things you'll here from mothers is that we just don't have enough time to do everything we need to, especially for ourselves.  When you're streamlining your schedule, a yoga class may seem like a luxury you can't afford.  I'd like to encourage you not to cut it out and convince you that taking that sacred time for yourself is worth making your yoga practice a priority.

Reason #1 - You need time for yourself.  It's the greatest paradox of motherhood.  To be a good mother you need to be fresh and strong and energized, yet getting rest and relaxing seem like some faraway mythical dream when you've got young lives to attend to.  But the bottom line is, without that time to catch your breath and be quiet in the moment, burnout comes really quickly.  My teacher, Ma Jaya, always reminds us to "drink as you pour," to take time to be quiet and still and blissful so you can go out and serve others.  As we know, motherhood is one of the greatest ways to serve and you need to be full to do it well.

Reason #2 - Lifting and carrying a baby puts strain on your back.  Starting with pregnancy, carrying a baby challenges the back.  The only way to keep healthy is to stretch and strengthen the core and back muscles.  With a regular yoga practice, I had finally conquered sciatic nerve pain.  But when my son was born and I found myself lifting and lugging baby and infant carrier, the pain returned until I increased stretches around the hips and lower back.  There is no better exercise than yoga for keeping the back, hips and core muscles strong and flexible.

Reason #3 - Being healthy will increase the quality of time you spend with your children.  Just think how much more you can enjoy playing with your kids when you are feeling physically strong and healthy.  Every baby loves to be lifted high above your head.  Older babies and children love for you to run and chase them.  Keeping your body healthy is a gift to your child.

Reason #4 - It helps to build a sense of kindness toward your post pregnancy body.  There is no doubt about it, pregnancy changes your body.  We are hard enough on ourselves before the baby.  But then the baby is born and there is stretched skin, extra fat and atrophied abdominal muscles to deal with.  Yoga gives you a way to gently work with your body to get reacquainted with how it feels now that baby has left the premises.  You can start a gentle practice of kindness toward each muscle and each part of you as you start using those muscles again and letting your body slowly rebalance into a new state.  The message of yoga is to be in the moment, not thinking back on how flat your belly used to be or how many weeks it will be until you can get into your jeans.  Instead you can focus on your health and wellness and the miracle that your body enacted.

Reason #5 - You need time to remember who you are.  You are a mother but that's not all you are.  Yoga gives you a chance to catch your breath and focus on your spiritual essence, the core of who you really are.  Yoga is not just exercise or stretching.  It's an ancient tool for connecting mind, body and spirit and going into a meditative state.  Motherhood is a wonderful role that we play and an important gift to the planet, but it is not the totality of who you are.

Reason #6 - Meditation heightens your intuition.  Yoga is meditative, and if you find the right class you will have a meditation included in the practice.  Meditation has numerous benefits, one of them being an increased connection to your intuition.  Intuition is a mother's guide.  If your mind is busy and clouded with thoughts, you'll have a hard time receiving your intuition.  Also, meditation eases the mind and helps reduce fear-based thinking.  Fear can overpower the truth of your intuitive senses.

Reason #7 - Yoga helps you expand your whole life.  Ma teaches that when you reach and stretch in your yoga practice you are actually reaching and stretching into your life.  You are literally expanding your life.  You are opening your body and simultaneously opening to new opportunities and new blessings.  By practicing yoga you can create a beautiful, open, meaningful life to share with your child.

Reason #8 - It builds patience and restraint.  If there's one thing I've found absolutely essential to motherhood, it's patience.  Yoga makes you more patient.  It teaches you how to tune into the breath, the present moment, and to use the breath to hesitate before reacting.  In Kali Natha Yoga, the yoga I practice and teach, we practice an incremental bridge pose, raising the pelvis up a little higher each time, yet hesitating an inch away from "the top."  This is a practice of restraint.  The beauty of yoga is that you learn to practice on the mat and then it starts to spill into your daily life, or what we call "yoga off the mat."

Reason #9 - It makes you feel good.  If you've practiced yoga and felt that yoga buzz you know what I'm talking about.  If not, you're missing out!  A good yoga practice makes you feel calm, centered, blissful, energized, strong, steady, open, nurtured, compassionate and connected.  It brings you to your natural state of relaxed well being.  Be kind to yourself.  Forget all the good things you haven't done for yourself and let yourself be happy now.  I love the quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer that "when you're feeling good, you're feeling God."  Yoga offers you a way to feel good and feel God.

Balancing Vata After Childbirth

All those years of yoga, and some elementary knowledge of Ayurveda, and I still had no idea what was in store for me, energetically, after baby.

In the days following the birth of my son, I felt like I was scrambling just to know which way was up.  Breastfeeding was more challenging than I ever imagined.  Sleep deprivation and hormone rushes reeked havoc on my mood.  And learning how to comfort and care for my new baby was a minute by minute exercise of trial and error.

Still, two weeks later, adjusting as well as one could, I just didn't feel right.  I resumed gentle yoga about a week after giving birth, just to center myself and find some quiet.  The practice was helpful as I began to reacquaint myself with my no-longer-pregnant body.  I needed to find a little peace in the tumult.  Yoga has always given me that.  But this time I just couldn't get that grounded feeling I needed.

In one of those groggy, upside down moments I got an email from one of my yoga teachers, Amba Greene, who is also an Ayurvedic Practitioner and Educator.  She was hosting a workshop on healthy eating.  I figured three hours of Ayurveda with like-minded people might be just what I needed to feel a little normal again.  I immediately arranged for my mom to watch the baby so my husband and I could attend the workshop.

Well, the universe gives you what you need, and right then, some balance was what I needed.

As we explored that qualities of the three doshas and what might indicate an imbalance in one area, I quickly realized that I was in the midst of a major Vata imbalance.  (If you're interested in learning more about the doshas, or elements, and Ayurveda, visit Be Nourished Ayurveda.)  One of the things that can trigger Vata imbalance is erratic eating or sleeping.  There is nothing like the nutritional needs of a newborn to throw you into an erratic sleeping and eating pattern!  Amba also informed me that the nervous system is strongly affected by childbirth itself, irritating Vata.

Wells and me, 9 days after his birth
Dry hair and skin is a sign of Vata imbalance

So I needed to get into Vata pacifying mode fast.  Amba's first piece of advice. . .oil massage.  She said my husband should massage me daily with oil--I wasn't going to argue with that!  I also took to massaging my skin with oil each day before showering.  It's a calming and also invigorating practice that anyone can benefit from.

Next, I switched to Vata pacifying foods.  I changed from cold, crunchy cereal with milk for breakfast to warm oatmeal or toast with butter.  I'd been snacking on apples and I switched those to peaches or clementines.  I indulged in lots of root vegetables with dinner.  I enjoyed soups and comfort foods.

Within days I felt much more myself, and much better able to cope with the many twists and turns of being a new mother.

Again, I do not claim to be an expert, but here are the key words I used to balance.  Avoid: cold, dry, rough, light, spicy, bitter.  Increase: warm, heavy, oily, sweet, sour, salty.  Basically any food or activity that embodies these qualities was either increased or avoided.  For example, I avoided taking walks in the cold, dry February morning air and walked when it was warm out instead.  After coming inside, I'd drink room temperature water or hot tea instead of chilled water, and I would eat a snack like warm, buttered banana bread.

If you are pregnant, I strongly recommend a session with an Ayurvedic practitioner so you can be prepared for the Vata imbalance and make the transition smoother.