No Time For Yoga By This Tired Mama
Week 35 - GUILTY of not being able to practice yoga as much as I thought I could and totally get how hard it is to leave the house being a mama.
I have been meaning to write about this topic for a while now as I have come into parenthood with a new worldview on how time and schedules have forever changed.
Many parents who will read this will be happy to hear this coming out of my mouth as you have NO CLUE how time changes dramatically when children are born.
The most significant adjustment I have had to accept is that my time for myself has disappeared.
For example, instead of writing this article, I could be rolling out my yoga mat and doing a few stretches or meditating, but I have decided to do something creative.
SELF-CARE is essential and something I have advocated for for many years as a Yoga Teacher because I completely understand its importance.
But
As soon as I got pregnant with our second child at the 7-month mark of Phoenix’s life, feeling sick and going through the whole pregnancy, I probably did yoga 2-3 times as my body was just changed.
I stopped doing morning meditations with Phoenix.
I stopped doing my practice and worried about my body as it was just weaker, and I had muscle issues in my pelvis that required a few appointments to diagnose.
After Memphis was born, my body surprised me with how quickly it healed, and I feel it had to do with my homebirth as I felt so relaxed and capable straight away of being present with both the baby and Phoenix.
However, as the days, weeks, months and now ALMOST A YEAR as gone by… my self-care routine has become only yoga once a month!!!
Why?
How could I have let it happen to me… well I had NOOOO CLUE about sleep deprivation and how nap time would be downtime or cooking/cleaning time. My evenings would be either time to do creative work or binge-watch a TV show.
And I am guilty of getting caught up in either work or binge-watching versus CARE, even when I know it would make me feel better even though I am so tired.
SELF-CARE: even after practising yoga daily for seven years before having kids, you would think I could maintain it, but I did not, as I felt in the end;
my self-care was:
watching TV
being creative
having a shower
going out for lunch with a friend
talking to my mama friends
It had to change for my mental health whilst I was losing sleep every other day or for weeks as it is hard to bring yourself to do anything, never mind, sit and meditate or do yoga.
In the end, as much as I knew it wasn’t like me not to do my self-care routine, I knew something had to give, and unfortunately, it was my routine until I found space again in my life when I felt to bring it back in.
This is where I know soooo many of us fall short and don’t get back into our self-care routines, and weeks go by, then months and years! We get so out of practice we think, WHAT IS THE POINT?
Well, the point is your health matters, and self-care is all about focusing on your own mental, physical and spiritual health.
MENTAL - For me watching tv was my way of soothing my mind after a busy day with kids
SPIRITUAL - For me, writing articles, painting, drawing, journaling, and baking all connected me to my heart and was always for my pleasure.
PHYSICAL - For me, picking up my kids a thousand times a day became my work, and though it was time on the mat, it was an exercise.
However, the above has been my temporary solution to my lack of sleep. Still, as I have been feeling stronger and slowly coming out of sleepless nights, I feel ready to re-establish my yoga routine more regularly.
I know it won’t be what it was before kids, but I know that I can find windows of time for 10-15 minutes in a day and at least make 1 class a week.
YOGA makes me feel so FRIGGIN happy after a class, and I LOVE being in student mode vs teacher mode as well. So if you are reading this and one of my old students need a yoga buddy to go to a class please send me a text or reply to this email as I would love to see some of your faces and have others help me get back into my practice.
When going to classes myself, I love going with a friend vs myself, as I have someone to help me be more accountable. I go to Monday night yoga with Syari if I can make the 6 pm class. If anyone is interested in coming along sometime with me again, message me.
I do not want to make any more excuses I can’t do my practice. I love yoga and will always love practising, but I have come to realise that teaching yoga and having people show up to class helped me be accountable more easily as well.
I will state that leaving the house as a parent (Mama especially) isn’t always easy not because I feel mom guilt but because I know the kids are a handful during the times that yoga classes are on in the evening. Also bedtime is such a sacred and special time to be with my kids for me at the moment.
I don’t mind leaving the house, especially if I know dinner is prepared in advance. For me it’s just being organised and remembering what day of the week it is! This helps me to leave the house and when I am gone and enjoy myself and full emerge myself into a class.
This life curve ball has been interesting to manage my own expectation of myself and how to become more realistic. How to see TIME in a different way and how self care will change from season to season. It’s more like going with the ebbs and flows vs working with schedules. Don’t get me wrong I still plan and have a rough schedule for things I would “like” to do but do not care if they do not happen and always just go with the flow nowadays.
If this lands for you, let me know… I’d love to hear how you manage to keep up with your self care routines and get to your classes these days.
Always lots of love and light
Kim