A couple of months ago I added yoga to my weekly workout routine in an effort to ease the strain from my typical high intensity cardio workouts and to help my husband strengthen his core since he refused to do anything but yoga. Aside from the obvious struggles of exercise i.e. motivation, commitment, follow through, balance, endurance etc., there is the added difficulty of exercising with young children who basically demand mommy’s attention twenty four seven. My three year old son has gotten really good about playing and getting a snack or drink of water for himself while I exercise and my one year old daughter is largely content running around as long as I am doing a workout that is really active and has lots of quick movement.
Doing yoga has changed everything. With its slow concentrated movement and held poses, my daughter finds ample opportunity to climb into my lap while I am trying to maintain my Ujjayi breath. She tries to lift my head, hands, and feet when I am trying to balance. Most often she will contort her body in whichever way she needs to put her face up to mine. I had learned from previous years of exercising with children that it is best to start a workout with the child(ren) well fed with plenty of activities to do on his/her/their own. If one can manage, it is ideal to workout while said child is taking a nap.
This is my approach with my daughter. I feed her. I nurse her. I give her several different toys to play with. Sometimes I wait for her to take a nap before I do yoga but sometimes I just need to get my routine done so that it is done. Even when I do manage to wait until she has fallen asleep to start my yoga practice, there is always the possibility that she will wake up in the middle. Regardless of the situation with my daughter, I do yoga and she helps by sitting on me, pushing on me, knocking me over, and my very favorite helping herself to a “nursing session.” There is this thing at the end of each yoga practice called final relaxation. I have had the pleasure of completing final relaxation twice in two months. I guess mommy does not get to relax but at least I get to do yoga with a smile and a few laughs!