I’m frequently asked how I fit my own yoga practice back into my life after having kids. Frankly, for me, it was a struggle. I’ve always joked that it’s lucky I teach yoga, or I would never have had time on the mat. And that my downward dog often involves a child crawling under me. I don’t think there is one way of getting back to the mat that will work for everyone; there is no single “answer.” But I do have a couple of suggestions for how to come back to your yoga practice after having kids.
The word, “balance” is bandied around a lot. It’s often used when talking about lifestyle habits—think “work-life balance” or living a “balanced life.”. That definition of balance refers to how we spend our time, or how we handle competing interests in our daily schedule. But there’s a very important type of balance we should be equally concerned about—the type of balance that reflects the body’s ability to remain stable when either standing or moving.
When I first started teaching yoga fourteen years ago, and writing about how it can benefit athletes, my running buddies were skeptical. But in the years since then, yoga has become mainstream, specific classes for runners are on the rise, and yoga and running are no longer mutually exclusive activities. Whether it’s through greater breath control, increased leg strength, better posture, relief of post-run tightness or simply a deeper awareness of the way our bodies move, yoga is a great complement to any type of running training.
We need to take care of our hearts. It’s a no-brainer, right? Do the recommended amount of cardio to get the blood pumping, limit the amount of stress we subject ourselves to, and eat a nutritious diet in order to live an energetic and healthy life. But what about taking care of the heart in a different way?
In yoga, we nurture the heart physically, but we also recognize the power of the heart on an emotional and spiritual level.
I have a friend with "angry" hamstrings (you know who you are). In fact, I have a lot of clients, friends and colleagues with angry hamstrings. Whether it’s from too many years of biking or running, too many years of sitting at a desk, or too many years of not enough stretching, there are a lot of people walking around out there with chronically tight, inflexible and just plain angry hamstrings.
