Juggling the demands of motherhood while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle can feel like a daunting challenge. When I first became a mom, I struggled to find a movement routine that fit seamlessly into my new life. My old habits of spending hours on yoga and long runs whenever I felt like it seemed impossible with little ones constantly needing my attention because first there was one kid. And then another kid. And then a third one after that, my time was increasingly less my own.
I had no idea how to move my postpartum body because I didn’t know how to make my pre-kid movement practices happen in my life with kids.
It took time but I eventually realized that adapting my movement routine to meet my needs as a mom didn’t mean sacrificing its quality. Instead, it was about finding creative ways to incorporate movement into my daily life amidst the chaos of #momlife.
Here are my top 5 mom-friendly strategies I’ve used to make daily movement easier, more accessible, and just as fulfilling. Whether you’re a seasoned fitness enthusiast or a complete beginner, these tips will help you find the balance between caring for your body and meeting the needs of your family.
1. Shorter Bursts of Movement
The number one thing to make daily movement easier for moms is shorter bursts of movement. This can be a 5 minute yoga class that you can easily drop into when you have a brief window of time to squeeze in movement. This can be sprinting up and down the block while your kid draws with chalk on the sidewalk — I did this a lot before my youngest was in pre-K and she was still home with me.
2. Lower Expectations
It’s important to remember your home practice is not and never will be the same as going to a studio or the gym. And that’s ok. At home you can do cat/cow for 3 minutes and child’s pose for 2 and call it good. Or you can do an 8-minute strength circuit and be done. Or you can do a 12 minute flow in your pajamas.
Going to a yoga studio or a gym is fantastic, when you’re able to do it. But if you expect your home practice to be the same, you’ll be disappointed. Better to see your home practice as your consistent, daily opportunity to move and those studio/gym adventures as a bonus.
3. Be prepared
One of the things that used to trip me up when I was adapting to moving with kids underfoot was not being prepared. I’d often spend 10-15 minutes trying to find a practice to do online and by then I was often out of time.
To save time, start to compile a list of favorite online practices. If they’re on YouTube, create a note on your phone with your links or a playlist within the platform.
If you don’t have classes you like online, write out some of your favorite poses or exercises. And work from your list. It doesn’t have to be perfectly sequenced. What matters is the movement. But, to help you out, here are 2 playlists from my free YouTube channel. The first contains all of my videos that are 15 minutes or less. The second contains all of my videos geared towards moms, including practices you can do with your kids and postpartum-friendly movement practices.
4. Let your movement space be anywhere
I have moved my body in all sorts of interesting places. On playgrounds, when my kids were little and usually when there weren’t many other kids or parents there. In hotel bathrooms, when my kids were sleeping and I was trying not to wake them up. At the bus stop, waiting for my kids to get off the bus. In the living room, when my kids were watching TV but didn’t want to be alone. In my kitchen, when I just felt like I needed to move my body.
Are any of these places ideal? No. But avoiding them because they’re not ideal just means I don’t get to move when I want or need to. Usually these practices were simpler, less fancy or coordinated. But they were accessible, still made me feel great and glad I did it.
5. All movement counts
Yoga is great. So is walking. So is dancing in your kitchen to a good song. So is jumping on a trampoline if you have one and your pelvic floor is feeling brave. So is getting up to do a few stretches when you’ve been sitting for too long — which I just did while writing this piece!
We tend to have hierarchal thinking when it comes to movement, as if certain types of movement are better than others. That is unnecessarily limiting. If you limit your daily movement practice to only the types of movement that you think “matter” you might miss out on movement that makes you feel good.
Motherhood is hard. Your movement practice should be a relief within mom life, not an additional stress.
Use these tips to make your movement practice an integrated and enjoyable part of your life as a mom and let me know which works best for you! — Naomi
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