Balance Healthy Momlife

The 5 Best Hacks to Fit Yoga Into Your Busy Mom Schedule

Being a mom is not an easy job. You’ll have to spend sleepless nights and you’ll have to work without taking breaks. From the moment you wake up, someone will always be needing something from you.

Between looking after your children, getting household chores done, and fulfilling workplace demands, you won’t even have enough time to sweat and experience a “me” time.

These things can easily take a toll on your health and your sanity. The good news is that there are ways for you to fit a decent yoga routine into your busy schedule. These best hacks can help you accomplish that.

1. Get up earlier than usual

When you think about it, the most peaceful time you can get is when your kids and the rest of the family are still asleep. So, if you want to squeeze in a workout, take advantage of that time.

Get up earlier than usual so you’ll still have enough time to prepare your kids’ breakfast and clothes for school. You don’t necessarily have to wake several hours earlier.

Getting up half an hour earlier than usual can give you enough time to do a 15-minute yoga routine.

Now, if you’re a working mom, avoid scheduling your yoga workout after work. There’s a good chance that with so many activities and tasks, you’ll forget about it. Schedule your workout first thing in the morning.

 2. Get your family involved

As a mom, it’s pretty easy to feel guilty about having a “me” time, particularly when your kids are at home and waiting for you to play with them.

Why not eliminate the drama and get your family to join you?

Get a yoga mat for each of your kids and keep your routine simple so they can follow along. Even if they don’t have the attention span for the entire routine, they’ll be busy for a few minutes and that can be enough for you to focus.

3. Ask for your partner’s support

You need a break so don’t think twice about asking your partner to watch the kids while you do your workout routine. If he is a bit unwilling, let him know how you’re willing to compromise and return the favor.

4. Plan your yoga routine for the whole week

Planning your yoga routine on a daily basis might sound like a wise choice, particularly since you don’t have a fixed schedule. However, if you want to truly experience the benefits of yoga, plan your routine for the whole week.

For example, you can perform poses on your mat for about 3 times a week. You can switch to restorative yoga poses and meditation for the other days. This way, you’ll be able to recalibrate your brain and feel calmer and more relaxed.

When it comes to planning, remember to be flexible. Don’t feel frustrated whenever your initial plan doesn’t go as expected.

5. Make yoga fit you

Women go through a lot. You can experience menstrual cycles, get pregnant, and deliver a baby. With all those changes, you need to recalibrate yoga to fit you and your body’s needs. Make sure that it will meet not just your physical needs but also your mental and emotional health.

Don’t be afraid of steer away from the rigid yoga poses your teacher taught you. Instead, find postures that your body will be comfortable with.

Being a mom is a blessing. However, with so many things to do and people to attend to, it’s quite easy to sabotage one’s health. And once you neglect your health, you become less effective when it comes to caring for others.

By making your health a priority and with these hacks, you’ll be able to stay in shape physically, mentally, and emotionally.

 

Meera Watts
Latest posts by Meera Watts (see all)

Meera Watts is a yoga teacher, entrepreneur and mom. Her writing on yoga and holistic health has appeared in Elephant Journal, CureJoy, FunTimesGuide, OMtimes and others. She’s also the Founder and owner of SiddhiYoga.com, a yoga teacher training school based in Singapore. Siddhi Yoga runs intensive, residential trainings in India (Rishikesh, Goa and Dharamshala), Indonesia (Bali)

Comments (2)

  • I do water aerobics three times a week. As I cannot wear my fit bit into the water, is there any way I can manually estimate the impact of this exercise and add it to my summary?

    Reply
    • I would google the average calories burned for your water aerobics and add that into your estimate 🙂

      Reply

Write a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.