6 Home Workouts for the Whole body whilst Watching TV!
If you are a new mother and you attend yoga lessons, then you might agree that this type of “me-time” is a true blessing. However, spare time for new mothers is limited. But you don’t have to wait for another yoga lesson to “breathe evenly” again. Pick up some healthy habits that yoga teaches off the mat and bring it into your busy life.
Yoga teaches our minds to be quiet and body to be strong and healthy. Why do we feel better after yoga lessons? Yoga poses (asanas) and controlled breathing (pranayama) strengthen our bones and muscles, correct our posture, improve breathing, cleanse the body, increase circulation of blood, strengthen stamina and release stress. [1]
If we feel so much better from our yoga practice then let’s include the following Healthy Habits into our daily life:
1. Sit with your pelvic area open, not squeezed.
We often cross our legs while sitting on a chair. Our key body energy flow is placed exactly in our pelvic area. Therefore, sitting with legs crossed is a bad habit that restricts the blood flow.
That is why Baddha Konasana and Supta Baddha Konasana are popular yoga poses that break the habit of leg-crossing, open the pelvic area and increase the flow of blood. It can be practised every day even after meals.
Take-away tip:
Keep your pelvic area open, not squeezed. No more crossed legs!
When can I practise this pose?
Why not hold the pelvic area open and practice Baddhakonasana every time we sit down at home?
Sit down with your knees open and soles facing each other every time you watch TV, chat with your friend on the phone, play with your baby on the floor. Moreover, you can take your baby closer to your body and enjoy the bond and the freedom of your pelvic area together.
2. Stay on your feet equally weighted.
The Mountain pose is a yoga pose that teaches us the alignment of the body. It looks a simple pose yet a very challenging one as you’re required to make your whole body work in a certain way.
There are many components to this pose that we learn in our yoga lessons from straightening your spine to toning the buttocks. Yet there is one of the key Healthy habits that we need to take away off the mat: keep the weight onto both feet. It is hard to feel if you are doing so at the beginning of your yoga practices but soon this inner balance improves.
This basic work of your legs in the Mountain pose teaches you to distribute the weight of your body equally onto both feet and protect your hip joints that become vulnerable (and sometimes, aching) after pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, when we lean onto one side of our body (move the weight onto one leg mostly) one of our hip joints bears the stress of holding our whole body weight.
Take away tip:
No more one leg standing.
When can I practise the pose?
Bring your attention to the way you stand (when chatting with friends, waiting for a meal to cook, or waiting for a bus). Correct your body posture in case your body weight is unbalanced.
3. Your back should be straight, not arched.
What can possibly be wrong with the way we lie down? Nothing wrong actually, unless you feel uncomfortable. However, you can do your body a huge favour if you lay down the way which benefits your spine the most.
Many new mothers often suffer lower back pain after a long day of nursing and cuddling your baby. Why not give your back an extra rest by elongating it as it helps relieve the strain from your muscles and ease the pain.
The spine is the centre of yoga practice and each of the poses pays a special attention to the back avoiding holding it either hunched or curved. As an example, this is the Right and Wrong way of the yoga pose:
Take-away tips:
While laying on your back, bend your legs and put a small rolled towel or blanket under your knees so that your lower back is elongated. It helps straighten your back immediately.
Support your lower back with cushions or yoga bolsters when you are half-lying.
When can I practise the pose?
You can support your spine with cushions or bend your legs to straighten the spine when you are breastfeeding in a horizontal position, watching TV or playing with your baby.
4. Breathe
Controlled breathing (pranayama) is an important skill that yoga teaches. Controlled breathing brings vital energy to the body. Pranayama techniques help the body gain more oxygen and therefore support the organs and the entire body with blood.
Yoga breathing techniques should be practised under yoga teacher supervision. However, we can pick one healthy habit off the mat and bring it to our daily life.
Take-away tips:
Do not restrain your breath! Observe your breath from time to time by bringing your attention to your inhalations and exhalations. Is your breathing cycle too short and are you breathing too fast? Then exhale slowly but don’t put any pressure on doing it. Is your breath restrained by an uncomfortable pose or contracted chest? Perform a few poses to open up your chest like “Chest Release” in our WellMama App.
When can you practice your breathing?
You can bring your attention to your breath any time of your day indoors or outdoors especially when you are stressed, tired or feeling overwhelmed.
5. Start your day with chest-opening poses.
We cuddle our precious little ones all day long and we’ve got a skill of doing everything with just one arm. We are superheroes, mothers, that’s for sure! However, we should not forget that our body needs care as we just went through pregnancy and childbirth.
Many mothers notice that along with their arms being strong and sculptured after “cuddling” exercising it is our neck and shoulders which are sore.
There are simple ways to change it with this good healthy habit that should be done in the morning. This stretch from Wellmama App yoga workout opens your chest, relieve your shoulder and neck pain and gives you extra energy for the day! Try it!
Hold onto a door frame (from the outside) and step forward. Your hands should be slightly higher than your waist line. Stand on tiptoe and draw your rib cage forward as much as possible, while holding the door frame. Draw your shoulders back and down.
Take-away tips:
Make some chest-opening stretches in the morning to prepare your body for a new day, relieve pain and get some energy!
When can I practise the pose?
You can practise this chest-opening stretch in the morning, when you are passing through to another room, just hold onto those door frames and…
6. Make time for restorative poses.
Are you kidding, you might say?? I simply fall down onto a pillow at the end of the day and I won’t dedicate a minute of my sleep for yoga poses even if they are restorative. We’ve been there too, mothers, and we know how you feel and we know how to help you.
Every yoga lesson finalises with restorative poses. This is not a waste of time but an essential practice that should not be omitted even if you are self-practising at home. Staying in savasana gives your body special time to aggregate the experience that your body gained through the practice, release the tension in the body, restore your breath and give your mind some rest and give yourself an exhale stress and fatigue and inhale quietness, sense of unity with your mind and body.
This is a wonderful pose that you should try during the day. Place your baby on your pelvic area to enjoy the relaxation and the bond.
Take-away tip:
A good restorative pose is as good as a nap so use it in your daily routine to restore your mind and body.
When can I practise the pose?
This is one of the best restorative poses and can be easily done while you’re sitting on the floor or even lying in your bed.
7. Place your head down onto support when stressed.
Feeling overwhelmed and stressed is a frequent emotion during the first years of motherhood. We can do simple things that let us quieten our mind and stop escalating the worries into anxieties and depression.
Support for our forehead is one of them. It takes a minute but it is really effective.
You might have noticed that yoga practice often uses props to get the maximum in the poses or to support our back with bolster or head with a chair or brick. Do not be let down if you don’t have any at home. Use thick books instead of the yoga bricks.
If you have been suffering anxiety then you might need to share it with your doctor. There are special sequences of yoga poses that we’ve developed for our Wellmama app that assist you with anxiety and Stress. You can find the sequences in our blogs while the app will guide you along your practice with tips and tricks for each of the poses.
Take-away tip:
Observe your state of mind from time to time to stop worries and anxiety growing. Use any “head down” poses from WellMama app to bring your mind back to happiness.
When can I practise the pose?
Any time of the day when you are at home and catch yourself becoming moody, use a chair, or bricks or a table to place your forehead onto.
-
B.K.S Iyengar “Yoga the Path to Holistic Health” .https://www.amazon.co.uk/B-K-S-Iyengar-Yoga-Holistic-Health/dp/1405322357