Why I Need to Get Back to Yoga: Self-Care?

I’m not one to tell other moms about self-care. While I’ll admit that it’s necessary; I also admit that I’m terrible at it. I took a few fabulous Buti Yoga classes last year. It was challenging, but I did like i. I just didn’t keep it up. Like a lot of moms, I go full bore for my children and family, then my stamina falters. Then I resolve to take care of myself. I’ll take a bath, but the kids are still knocking, maybe even sliding toys or fingers under the door to make sure I know they still exist. Or I’ll start crocheting some socks or mittens, trying to ignore the children (by letting them binge watch some dumb YouTube videos). I do meditate more often lately, but I’ve learned that I’m not always going to achieve the level of peace and calm I’m seeking. (Like after one Saturday a.m. session during which two heavy children climbed all over me while yelling at each other to be quiet because “Mom’s meditating! Shhh!”)

But if I’m honest, I’m phoning my self-care in more often than not. As time passes though, I realize I have to get back to it. Even if I just squeeze in a couple of self-care sessions a week (or a month), it’s better than completely falling apart. And at this point, my self-care has to be more about my physical well-being. Because as much as I do chores and run after my boys and make half-hearted attempts at decluttering and cleaning the house, my body is suffering. I realize I need to get back to yoga, even if I just do some videos at home. Not because I want to learn how to do a headstand (though I do); but so I can eliminate the embarrassing aches and pains during the following fairly normal daily activities. 

Being Able to Turn Over in Bed

The other night my 4-year-old climbed into bed with us. I have no idea why. I also have no idea why I was dumb enough to just slide over to the middle of the bed and let him sleep on the end. Needless to say, in a few short hours, he’d spread his skinny 3.5-foot-frame out so as to evict me from my own pillow. I turned to lay on my left side, spooning my husband. And that is when my son also rolled to his left side and planted his chin on my left shoulder and threw his right arm around my torso. I was too tired to do anything other than shift slightly so his chin didn’t feel so stabby. When my alarm went off a few hours later I was in a conundrum: How on earth was I going to turn over to get an arm underneath me for leverage? I managed it somehow, (I think my husband had to help me…a lot) but definitely said “Ow!” more times than a 42-year-old wants to.

Not Having to Get Unbuckled

My four-year-old sits directly behind me in the car. Our routine is supposed to be, the boys get in the car, immediately get buckled. What actually happens is the entire neighborhood hears me yell at least twice for them to actually get in the car, then one or both becomes distracted by the hoard they’ve accumulated in the back seat. Then I get in the driver’s seat and buckle myself in while I ask if they are buckled. About a third of the time, and always when it’s cold or wet outside, the four-year-old struggles with buckling himself in. I used to get unbuckled and out of the car to help him. But then I got lazy, so I tried just turning around in my seat (i.e., without getting cold, wet and out of the car). Well, I stopped doing that about 2 weeks ago because I pulled a muscle that I’m pretty sure didn’t ever get used until I started turning around in my seat to untwist his seatbelt.

Throwing Away Gum

My children love to chew gum. And because they love to eat candy and rot their teeth out even more, I let them have gum. I’m pretty strict about where they discard the gum in the house. But I hadn’t given much thought to waste disposal logistics when I let them have their fill of gum on a road trip back from western Mass last weekend. My 4-year-old (yes, he factors into most of these stories) was done with his gum and let me know. I was driving, so I reached my arm back so that he could give me the gum to throw away. You guessed it, I hurt myself. This time a different musclethan when I reached around to untwist his seatbelt. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’m one big strained muscle.

Bringing In Stuff From The Car

I don’t like taking the kids to the store. Target runs are my time to look at what I want for as long as I want and without spending money. (I’m one of those moms who doesn’t have to spend money when I go to Target. I’m not bragging. I just don’t have any money.) So, I run errands while they are at school. Then I inexplicably (read: I’m too lazy) leave the bags in the car until I’ve returned home from picking up the boys at school. Of course, then I have to bring in grocery bags, Target bags, school bags, plus any other random stuff we’ve left in the car, make sure all the car doors are locked, set the car alarm, get through the back gate, and unlock the back door with no hands-free. While I always manage to do it, I’m pretty sure my luck is going to run out one day, and I’m going to inadvertently drop all the bags on a kid’s head while we walk through the door because I can’t hold that stuff one more minute. You may ask “Why don’t you have the boys help you?” Well, sometimes I do. And when that happens, I also have to juggle getting them up the stairs safely because apparently, they lose all sense of balance when asked to carry a single bag of groceries up a set of cement steps.

For all these reasons, and more (like my health, blah, blah, blah) I really need to get back to yoga. I’m one more bad twist/turn from traction. And it’s too embarrassing to tell your doctor or nurse that you hurt your everything untwisting a seatbelt or trying to throw away gum. So, if any of you moms can relate, please meet me in yoga class!