Do you give yourself time to rest and restore?
I didn’t always.
In fact, if you asked me before I had kids, I would have said that restorative yoga poses are fantastic but they’re not for me.
True Confession: I was the person who left before savasana because I had better things to do.
Even after having my first kid, I wasn’t great at giving myself time to rest. In my first 2 years postpartum with my first, I ran myself ragged trying to squeeze everything in. Everything except rest.
After giving birth to my 2nd kid, I got much better at taking rest.
I even started doing restorative yoga.
Like with all things, I started small. My mat rolled out. Maybe a blanket or 2. Timer set for 5-8 minutes.
Sometimes I’d manage to keep my eyes closed the whole time.
Sometimes I didn’t.
Sometimes a kid would climb on top of me.
Sometimes a kid would poke me in the face.
Sometimes a kid would give me kisses.
Sometimes a kid would ask me questions.I’d stay put in my restorative pose.
It didn’t come naturally to me.
I felt myself wondering what else I could be doing with those 8 minutes. I would get nervous that the kids were destroying something and I’d come out of the restorative pose to find a mess in the kitchen or marker on the walls. I was fidgety and had trouble getting comfortable.
But the more I tried, the more I started loving restorative yoga.
Eventually I started craving rest.
And now, when I feel depleted and drained, I don’t ignore those signals. I place a few blankets on the ground, prop myself up, and close my eyes for a few minutes. It’s like magic.
In my latest video on YouTube, I share one of my very favorite restorative poses as well as what it looks like when I do restorative yoga around my 3 kids.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t look very restorative but looks can be deceiving.
Here’s the takeaway:
Like all things within motherhood, restorative yoga might not always be what you expect it to be. You might not get 10 minutes of complete quiet. Your kids might want to “restore with you.” Likely, you’ll get interrupted a few times because your kids “need you.” And still, it’s worth it.
Because establishing the habit and getting into the practice of doing a thing, sets the foundation for those times when it is quiet and easy. When you have the house to yourself or your kids are happily occupied watching TV.
Check out the video so you can watch my real like restorative yoga practice with kids, plus a simple restorative I love that you will, too.
