Happy International Day of Yoga! It also happens to be Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year! Last week I taught my first yoga class! I was so worried about the class, but I survived and I’m officially a RYT-200. As excited as I am about yoga, I almost didn’t teach….

“Your most powerful tool is your own example”. – John Wooden

Have you ever wanted something that didn’t seem “practical”? I say that in quotes because honestly, how do you define “practical”? It probably depends on who you ask, so the only definition of “practical” that matters is yours…But sometimes being “practical”, can actually sound a little crazy….

I feel like people say all the time to avoid stress because it can affect your health. It’s interesting though if you ask them how, you don’t always get a clear response. And the truth is, your health is affected by stress in multiple ways. I want to share with you a specific system of your body that is affected by stress that I find to be most common among working moms. Now remember, this is not the only way stress affects your health, but it is a concrete way that you might be able to identify with and then use this information to improve your health. First of all, what is stress?

Cue the party music, I graduated! I’m sure you wondering what I could have possibly been in school for, so let me not leave you in suspense any longer….I just completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training. And trust me it was a family affair! There was studying multiple books on yoga history and philosophy, yoga practice, entire weekends at the studio, and practice teaching. My husband and my son’s teacher have truly been troopers helping me with the little one over these last 9 months.

I recently listened to a livestream where Lakeisha Michelle spoke and she used the words “rescue your future.”  This really stuck out to me and I thought it was a super powerful statement.  

I like the urgency it conveyed. So often, we are too passive about our desires and goals.  We complain about our spouses, but don’t take a look at our own behavior to see how we might be contributing to the problem.  We complain about our jobs, but don’t make the effort to find a job we do enjoy. We complain about our weight, but eat doughnuts and french fries…

As working moms, sometimes it’s difficult to focus on our own health, in particular, what we eat.  And if we’re honest, even what our kids eat.  Have you ever given your child something to eat that you would normally not want them to have, but did so out of convenience and because that happened to be the only thing they would eat at the time?

Have you ever bragged about multitasking? My husband does that on the regular.  He’s always reminding me of how well he multitasks and that I should multitask more.  Is that right? Should working moms be masters at multitasking?  The short answer is NO!

Moms often ask me about a morning or evening routine and I immediately think of meditation.  A meditation practice should be an essential part of either daily routine.  However, many women tell me they don’t know how to meditate.  And honestly when I started, I didn’t either. Meditation used to look like this for me:

I start out sitting on the floor, but I can’t get comfortable. Then I move to the bed, sitting up Indian style, hoping I don’t fall asleep. Turns out I fall asleep, sitting up with my eyes half open.

There’s nothing more overwhelming than having to go back to work with a newborn who is only 3 months. This little person has been attached to you literally for these last few weeks and now you have to leave them with someone else? And likely a total stranger at that. I remember that day vividly. My son was 4 months and I was breastfeeding. Breastfeeding adds a whole different dynamic to leaving your child. Feeding my son alone was the most stressful thing, trying to travel and pump and freeze milk, hoping I had enough. Now that was stressful!