Photo from Flickr

I’ve been finding it really hard to get in any kind of exercise since Squirm was born. Because I had very bad stomach separation (and I have weak stomach muscles to start with because of previous surgeries) I was too busy learning how to stand up without pain to get to mother/baby classes. And those pretty much end once the baby is crawling. I could join a gym with a creche, but that hasn’t been possible since we’ve still got a move north hanging over our heads.

So when Jos from Sew. Cook. Laugh. Live. started posting photos from her yoga work outs, I was intrigued. Then she wrote a great blog post about it, and I found myself following a You Tube yoga class that very day – and I haven’t looked back since.

I love the way yoga makes me feel – I get off the mat each time I do it feeling more relaxed and stretched and revitalised. It’s starting to have an affect on my body too – my posture is better, my core is feeling stronger. There’s this lovely feeling of accomplishment when you get to the end of a video and realise you’ve worked your body in all sorts of wonderful ways. And I’d discovered all sorts of wonderful videos which really make me think about the way I’m moving my body – with a quiet reminder, I am aware of exactly how my body is moving.

I started out with a very simple workout for absolute beginners which was a lovely introduction, and a good way to start. I sometimes do yoga first thing in the morning (especially if Squirm has an early morning), and then my favourites are this one which has a wonderful flow and is really relaxing, and this one, which is just standing and breathing with bends and arm movements, but was surprisingly refreshing.

But the yoga I’d been doing every day actually comes from a website called Do You Yoga? It’s a 30 Day challenge with instructor, Erin Motz, who is a self described ‘Bad Yogi’. Her style is really comfortable for me, relaxed with an occasional joke, always building up on previous movements. I can feel myself improving throughout the course, and I love the different options she gives – I can often do the harder moves in stretches, but need the easier work for abdominal exercises. You can sign up for the challenge here and get emails, or just follow the playlist on You Tube.

The Crow Pose, which I actually held for nearly a second thanks to the 30 Day Yoga Challenge