It was 6 weeks after I had given birth to my son, when my OB had given me the tick of approval, that I started to head back into the world of exercise. It was a little scary at first, I have to admit. It really had only been six short weeks since I not only birthed my son, but that I had a 15cm incision made into my belly. An incision that no longer hurt but that I could still feel every time I tensed or used my stomach muscles…. which I will point out, you don’t realize how often you use them until you can’t!
It was then that an old friend from school started a Mums and Bubs walking group in town. What can I say but Perfect Timing! I joined up and every Tuesday and Friday morning we walked; it wasn’t far or fast but it was great. We walked and talked and slowly I could feel my body returning to some assemblence of normality. (If you aren’t already, why not try a little walk with your Mums group? That little bit of exercise can do wonders for your body and sleep deprived, new-mum brain. Say Hello Endorphin’s!)
A few weeks on and I thought it was time to brave that first session of Yoga. Now I’ve been practicing Yoga (inconsistently) for many years but it wasn’t until now that I truly found the peace in those 30 minutes and simply felt my body relax and exhale.
So it became my new routine, every morning when my munchkin went down for a nap (not that he always did) I would slap on a dvd, pull on my stretchy pants and roll out my mat. For thirty minutes I could test my body and feel it stretch and release all those aches and pains. For thirty minutes I could sort of feel like myself again.