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.
How my Yoga practice used to look….
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.
champagne and gumboots 