What 21 days of yoga taught me about motherhood

For the past 21 days, I have committed to a practice of bettering myself, moving my body, and becoming more deeply aware of my motherhood.

After the birth of my baby, I jumped back into exercise and motherhood, foolishly hoping that all of my routines would pick off where they left off. But after a stint at a pelvic floor physical therapist and weeks readjusting to motherhood, another version of my post-partum body, and living life, everything needed gentleness… and a BIG break.

In an effort to heal myself during this time, I dedicated myself to a yoga practice in a way I never have before.

All of my greatest shifts happen when I commit fully, so I opted in for a 21days practice of yoga, allowing my body to heal and my mind to accept whatever my body was able to produce.

What happened over these 21 days changed my physical body, and offered me a new sense of grace for all the parts of me, on and off the mat.

It is often forgotten that motherhood, like yoga, is a daily practice. There are so many variables that go into both practices that make a difference with how one is able to show up physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. While there is an instinctual doing for both practices, so much of what happens on and off the mat is influenced by everything else happening around us.


Like in motherhood, the most important factor in my daily yoga practice was conditional on how I had slept the night before. YES, a broken night’s sleep, curled into a question mark so that my baby could also rest beside me, affected how my body moved and felt on my yoga mat.


In my yoga practice, sleep was a major influence on how my body felt, how deeply into a posture I was willing to go, and how much I tried to push my body. It also was a factor in how long I decided to practice. If I was really tired, perhaps I’d practice for 20 minutes. However, if I felt more energized, I would practice for longer, even choosing power yoga or practice with inversions that pushed me to see what I was capable of.


Here are the top 5 things yoga taught me about motherhood that has helped me through this crazy, rewarding journey of motherhood.

• BREATHE & BREATHE - The energy of breath can calm any crazy emotions. 
• PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE on the Mat Can Be Brought Off the Mat. 
• LET GO- Motherhood, and art of letting go feeling. Motherhood is a series of letting go.” 
• ACCEPTANCE - My Body is Forever Changed and That’s Okay!. Forget where you were, and focus on where you are now. Embrace your body! You will find that acceptance and radiate positive energy. 
• IT’S NOT ABOUT ACHIEVING PERFECTION, BUT ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF THE MOMENT. 

“Yoga isn’t about touching your toes. It’s about what you learn on the way down.” 

– Judith Hanson Lasater 

This quote sums up one of my most important points. In yoga, it truly doesn’t matter if you can do ANY of the poses in the way that the yoga stars on Instagram do. If that’s your goal, you’re missing the whole point of the practice. I remind myself that the same thing applies to parenting. If my goal is to make everything look a certain way–every hair in place, every outfit coordinated, every toy disinfected, every meal worthy of a magazine spread, every photo perfectly edited for my social media channels–I’m missing out on being present.

These 21 days have given me a deeper look into how readily I embrace either. One thing I know for sure is that both yoga and motherhood are spiritual practices, meant to show how to bend, how to embrace all that is happening, and how to tune in to breath as a tool to release resistance and go deeper.

What has your yoga practice taught you about motherhood?