Overview
Can Yoga Poses and Pranayama benefit parenting?
Parenting is one of the most challenging jobs in the world. There aren’t many ways to prepare beforehand, and very few tools, tips, or strategies work universally. Moreover, no one is truly an expert in parenting because every child is unique and has both their own challenges and gifts.
Furthermore, there are many ups and downs to parenting. Sometimes your children are sweet and well-behaved angels; other days, they’re tearing apart the house like a hurricane.
However, there are some lifestyle changes and practices that are quite beneficial to parents and families as a whole. Yoga is such a practice. Designed to keep you present and provide a sense of peace, yoga can be a great tool to help you navigate the chaos of parenting.
Yoga can help you throughout parenthood in many ways. From keeping you calm and centered during the most challenging days to giving your kids a calming hobby they can enjoy, yoga provides many benefits for families. Read on to learn how yoga can help with your parenting.
Meditation and Parenting
Taking time to sit in quiet reflection and mindfulness probably seems like a fantasy. With all the chaos and to-do lists, you may put off meditation because you don’t believe you have the time.
However, only a few minutes of meditation are required to start reaping the benefits. Taking time to sit quietly has numerous benefits for parenting, so this practice should not be neglected.
Daily meditation will give you the stability and control to interact with your kids and tackle your responsibilities. Meditation has numerous physical, emotional, and mental benefits, including:
- Reducing stress
- Controlling anxiety
- Promoting emotional health
- Lengthening attention span
- Improving sleep
- Reducing blood pressure
Let’s face it: raising kids can be quite stressful. You need a healthy body and mind to deal with the curveballs that kids throw at you. Meditation helps you with this by bringing your body back to health and keeping your mind sound and calm.
Every family has a unique schedule and responsibilities, so luckily, you can develop your mediation around your other needs. For example, some parents prefer to meditate in the morning before their kids wake up. This helps them set a calm tone for the rest of the day. Others prefer the evening where they can release all the tension and stress that built up throughout the day.
Loving Kindness
Though children can be adorable and sweet, other times, they can really push your buttons. This is why the practice of loving-kindness is an important tool in your parenting. During loving-kindness meditation, you send love to others, even those who irritate you. Depending on the day, this may include your child.
This practice promotes universal love, forgiveness, and patience, which are all needed for successful parenting. Loving-kindness puts you in the habit of sending love to your child, even on the days that they really irritate you. It helps you focus on what you love about them and gets you in the habit of forgiving them, which can reduce any potential tension or hostility in the house.
Awareness and Presence
Practicing yoga brings you full awareness of the present moment. While in a sequence of poses or meditating comfortably on your mat, you can temporarily put aside the giant to-do lists and chores you need to complete. You can just focus on being in the moment and just being you.
This awareness can be incredibly beneficial in your parenting. It can help you stay in the moment and see the bigger picture when dealing with rough days. You will remember that these moments are temporary and that your babies won’t be babies forever. Therefore, awareness not only brings you into the present moment but can also help you to appreciate that moment a little more.
Pranayama
Pranayama is the art of controlling your breath to still your mind, keep you in the present, and allow you to flow through the moment. It can improve your mindfulness practice and ease your body of tension and anxiety. As mentioned with meditation, these benefits are crucial in order to parent in a calm, centered, and loving way.
Center Yourself
Parenting is the most selfless act in the world because you devote your life to taking care of someone else’s needs. But your needs matter too, even if your children don’t always realize that.
Yoga allows you to center and reconnect with yourself. With all the busy schedules and chaos around the house, it can be easy to neglect this. However, being centered is critical for staying calm, mindful, and keeping your overall well-being in check.
Involve Your Kids
Yoga isn’t just a great way to be a better parent; it can be a fun activity for your children to enjoy too. Learning yogic poses together is a great way to deepen your bond while strengthening your body. And seeing all the fun and silly ways young children go into poses can make the whole experience a joy and provide many happy memories.
Furthermore, a consistent yoga practice can also give your children the benefits mentioned in this article. Over time, they may become more peaceful, patient, loving, centered, and present.
Meditation is also a critical tool for well-being that is best when taught at an early age. All children can benefit from noticing their thoughts, releasing their anxiety, and accepting their emotions.
Moreover, it may help to calm them down a bit. Some kids can be incredibly hyper and resist calming down when needed (such as at bedtime). Meditation encourages peace and serenity, which may calm down their overall personality.
Finally, meditation can assist children who live with chronic stress, anxiety, depression, or similar mental health conditions. Meditation has been known to ease the symptoms of these issues and makes for a great coping tool to learn early on in life.
Final Thoughts
Parenting is never easy. Though everyone believes that they have the tools and key to perfect parenting, the truth is that few know what they are doing. However, some tools can help you navigate the chaos and ups and downs that come with raising children. Yoga is such a tool that helps a lot in parenting. Keeping a regular yoga practice can help you stay calm, centered, and loving no matter what surprises your children throw at you.
Marie Miguel has been a writing and research expert for nearly a decade, covering a variety of health-related topics. Currently, she is contributing to the expansion and growth of a free online mental health resource with BetterHelp.com. With an interest and dedication to addressing stigmas associated with mental health, she continues to specifically target subjects related to anxiety and depression.
