“Great, another thing I need to do to be a good parent.” If this thought ran through your mind when you saw the topic of this book, I get it. As parents, we are bombarded with information, research, and instruction every time we open our phone, a book, or a conversation with a well-meaning individual (most often another parent!).
Each week it seems that some new research indicates that whatever approach we’ve decided to use in parenting our children is in actuality going to ruin them. From deciding whether to buy non-GMO baby food to determining what sports to involve your kids in to choosing the right schooling option, we are making more parenting-related decisions that ever before. And I don’t know about you, but I often feel like I’m making the wrong decisions.
The decision hangover weighs on us and we feel that we’re constantly chasing a state of “enough”; one in which we have all of our bases covered in terms of taking care of ourselves, our homes, our careers, our relationships and above all else – the happiness and well-being of our children. So if you’re not looking for another thing to do right now, believe me – I understand.
Don’t jot “yoga” onto your already overloaded to-do list and then jump back into your busy day. Not yet. Yoga is not another to-do, and you certainly don’t have to do it. I simply want you to try it.
Yoga, in its personalized, beautifully subtle way, can equip you with the tools you need to quiet the internal and external voices of judgement, find peace in the midst of parenting, and discover that the moment, exactly as it presents itself, is always “enough”.
Yoga isn’t a state of doing. It’s a state of being. And through a daily commitment to breath, stillness (often called meditation), and physical movement, you can renew and cultivate that peaceful state of being within yourself and watch in amazement as it extends to your family too. In its very emphasis on mental fortitude and quietness, yoga is the perfect form of exercise available to today’s parents. And it’s a lot easier than you probably think.
Yoga is not here to add to the busyness. It’s here to help you cope with, and possibly even minimize, the busyness. In this book I’ll cover the basics of developing your own practice; we’ll discuss how to get your kids involved in yoga and how to help them create healthy habits of their own; and we’ll break down the mental and physical aspects of yoga and what they mean to today’s parents.
My hope for you is that once you’re done reading you’ll be motivated and prepared to jump into a personal and enriching yoga practice and be happy with yourself as a parent.