How to Fit Yoga Around Homeschooling
Fitting Yoga around lockdown life can be tough, but somehow fitting it into short bitesize chunks, and feeling like you've really done enough can be tougher...
In Yoga it's so important to keep a consistent practice, and I really believe anything as little as 15-20 mins per day, if practiced consistently can make an enormous difference, and really level-up your Yoga practice. These are the best ways I have found to get those on the fly 'fit-around-everything-else' sessions in:
Choreograph your own 'mini-flow' routine
Ie. learn a few of your favourite poses, or transitions, and create a go to mini-flow that will eventually become second nature. Depending on the type of Yoga you practice, I recommend starting this sequence with sun salutations, they're easy to remember (you might know them off by heart already) and from those shapes you can branch off and add your favourite standing poses, followed by a couple of big stretches, backbends, or inversions, whichever floats your boat. Promise me you'll finish with Savasana though! Even if it's only 60 seconds - it's the most important pose, I promise you.
Start early
Yoga can be a great tool to set you up for a calm settled day. If you can wake up 20 minutes early for your Yoga (or early in the day anyway when your child is focussed on their first bit of work for the day) it can be a great tool to get your best 'calm & collected teacher' face on to start the day. There is also research that shows you're more likely to complete your exercise intentions if you do it in the mornings than in the evenings.
““Through the alchemy of embodied movement, breathwork, and positive Psychology, we can create a beautiful shift, and completely reimagine our lives”.”
Youtube is your friend
Most prolific online Yoga teachers have different duration categories for their classes, choose the bitesize flows that you love, and as soon as those clever youtube algorithms kick in, you'll be shown a whole bunch of short and sweet Yoga content.
Get the children involved!
If you worked out together with Joe Wicks, there's no reason why you can't practice Yoga together! Most little ones are pretty receptive to Yoga, and if you frame it as a treat/reward, and even buy them their own Yoga mat to inspire them, it can be a beautiful thing for the whole family to enjoy and spend quality time doing together. Let's face it, there's not much else you can do together at the moment!
Use your children as props!
Have you ever heard of Acro Yoga? It's the super fun fusion of Yoga, acrobatics, dance and cheerleading. It's great for core & leg strength and flexibility, and there's breathwork involved too. Having a little one learn an acro routine with you is crazy fun for them, and a serious work out for you! The heavier the child the better!
Meditation is there for you whenever you need it
If you feel a temper tantrum, tears, or storming off a-brewing (I don't just refer to your child...) take a short 3 minute meditation - stop to focus on slow, steady, deep breathing, lengthen the exhale, and count each breath. It's the grown-up version of counting to 10!
Use an egg timer to time your practice
Using your phone is a dangerous strategy - you'll keep checking the time, and every glance at your phone has the potential to distract you from that precious me-time. PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY while you practice, particularly during short sessions; every minute of quality Yoga counts.
Words by LAURA PEARCE
Laura is a Senior Yoga teacher (Yoga Alliance SYT) with over a decade of experience teaching embodied Yoga & breathwork. She designs and delivers wellness programs for high profile corporate clients and public sector companies including the NHS, and is the founder of Kin Yoga Mats.
