By Miriam Lambrecht

When thinking of motherhood, images might come to mind like a gorgeous young mom in a long flowing white nightie, nursing a plump baby on a rocking chair – the pair radiating blissful contentness.

But, as life happens, the other side of the coin is somewhat less rosy.

Babies cry, often with mysterious reasons, tots throw tantrums, children ask 60 questions in as many minutes, they are loud & messy, they get sick, exhibit bad behavior and need lots and lots of TLC, attention and time.

And I don’t know about you, but the only item in my closet that remains white after 3 kids is my underwear (nothing else will ever look the same from the stains of food, breast milk, snot, vomit, felt tip pens, paint, glue, mud and blood)

This is all included in the package and we have to take it in our stride.

Though there are thousands of childrearing books and magazines that give insight and parenting suggestions, there is no prescription for the ideal parenting method. Every child needs a different approach – no two children are alike.

Nor are two mothers for that matter, or situations you may find yourself in.

I’ve yet to come across an article that covers the simultaneous event of an important phone call, a crying baby, a tot that needs-a-pooh-pooh, and a screaming 5 year old with her lip stuck in her zip/ crayons up her nose.

And you can read about how to deal with tamper tantrums, but all theoretic knowledge on this subject pales into insignificance when faced with a smudgy tot in the throws of a frothy tantrum in the middle of a busy shop. It can fray your nerves and dissolve all resolve. Reading about it is one, but doing it is quite something else…

Basically you’re on your own.

In the end you are the one that has to make things work.

We need to be able to interpret the crying and behavior of our children (when is bad behavior or crying due to tiredness, hunger, diet, pain, external influences or environmental changes? Or when is it just a stage they all go through).

Behavior and situations need to be assessed and processed. How do we respond to this challenge or that? How to teach or guide our children into a better mindset, happiness and better behavior?

We need to set our boundaries. What are our limits? When and where do we draw the line? What battles do we pick?

Sometimes we need to be patient and flexible, other times we need to be more firm with our children.

When must a child learn by experience, and when is it a good idea to intervene (jumping from rock to rock is ok. Jumping off a roof perhaps not)

When should children learn to sort out their own differences and when do you put an end to a sibling fight?

The list goes on…

Countless assessments and decisions have to be made, options weighed up, priorities made and planning done on a daily basis.

This requires time, focus, insight, patience, perseverance and lots and lots of energy.

And it is here that the biggest challenge lies.

Too often there is just not enough energy to go round.

Dealing with children can make you tired and weary. It can wear your patience and grind your nerves. Children don’t keep to office hours and the stream of challenges seems to be endless. Time and opportunities to ‘fuel up’ can be few and far between.

To add to all this, sleep depravation can pose a serious problem to many mothers. Babies and children can rob you of your sleep for many reasons. The results are hard to deal with, leaving you with a diminished alertness, ability to focus, make decisions, plan and gain insight. These are precisely the abilities you need as a mother….

Your sense of humor and ability to put things into perspective evaporates, and you can fall prey to impatience and volatile emotions.

So is there a way that we can deal better with the huge demands of energy we need? Is there anything we can do to create an unruffled mind or a calm disposition? To be able to focus, be patient and have the ability to assess, process and re/act in an appropriate way to the daily challenges of motherhood?

I believe that a regular Yoga practice can be an enormous help.

Yoga assists with the effective intake and flow of Prana though our body

Prana is the the energy all around us, that animates all life.

The air around us is greatly charged with Prana, and through each in-breath we inhale Prana and direct it into the body.

The quality of this vital energy plays a huge roll on how we feel physically, emotionally and mentally.

Prana flows through our body via invisible pathways, also know as meridians, which interconnect and encapsulate all human tissues and organs.

The strength and flow of the meridian system is essential for harmonious balance in body and mind.

Yoga practices balance deficient and stagnant flow of Prana by:

- Placing the body in particular shapes to pull or pressurize tissues. This is achieved by practicing Asana’s and will bring blood and Prana to the tissues, making them stronger and lubricating them. Different asanas can influence different meridians, thereby influencing and positively affecting the flow of Prana to specific organs and tissues.

- Deepening and lengthening your breath. By controlling the breath (Pranayama) the blood gets oxygenized and the flow of Prana is increased and moves in more harmonious ways. This calms and clarifies the mind and emotions.

- Focusing the mind, by means of yoga meditation. Our state of mind is directly related to the quality of our energy body. A focused mind will have smooth, free flowing Prana.

Yoga aims at the union of body, mind and soul.

The path of yoga will bring insight into your limitations and strengths; you get more in touch with your body and mind and – by practicing- in tune with your whole being, fully inhibiting your body and mind.

You will get to know your body by yoga asanas and breathing, and your mind and soul by yoga meditation.

All these practices may move you out of your comfort zone. The asanas might prove difficult to master, balance hard to maintain, movement limited and suppleness insufficient. You might be confronted with a kaleidoscope of thoughts and emotions when sitting for meditation. Breath suspension might be unpleasant for us.

We will come to recognize these (unwanted) things and our response to them. We learn to observe our body, behavior, emotions and thoughts and note any resistance to these. Over time, we will learn to accept and include all these aspects into our being. We will create more tolerance to extreme and unpleasant situations and become more accepting of them. We will recognize the flow and fluctuations of pleasantness/unpleasantness and be better able to balance, incorporate and embrace them. The need to resist and avoid unpleasant situations will diminish.

Yoga asanas will not only bring you more in touch with your body, how it works, what its limits are and how to be patient and compassionate with yourself (and thereby with others), it also has countless physical benefits. Different asanas will positively impact your posture, strength, suppleness, circulation, vitality, and energy levels. There are postures to aid digestion, help regulate hormone production and secretions, facilitate easier childbirth, conserve energy, calm and tone the nervous system, clear sinuses and unblock noses, supply fresh blood to all body parts, improve lymph flow and more.

Mothers often fall prey to bad posture – carrying babies and children around on the hip will negatively impact your body alignment and posture since we compensate for the extra weight by angling other body parts in a different way. We put more weight and strain of one side of the body and misalignment may result in stiffness, shortening of the muscles and other problems.

Yoga asanas can help to improve posture and, by becoming more aware of your body, you will be able to self- correct bad posture as it happens in daily life.

Another problem many mothers encounter is the physical demands that are placed on the body. We often pick up and cart not only babies and children (sometimes two or three at a time) but also haul all those car seats, camp cots, prams and strollers, nappy bags, toys and cooler bags in and out of cars, up and down stairs, etc. In this respect we greatly benefit from the strength and balance we gain from a regular yoga practice.

Yoga meditation aims at a suspension of thought, a silencing of the minds agitation. It is a general term for methods of steadying and quieting the mind. Yoga meditation enhances the quality of living, improves health, relaxation and self mastery. These are great assets with regard to your coping skills, tolerance and physical, mental and emotional balance.

Yoga breathing has a wide range of benefits: it serves a purifactory function, it boosts vitality & health, raises general levels of energy, calms & tones the nervous system, enriches our supply of Prana and clarifies consciousness. It increases the vital capacity, energizes and exercises the lungs, helps to clear nasal passages, purify the blood, cleanse sinuses, remove phlegm, improve circulation and aid the digestive system. It also helps to stimulate the liver, spleen and pancreas.

Yoga breathing is used to establish healthy breathing habits, the effects of which will be carried over in daily life. This has a positive effect on your physical and mental health.

You can use breathing exercises to lift you out of fatigue, when you need to be energized or need to overcome anxiety or fear. It boosts courage, relaxes and vitalizes you.

Now let’s have a closer look at the processes that happen in your body. Why is it essential for your body to practice proper breathing? What happens in your body when you breathe deeply?

Every organ and body part is made up of cells. When all the cells function optimally, the organs work effectively and you will be healthy and have plenty of energy.

Cells need adequate oxygen to function properly.

By deep and healthy breathing you will increase your oxygen supply.

Good oxygen supply is essential for proper functioning of all your cells and organs.

Oxygen is needed in the cells for converting glucose into ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate). ATP is the essential ingredient for all cellular activity.

In a nutshell:

ATP is the energy needed to maintain the delicate mineral balance in and around your cells: ATP charges the cell frame and (via involved processes in the cell) ensures hydro-electrical currents. This electricity is the energy the cells need to perform their tasks. When you produce sufficient ATP, there is enough electricity and you have adequate energy for proper functioning.

With out sufficient ATP the hydro-electrical pumps ‘switch off’, and there will be no electrical potential to keep cellular processes and functioning going. The cells then stop functioning.

Therefore it is crucial to have an adequate oxygen supply for the production of ATP.

Oxygen moves throughout the body in your bloodstream. It is transferred from the blood to the cells, which will then use it for ATP production, as described above.

This transfer of oxygen happens when the tissues are in a Dry State: the situation where cells are tightly packed and there is no excess fluid between them. The cells lay against the blood capillaries and lymph vessels and oxygen and essential nutrients can move quickly and effectively from the capillaries to the cells.

This tightly packed state of cells is known as the Living Dry state. Oxygen can reach the cells easily and can convert glucose to ATP. This ensures there is enough electrical potential to keep the cell functioning properly.

In short, the Dry state is the optimum state for cells and organs to work effectively. It is the state in which health and energy are abundant. Anything that changes the Dry State will stop the cells from functioning optimally, and you’ll experience ill health, pain and the loss of energy.

So what is it that changes this optimal Dry State?

This is caused by trapped blood protein.

Blood protein moves in the blood and maintains the water levels there, by holding water.

They do leak out of the blood through pores in the capillaries to the spaces between the cells, where they also hold water. When this blood protein doesn’t get taken out by the lymph and gets trapped there, it causes a build up of fluid around the cells, making them float in water. The Dry State has changed into a Wet state.

The oxygen and nutrients can’t reach the cells because of the excess fluid, and cells become oxygen deprived.

Glucose will then get broken down without oxygen.

When 1 molecule of glucose is broken down with oxygen, it makes 36 ATP

Breaking down glucose without oxygen only produces 2 ATP.

Basically, without oxygen much less ATP will be made, and the mineral balance can not be maintained. Without enough ATP the hydro-electrical pumps will ‘switch off’ and there is no more energy for the cell to work.

And, after cascading events, water will leak out of the cells.

The cells in turn react to this by blocking their pores, to ensure no further loss of water occurs. However, this also means that no more nutrients and oxygen can reach the cells either.

In effect; cells without oxygen will stop functioning and eventually die.

Furthermore, glucose conversion into ATP without oxygen will produce lactic acid as a by product.

This will create an acidic environment. Basically the glucose ferments.

Fermenting glucose will build up with trapped blood protein and excess fluid and create mucus. This provides a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, viruses and parasites, which love an oxygen depleted, acidic environment.

It is the perfect breeding ground for infection and disease – including cancer.

It is therefore essential that trapped blood protein is taken out by the lymph to change the Wet State back into a Dry State.

How does his happen?

The trapped blood protein needs to be removed from between the cells, thereby taking out the water that they hold as well and restoring the Dry State.

The lymph system removes this trapped blood protein, damaged and worn out cells, metabolic waste and cellular toxins and poisons. These are neutralized in the nodes and ducts before the lymph is returned to the bloodstream.

Lymph fluid doesn’t move by aid of a pump, like the blood does.

It moves through skeletal and muscular movement, that compresses your tissue and squeezes the lymph from one little chamber in the lymph vessels to the next through one-way valves.

This skeletal and muscular movement happens when our bodies move, and can be greatly improved by the movements you make through practicing the asanas of Hatha Yoga.

However, movement is not adequate enough to effectively pump the lymph from the ducts back into your bloodstream.

For this we need the Thoracic pump. Every time you breathe deeply, your chest expands and lymph is pumped out of the ducts and back into the bloodstream.

Without this, the lymph stagnates throughout your whole body.

In this situation, blood protein can’t get removed from between the cells. By shallow and inadequate breathing you in essence don’t move and clean out your lymph, don’t retrieve blood protein and maintain the Wet State around your cells.

Deep breathing ensures proper movement and drainage of the lymph. The lymph can then remove trapped blood protein that holds intercellular water. Thereby it restores the Dry State, in which oxygen can reach the cells freely, where it can get used for APT production and maintain the hydro-electrical power cells need to keep functioning.

In short: deep breathing makes sure there is proper lymph movement thereby ensuring that cells get/remain in the ideal Dry State. This enables oxygen to reach the cells and for the cells to reach their full potential, resulting in a healthy body and abundant energy.

Deep breathing will also supply sufficient oxygen for ATP production.

We now have a better understanding of the necessities of oxygen, and the huge benefits of a regular yoga practice.

Now how can we as mothers make it workable?

While we would all benefit from an hour of uninterrupted yoga daily, this might not really be easily attainable when you have children. There will be interruptions and conflicts of interest, making it virtually impossible to have an hour yoga session when they are around.

Must we then give up on the idea of a regular yoga practice because we have children?

By no means!

What we might have to do however, is to lower our expectations of the perfect way and time to perform yoga, and instead incorporate it into our daily life in smaller increments. I believe that a little bit of yoga every day is better than no yoga at all. And when practicing yoga throughout the day we actually get the energizing benefits during that day as well. This opposed to waiting until the kids are all asleep and finding you are ‘too tired’ to do yoga.

There are plenty of postures that can be done in between daily chores.

If you choose this route it would be a good idea to pick uncomplicated asanas that are easily mastered and quick to get in and out of. Good exampled would be standing shoulderblade squeeze, elbow taps, diver’s posture, upstretched arm postures, palm tree postures, standing back bends, hip circling, leg raises and Red Indian twist. Head turns and head and shoulder rolls can be done standing or sitting down.

There are postures that your children will enjoy doing with you, like ragdoll bend or swing, dogshake, flying bird bends, spinal rock (aka rocking beetle) star posture (butterfly) or lion pose. These are just a few examples – there are many more postures you can adjust and make up a story around that’ll make them fun for kids.

Some postures can be done while talking with your children, or reading them a story – easy pose, perfect & lotus posture, thunderbolt pose and star pose are good examples. I’ve been able to even use diamond posture, alternate toe touch, dragonfly pose, or full forward bend as well. Another option is to lie on your back while reading or telling a story and do supine exercises like foot above posture, saddle or fish pose.

Even if you don’t achieve all the breathing or mind/body benefits, you will get (some of the) physical benefits which will go a long way in keeping you healthy, balanced and energized.

Even if you happen to find yourself in bed at night, snuggly tucked into your duvet and you realize that you’ve not managed to squeeze in any yoga today, there are postures you can do in bed while lying on your back.

I call this Lazy Yoga, yet the postures are extremely effective.

Examples are saddle pose, fish posture, eye-of- the-needle pose, stirrup pose, cat stretches, lying spinal twist pose, knees to the chest pose and of course crocodile, stick and corpse pose.

All in, daily yoga can be quite do-able.

How can we incorporate breathing exercises into our daily lives?

It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with pranayama in the absence of children and other distractions, so you can concentrate on the technique first. Once mastered, you can practice these exercises throughout the day, when you find a spare moment. Some of them might still be done during daily tasks like breastfeeding, doing the dishes, cooking, or driving the kids to school.

You might choose to do the exercises with the kids, involving them; pretend to blow up a huge balloon or blow out candles on an imaginary cake. Blow bubbles. Blow away obstacles – a big bad wolf or a pirate ship and use your magic breath. Blow into the sail of a big sailboat you’re on or turn into a fierce dragon that blows fire out of his nose/mouth.

Your imagination is the only limit to what you can do.

I find it works very effectively, keeping the children occupied, spending quality time with them, doing pranayama with (some of the) positive effects, and in the process, teaching the kids breathing exercises as well. It will dispel much frustration and strong negative emotions they may have (blow out all your bad mood into a big, big balloon. When it’s full, blow it away and wave it goodbye.)

As we’ve seen, a regular Yoga practice will have great physical, mental and emotional benefits for mothers (in fact for all of us).

When we have more energy, clarity of mind and a better body/mind/soul balance we will be able to get over the little (and big) humps life throws at us.

Then we move with the flow of life, and can gratefully enjoy the gift that children really are.

So when sitting on that rocking chair with baby, there may be stains on our nighties, toys or food on the floor, dark rings under our eyes and barking dogs in the background, but here and now we can recharge our batteries, let go and enjoy the moment.

We can enjoy life.

Miriam Lambrecht is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in the Pietermaritzburg, South Africa area.