“Women have a lot of stresses. It’s easy for them to do everything for everybody else, but they don’t take enough time for self-care and self-love,” says yoga instructor Sudha Devi from Vancouver, British Columbia. Yoga is not another exercise regimen. Rather, it involves healing of the mind, body and soul through stretching and breathing. According to experts, proper breathing is the foundation of our physical and mental health: it is calming and restorative; it lowers breathing and heart rates, decreases blood pressure, and increases blood flow to the intestines and reproductive organs. Devi feels it’s essential that moms take 15 to 30 minutes a day to reflect and re-energize by doing yoga and also suggests the practice of pranayama to relax.
 
For toddlers too
Yoga has become very popular with Canadian adults; involving toddlers in yoga teaches them how to control their bodies and helps them stay healthy.

If finding time for yoga adds another stress to your already busy life, Cynthia Funk, mother, yoga teacher and owner of the Yoga Sanctuary in Toronto has the answer: bring the kids along. According to Funk, it’s best to teach children yoga when they’re tots. Children’s bodies are very flexible while they’re growing. The sooner they start yoga the better, and the easier it will be for them to participate in other physical activities in the future.

To simplify your life even more, cousins Havona and Khadi Madama created the Tot Yoga DVD for you to do with your little one at home. The DVD was inspired by Havona’s own stress of getting to her yoga classes on time because of her busy, young child. “Many of a child’s instinctual movements are natural yoga moves,” Havona shares. The first segment of Tot Yoga has mom and child crawling around, doing movements that come naturally to the child and also help to reawaken mom’s instincts. Other moves have mom asking her toddler to mimic easy and playful movements such as how a bear stands or walks. This stimulates a child’s creativity, as well as honing listening skills. There’s also a segment just for moms: 30 minutes of yoga to do herself when her busy toddler is down for a nap. Overall, Tot Yoga allows both mom and child periods of relaxation, and helps them re-energize for the rest of their day.