Guys, my 9 month old weighs 26 lbs.
AND, he loves to be held. (Side note: I love holding him too). Lately, he has been crawling up into my arms a little more often (I blame this and pretty much everything else on new teeth). In order to have a hand or two free, I've been wearing him a lot. My back hurts. Really specifically, my right shoulder and neck hurt, like a can't turn my head kind of feeling.
A lot of you are probably in the same boat. Carrying a babe on one hip, hauling around a giant bag, hunching over while nursing, wearing your 9 year old in the Ergo to get her to sleep (hi I'm a huge exaggerator, nice to meet you 👋🏻). Basically, babies can equal back pain.
Rather than waiting hours after waking for my back and neck muscles to loosen up, I looked around online and consulted a yoga buddy to put together a series of super simple stretches that give me back my head movement. Aside from the physical benefits, I'm dabbling in the whole mind-clearing side of yoga and meditation. I haven't experienced any life-changing, stress busting breakthroughs yet, but I'm hopeful.
In order for this to become something I actually do everyday, I knew a few things. It had to be really quick, like about 3-5 minutes. It had to be simple so I could remember how to do it without reading any instructions. AND it had to be something I could do anywhere (I usually do it in bed every morning).
Seated Side Bend
Seated Forward Bend (aka touch yo toes)
"Is that really as far as you can reach?!" -Austin
Demonstrating his flexiness
Seated Trunk Twist
Cat-Cow
Child's Pose
I hold each pose for about 30 seconds (which seems like forever, working on that yoga mind). As you can see, I have about as much flexibility as a pretzel but hopefully this helps me obtain Austins level of bendiness (he can seriously probably do the splits). I'm wearing the big guy in the Ergo as I type this and am about to put him down to do a little stretchin'.
