Down with the kids

One of my biggest challenges ‘du jour’ is finding time to exercise. Although I don’t overdo it - I like to try and keep up a level of strength and flexibility while I’m pregnant, as well as getting a few of those exercise feel good hormones pumping!

With the logistics of 2 kids and facing inevitable exhaustion at the end of every day I have, for the first time in my life, resorted to an exercise DVD - Prenatal Yoga, or as Big Sis calls it, “Mummy’s Yoghurt DVD”!

The idea is that when Little Bro is napping Big Sis and I will do our class in front of the TV. I must say Big Sis is an enthusiastic exercise buddy and positively nags me to put the Yoghurt DVD on! She loves to arrange the chairs in the right position and has, I must say, a mean downward facing dog!

By way of review of the DVD I’d like to say it’s excellent, they have 3 woman demonstrating, each representing a trimester so you follow the one at your stage. The details are below.

It is produced in Hawaii and as the friend who put me onto it commented - it’s hard not to spend the time thinking, “Why aren’t I pregnant in Hawaii?”. I take it a step further and have location envy about the room they have filmed in, a warm, yet clutter free open space. No sweeping the drift tide of plastic toys out of the way to begin and definitely no tracksuit covered in dog hair at the end!

The instructor has that weird yoga evangelist wide eyed look and voice, anyone whose done any yoga will know what I mean. Big Sis has taken a while to adjust to that - asking repeatedly “Why is the lady sad?”

Ms Second Trimester and Ms Third Trimester do look a little bit smug. All elegant bump in fashionable unitards with pregnant glow and glossy hair! I wonder how they went when their day of reckoning arrived? In my experience, on that day, Mother Nature cares very little about your pranayama or kegal exercise proficiency - but maybe that’s just the cynical and uncharitable voice of an almost mother of 3!

Prenatal Yoga With Shiva Rea