by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Tips & Tricks

By Susan Verde

When you become a mother you give up bits of yourself. They get lost in a whirlwind of diapers, playdates, feedings, work, lack of sleep, tears, boo-boos and trying to maintain a relationship with your partner. Life can feel like a swirling tornado and self care tends to go out the window.
The things we end up doing for ourselves are often shrouded by guilt or time constraints, making the experience a ?loaded? one. For me, working out, yoga and meditation were things I had always done before kids, and assumed (naively) I would be able to do with regularity afterwards. But when my three children were little, it became impossible to imagine tearing myself away to care for my own being. Each feeble attempt at getting out the door to a class was thwarted by spit up, poop, or tears that rocked the depth of my soul. Otherwise plain old exhaustion stopped me. What I learned along the way, was this was precisely the time when I needed my yoga practice the most. As much as it feels as if there is no physical or mental space or strength available for oneself, it's possible to find brief moments to clear the mind, reset the body, and give yourself the attention and care you need, to keep doing what you do for your children.

The next time you?re at the height of crazy kid chaos, take a deep breath and try these 5 quick and effective yoga and mindfulness practices. They can be done together or individually when you n...