One mama has found practicing yoga moves with her kids is a pretty OM-mazing way to connect with them.
I mean, just LOOK at some of the moves they pull off:
Finding peace
Summer Perez, 31, began doing yoga in 2013 to battle depression and panic attacks. She practices Asana every day … with the assistance of her mini-yogis, Jayden, five, and Cataleya, three.
The bendy trio pull impressive poses – all in matching outfits - sharing their accomplishments with an Instagram following of nearly 80k followers.
“It became a bit of a game”
“My children have been watching me practice since day one … Well, it was more a mix between watching and climbing all over me,” says Summer, who is a mum-of-two by day and a cocktail server by night.
“It became a bit of a game, something we bonded over.”
As her children got older they were better able to copy what she was doing, starting to do their own variations of yoga practice.
“Sometimes I will come home from work and they will show me a pose that they’ve been working on … It has become a beautiful bonding experience for us.”
How yoga healed her
After battling depression a number of times, Summer, who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, has found yoga and meditation to be the best way for her to work through some of the most painful events and life experiences she’s buried deep in her heart.
Once upon a time she’d turned to much more negative ways to mask her emotional struggles.
“Now that I had kids, I couldn’t do that,” she says. “I needed to face [my depression] rather than mask it. I did not want my kids to go through what I’ve been through.”
While it’s not easy for her to get ‘me time’ to deal with some of her past issues, she feels yoga helps her get the quiet time she needs.
“If I absolutely need quiet, I wake up a few minutes earlier or stay up a few minutes later. Or I go to the bathroom and breathe.”
“It has taught me to show myself some love”
After seeing first-hand the impact yoga has had on the lives of both her and her kids, Summer hopes to now raise enough money to complete yoga training so she can begin sharing her passion with others.
She’s particularly keen to help other mothers use yoga to relieve the pressures of daily life.
“It has helped me with my insecurities, anxiety and depression,” she adds. “It has helped me through rough times and continues to guide me through this difficult time in my life.
“I want to be able to share this with others and help them find a light through the darkness, find hope, connect with their inner most being and be strong from the inside out.
You can help Summer raise the money needed to complete her yoga training via her Go Fund Me page.
All quotes courtesy of Caters News.
