As a child, we look to our mothers for guidance. As a student, we follow our teachers as mentors. Graydon Moffat is both. Deemed the “Yummy Yoga Mummy of Toronto” by a local newspaper years ago, the name has stuck ever since. And appropriately so.
Like many first-time mothers, Graydon suffered from sleep deprivation and anxiety during her son’s first few years. It was then that Restorative Yoga really shined through, finally enabling her to relax enough to fall into a deep slumber once again. “Holding deep poses for a long time felt good,” she says, “especially after periodic diaper changes and other unconventional times.”
And so it is with this inspiration that the Yogamum expanded her background into several schools of yoga, including training in programs specifically geared toward children. Her studio in North Rosedale has a clientale of mainly moms and kids. Regular classes are a mixed level practice combining Hatha, Kundalini and Restorative Yoga, creating just as much of a workout as conscious relaxation for the mind and body.
Ultimately none of us can function without the right amount of sleep, and it seems to have been Graydon’s calling to reach back out to other sleep deprived moms. Through her personal practice, experiences, and curriculum she has discovered even more purpose in poses that relieve anxiety:
- Cobra helps to counter the forward-bending movements of nursing and the slump of sheer weariness.
- Reclining Bound Angle Pose feels great and helps to tone the uterus.
- Cow Face Pose can facilitate in breast-milk letdown.
- Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is wonderful for extreme exhaustion.
Graydon firmly believes that it is just as important that mothers encourage their active children to incorporate yoga and wellness into their lives as it is to take it into their own. Thus her mission has bloomed into involving kids in the yoga world, from toddlers to older children and into the teenage years. After all, half the battle is cooperation. Yoga fosters a non-competitive environment where they can have fun while fostering confidence, creativity, self-awareness and focus. Not to mention more focus on homework! She also offers house visits for kids classes to accommodate all schedules and full flexibility.
We first crossed paths with Graydon a few years ago at a yoga conference in New York. There she bought a couple dozen Eggs, and she has been a regular ever since. Since then she has worked two conferences with me and became the first 3ME Ambassador in Toronto. As a firm advocate of the Eggs, she says that they are “particularly helpful in getting people to access their adrenal glands in restorative poses in both a comfortable and effective way, hence facilitating the relaxation response which is key, if one is to properly unwind and de-stress.”
We sure are sleeping better ourselves here at Three Minute Egg Headquarters knowing that there are people like the Yogamum out there helping others to do the same.