Your Family Starts With You: Making Time for You

Rallying the family to make healthy choices is an important job. But don't forget to put yourself on the daily to-do list too. Because if you're not taking care of yourself, you really can't give your best to anyone. Here are some ideas.

• Meditate before anyone else is up in the morning. Here's a simple meditation to try: Set at timer for 5 minutes. Close your eyes and try to focus on your breath. Breathe into your stomach slowly, then let the air move up to your lower lungs and then into the chest area. Take each breath slow and easy. As you breathe out, try to imagine letting go of all your stress and tension. If you have to, use words to focus ("release" as you breathe out, "rejuvenate" as you breathe in). Continue to lightly focus on the regular rhythm of your breathing, and if your mind starts to wander, just bring it back to your breath.

• Give everyone a 20-minute relaxation time out – that's you and the kids! Curl up with a book or a favourite magazine and read.

• Practice yoga. Get a yoga tape or try different poses throughout the day. Here's one pose to try. The Cobbler's Pose: Sit on mat and bend the knees bringing the soles of the feet together and letting the knees fall out to either side as far as they will go without causing any pain or discomfort. Keep the spine long. Press the outer edges of the feet together strongly. Hold for one to two minutes.

• After the kids are in bed, run yourself a bath. Light a few candles (lavender helps relieve stress while sandalwood helps you relax) and play gentle music – and soak. Bath oils that contain essential oils help relax the body and mind too. Look for oils that contain stress-relieving Chamomile, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemongrass, Orange and Vanilla.