An accomplished yogi is showing off her multitasking mom skills by posting a video of her breastfeeding while doing a headstand.
Carlee Benear, 30, a mother-of-three from The Woodlands, Texas, posted the video of her completing the gravity-defying move while breastfeeding her 19-month-old daughter, Maramaylee to Instagram.
With over 66,000 followers, Carlee frequently posts pictures and videos of her completing complicated yoga poses while breastfeeding.
Multitasking: Mom-of-three Carlee Benear, 30, from The Woodlands, Texas has posted a video of her completing a complicated yoga headstand while breastfeeding
Open: Carlee frequently posts pictures of her breastfeeding her 19-month-old daughter Maramaylee to her 66,000 Instagram followers
Helping hand: She credits yoga with helping her be a good mother and says it has helped her avoid the postpartum depression she suffered after her first two births
She continued practicing while she was pregnant with Maramaylee and also involves her other two children Milam, six, and Cale, three, in meditation and yoga.
However, Carlee only started doing yoga after the birth of her second child Cale, as she struggled with postpartum depression.
‘My yoga journey started after the birth of my second child. I wasn’t willing to go through postpartum depression again, so I actively committed to the journey within,’ she shared on her Instagram page in February.
‘My kids are always around me and my two boys started their journey along with me. When we found out we were expecting again, we celebrated the creation of life together as my daughter grew inside my womb.’
Crediting yoga with helping her ‘dive into motherhood and become the mother I always dreamed of’, Carlee also suggested that her daily yoga practice has allowed her to be supportive and patient, lessons she is passing onto her kids.
‘Life as a mother has its stresses , but yoga helps us all reconnect to what is really the must do’s of everyday life. To Love and be loved. Bringing her to our practice of embracing life was the natural choice. They grow up learning to be limitless.’
And addressing her decision to share images of her breastfeeding while doing yoga, Carlee explained that as breastfeeding is a ’24/7 dedication’, she had to learn how to combine it with her usual daily activities.
‘I believe as parents it is our duty to make that time for our self because we can not pour from an empty cup,’ she said.
‘Breastfeeding yoga has helped me combat postpartum depression and has made my breastfeeding journey free of any bumps in the road, such as mastitis, worry of lacking in supply, getting over those first few weeks of tenderness, let down control and the stresses of being needed around the clock- to name a few.’
On demand: Carlee also believes breastfeeding yoga has helped her avoid mastitis and lack of milk supply
No shame: She has also taken to Instagram to address her critics and share that mothers should feel no shame about providing for their children while finding time to do other things
Bond: Carlee also believes that breastfeeding helps parents connect with their children
No judgement: She has also asked that people learn to accept her decision and stop projecting their hurt onto others in the form of harsh words
‘Not only that, but it helped me get my mind out of the way and let my body soar with the possibilities and control that are naturally there,’ she added.
And she also expressed that no woman should feel ashamed of feeding their child.
‘Society has taught us to just hand over our children and let the world sculpt them, we are losing our connections in families by this view and missing out on many opportunities to not only TEACH our own kids , but LEARN from them’ she wrote.
She also took the opportunity to address critics who leave negative comments on her page, questioning her parenting decisions and her motivation for being so open and honest about her body and family.
‘We need to stop projecting (and running away from) our hurt onto others in the form of harsh judgmental words or actions, so that we can all know peace and free ourselves from the pain of the past, resolve our buried issues and evolve together,’ she said.
‘We may never agree, because there is no one way to do ANYTHING, but what we can learn from each other through acceptance is what makes this human experience so beautiful.’