Great Escape: Sweat Your Way to Serenity

As difficult as it can be to pry yourself away from the coziness of your couch, now is the perfect time to do so. With spring hopefully on its way in the next month or so, prepare to pack away your laziness and lethargy away and get moving.

For those who prefer organized, group exercise activities, why not give yoga a try?

Berkley's is a great place to get started.

The 5-year-old downtown studio offers a calming candlelight yoga class accompanied by live music each month. The cost is just right for moms on a budget: Practitioners are simply urged to leave a donation that fits within their budget.

Myrrisa Hopkinson, co-owner and instructor at Everyday Yoga in Clawson, has been teaching for 1 1/2 years and said yoga has many relaxing effects. 

"The breath is what helps you relax and calms the nervous system," Hopkinson said. "Yoga also helps work out stress and anxiety through movement."

Everyday Yoga offers classes for $10 each, a terrific price for moms who feel the need to justify every dollar they spend and who rarely spend a cent on themselves. 

If you need something more upbeat to get you moving, look no further than Jazzercize of Royal Oak. It offers high-energy cardio workouts set to fun, modern music, and it even offers child-care services during some classes. Parking is also available behind the building — a bonus whenever heading to Royal Oak, where parking can be scarce.

There you have it, both the low-cost option and the child-care-included option. Any excuses still lingering out there?