Contortionist Mom Brings New Meaning To Work/Life Balance

Mom’s Instagram videos redefine family fitness

Most moms feel like they’ve accomplished their goals for the day when they manage to go for a walk with the kids in the stroller without anyone screaming or a pacifier getting lost, but there’s a mom on Instagram who takes the term family fitness to a whole other level.

Gaukhar Akhmetova-Atherton, known on Instagram as @gasya, started performing as a Cirque Du Soleil artist at the age of 17. She was a performance artist in shows such as Varekai and Iris. She even performed in a handbalancing act at the Oscars in 2012. Now married to a fellow acrobat, she’s mom to three-year-old Kamali and one-year-old Kaysen.

Akhmetova-Atherton is taking a break from performing in shows to focus on her family, but in the meantime her Instagram popularity is soaring. She’s gained a massive following of over 27,000 thanks to the gravity defying videos and pictures she posts of workouts with her daughter.

We’re all used to our kids hanging off of us like moss, but instead of trying to shake them off or distract them with toys to squeeze in a quick 30 minutes of Jillian Michaels, she uses her kids to to add weight to her already impressive routines. It’s the ultimate in multitasking.

In case you aren’t impressed enough already, this isn’t even her only talent. In her time performing in Iris her main act was a bungee act that had her flipping and flying through the air over the audience.

She’s so ridiculously good at this that it almost looks easy. Almost.

It’s obvious her daughter is having a great time, and why wouldn’t she? Little kids lose their minds over a measly piggy back ride, and this little girl basically has her very own amusement park ride in the form of her mom.

It looks like the family act could be expanding one day. “Kamali is already showing signs of following in our footsteps,” Akhmetova-Atherton told the Daily Mail, “She loves to dance and will always join me when I’m training.” But it’s clear she has no intention of becoming a stage mom. “I’m not a pushy mum and try to make everything we do together fun.”

Even little Kaysen appears to have inherited his mom’s talent. My kids knowing how to clap on cue when they were a year old seems so much less impressive now.

A lot of moms work hard to find the sweet spot between having a career and a home life, but Akhmetova-Atherton is literally the master of balancing her work with being a mom.