Tiny Yogi

The perks of having a best friend as a yoga instructor: private lessons! Mary asked myself and our other best friend to try out one of her new routines. I haven’t done any yoga in forever, so it felt amazing to stretch out and have her give corrective alignments. Naturally, I brought Chase along and we involved him in the end.

Practicing gentle yoga with your baby has its many benefits, which have described by a yoga expert on Yoga Journal. These positive outcomes are both for parent and baby: a good bonding experience, reducing stress, facilitating smooth digestion and having a calming effect for both you and baby. It also brings awareness to their body’s , where they are in space and facilitate motor development.

When Chase was a newborn, we did gentle exercises regularly, like bicycling the legs, rolling side to side and bringing his feet together for a hip-opening stretch. He seemed to enjoy it and I loved seeing him giggle. Now that he’s almost a toddler, I’m trying to introduce yoga to him earlier so he can develop these movement habits as he grows. Of course we aren’t doing inversions like having him stand on his head! But small movements like squatting and bridging allow him to engage in simple poses, while not disrupting his natural movement or force him into awkward positions. As babies become kids, the benefits of yoga keep increasing. It can help to increase flexibility, confidence and exploration of their body’s abilities and limitations, aide with concentration and reduce frustration.

I fully intend on continuing this with Chase as long as he is enjoying it. Not to mention how cute little ones look on a yoga mat 🙂