You have a new baby! Congratulations! But, now you’re at the beck and call of a chubby cheeked cherub who demands your attention around the clock and breaks are hard to come by.
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It can be hard to find time for the most basic activities when you’re up every two hours all night long attending to your screaming baby. (They’re lucky they’re cute.). Things like showering, eating nutritious food, and wearing actual clothes get put on the back burner.
Time alone for yoga can seem like a distant dream–a reality only for those moms who can afford a live-in nanny or who has a Grandma on call to zip by at a moment’s notice to hold the baby (seriously, where do you get one of those!?).
That’s why I recommend that when mamas are ready to get back to their yoga practice (when they get the OK from their doctors and they’re feeling stronger and ready to move), they start with a gentle home practice that INCLUDES their little one. And, in fact, this has been my best strategy even as my little ones have grown into not-so-little ones.
It’s not easy, but there are SO many reasons that it’s more convenient to practice yoga with your baby.
In this post I’ll touch on just a few:
1. Fit your practice into a time that makes sense for you and your baby.
Scheduling is one of the most challenging things about having a little one. I suppose there are some babies that sleep at the same time every day, are content at the same time every day, eat at the same time every day… but my babies were never like that. Sometimes, they’d be all smiling and cooing at 7am.. other times, they’d be screaming like a banshee or sound asleep.
Planning to do my daily practice after something that happens every day (for example, practice after my baby wakes up from her first nap of the day) works out so much better for me than trying to practice at the same time every day.
2. Sometimes less is more when you’re coming back to your mat after a break. A few minutes of yoga is better than none at all.
And, actually, getting to know your new body little by little is so much better than trying to do it all at once. This way you can gain strength over time instead of trying to do too much all at once, which can actually slow the healing process.
Related Post: 5 THINGS YOGA TAUGHT ME ABOUT MOTHERHOOD
3. It’s easier to be consistent when you don’t have to rely on babysitters, studio schedules, etc.
Let’s be real. Passing your baby off to someone else for a few minutes of alone time can feel amazing! But if you don’t have a built-in support system (close family and friends who are thrilled to help, a partner with a flexible schedule, or a gym or yoga studio with a childcare room) this can get complicated, and it probably won’t happen very often.
And while babies might sleep a lot, in my experience, waiting for a baby or toddler to sleep before you get your yoga in isn’t a good strategy either. Nap times are inconsistent. Especially in the beginning when your little one is, well, really little, it can be so hard to pin down a specific nap time. Some days my little ones wouldn’t let me put them down for a nap–I remember holding them while they slept, my rolled up yoga mat in my view, so close, yet so out of reach.
My advice? Don’t let your precious alone time be the ONLY time you unroll your yoga mat. If you want to have a consistent yoga practice that benefits your body, mind, and soul, you almost HAVE to change your expectation about how that practice looks–and now that you’re a mama, that might mean including your little one at least part of the time.
4. It’s a great way to bond with your baby.
Even if you’re not singing songs and making your practice ALL about your little one (an approach I highly recommend, by the way), incorporating your baby into your practice can be a great way to bond with your baby. Simple things like wiggling your fingers overhead to give baby something interesting to look at when you’re in Extended Side Angle Pose or planting a sweet kiss on baby’s forehead when you move from Down Dog to Plank can make it an enjoyable bonding experience for both of you.
Related Post: 5 YOGA POSES FOR PREGNANT AND NEW MOMS
5. It helps your baby gain strength and independence.
After your little one is a couple months old, they need some time to play and explore on their own. Tummy time helps them gain strength and spending time on a play mat reaching for toys, listening to music, or even watching what Mom does when she’s not holding a baby is good for baby’s growing brain.
Your yoga practice might get a little sillier and a lot less Zen when you let your baby in on the fun, but it can be a really positive thing for both of you. And you don’t have to find a special mommy and me class to make it happen.
Erica is a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher who is passionate about helping pregnant and new mamas love their lives more, manage stress, and find a healthier balance of all things that #momlife demands of them. Through yoga, meditation, mindfulness, self-care, a strong community of like-minded mamas, and a little bit of humor, she knows that moms at all stages can learn to take better care of themselves and live the happy, healthy lives they’ve always dreamed of. Of course, these lessons aren’t just for moms–they can be applied to any busy, modern life.
In addition to her work as a yoga studio, Erica is a freelance journalist who has written about health, fitness, and parenting for Yoga Journal magazine (where she also was an editor for 5 years), Parents magazine, and a variety of other print and online publications.
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