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Om! Baby
Yoga for Moms and Babies
By Lyn Mettler
Between getting to know and caring for a new baby, the last thing on a new mom's mind may be exercise. But instructors of a gentle form of yoga that incorporates the baby into the exercises say it's the perfect way for a mom to connect with her baby while easing back into a fitness regime.
Barrie Raffel, a 39-year-old yoga teacher and mother of 10-month-old Shane, heard about the class from a friend. The two started taking a Baby and Mom yoga class in New York City called "BabyOm" when Shane was 3 months old. "It was a way I knew I could get in a little yoga, while exposing it to him also," she says.
Raffel felt it not only provided physical exercise for both, but also helped encourage the two to bond. "Everything that you do with your baby helps you bond with him," she says.
According to Helen Garabedian, who teaches a class called "Baby-Yoga with Helen" in Boston, Mass., the word yoga means "to unite," and this form of yoga can do just that for the mom and baby.
DeAnsin Goodson Parker, author of Yogababy: Exercises to Help You Bond With Your Baby Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually (Broadway Books, 2000), agrees. "So many mothers don't know how to bond with their babies," she says. "They do need instruction. It's not innate for everyone to learn how to bond with another person. The kind of bond developed in a yogic session is extraordinary."
They typically last from 45 minutes to just over an hour. Most classes are divided by age, usually separating crawlers and walkers up to age 2 from those less mobile.
A class usually consists of a series of postures or poses that are held for varying lengths of time according to the mom's needs. Classes may start with a chant, relaxation or breathing exercises for moms followed by a warm-up where babies lay on the floor on a blanket or in the mom's arms.
In "BabyOm" classes, developed by former dancers Laura Staton and Sarah Perron in New York City, also the authors of Baby Om: Yoga for Mothers and Babies
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