Year: 2023

10 THINGS TO DO IN BABY & ME YOGA

10 THINGS TO DO IN BABY & ME YOGA

The first and largest accomplishment is arriving. It’s no small task to get packed and leave the house with a baby, but I promise you that it will be worth it! Give yourself plenty of time to arrive so that you have some time to set up and acclimate you and your baby to the space, whether you’re joining in-person or online. 

Before class begins is a nice time to meet and chat with the instructor and other mamas and parents. A yoga practice is all about “arriving” into the body and into the present moment, so let yourself go through this process in the room (the physical or virtual). 

Now, actual “things” that we do in class:

  1. Viparita Karani with the low back raised on a bolster. Not only does this restorative posture just feel great, but it has a long list of unique benefits for most humans, especially those who’ve birthed babies. This rejuvenating posture is great for “women’s health” and is one that I almost always sequence into postpartum and baby & me classes (as long as a person is not on their period). This gentle and passive inversion allows mamas and daddies the opportunity to receive the nervous system calming effects of having the body positioned in a mild inversion. These include parasympathetic nervous system stimulation to help calm the often frazzled nerves of new parents, enhanced circulation to the pelvic region and uterus, which aids in postpartum recovery and overall feelings of wellness, enhanced circulation to the heart, lungs, throat, and head, which among many things helps aid in proper functioning of the thyroid and pituitary glands, which are crucial for hormonal balance and fertility, and helps the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles to gently lift and lengthen, which improves their recovery and functioning. It is sometimes a challenge to get the low-back on the bolster, especially if there is a baby on the lap! If you’re unable to get your back up on the bolster, start out doing Viparita Karini without a bolster. Hold the posture for as long as it feels great to you, 3-15 minutes. 
  2. Ribcage-Focused Breathing is a gentle way of breathing that encourages us to utilize every region of the lungs. We do this by focusing on the ribs moving or “blossoming” open to the sides, back, and front of the ribcage with each inhale and softening back in and down with each exhale. This helps the diaphragm move maximally up and down (as it should) with the breath and gently restores core muscles while soothing the nervous system. This type of breathing is revisited throughout class, and it feels great!
  3. Gentle Hip-Opening Postures, like Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana PREP variation (Pigeon Pose Prep), Agnistambhasana (Firelog Pose) variations with one leg or seated on a chair, or Tarasana (Diamond Pose). All of the postpartum sitting involved in feeding and caring for a newborn baby results in tight hips for many new parents, which echoes through the body and usually leads to other imbalances and discomfort. 
  4. Thigh & Hip Flexor Stretches. Hip flexors are shortened and tight in many new parents from all of the sitting that we do in caring for our babies. It’s kind of like the body is a little stuck in a seated position, so we need to do things that are the opposite and take our bodies out of that seated position. Some postures that we do in Baby & Me Yoga to help lengthen the fronts of the thighs and the hip flexors include: Pigeon Pose followed by an easy thigh stretch that involves pulling the heel up towards the buttocks. I do this variation of allowing the bottom to completely drop to the floor on one side versus the “traditional” posture of keeping the bottom off of the floor to avoid the high possibility of a postpartum body collapsing and overstretching the ligaments and joints, which are still affected by the hormone relaxin, and would therefore place unnecessary  stress on them, possibly leading to more pelvic instability, pain, and injury. Go easy. We want to target stretching the actual muscles and avoid any collapsing into postures, which is important in all bodies but especially so in bodies who’ve recently birthed babies. 
  5. Gentle Low Back Openers. Many mamas come to class hoping for some of their low back stiffness to be alleviated. Postures we do in class often include: Balasa (Child’s Pose), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) variations, Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold) with bent knees and a lengthened low back, Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Fold) with a lengthened low back, and Tarasana. 
  6. Singing Songs to Your Baby along with the class when you’re in postures that do not compromise your body. This is the perfect time for you to gaze into your baby’s eyes while they enjoy hearing your beautiful singing voice, which no matter how you think you may sound, your baby is deeply soothed by hearing your voice. The heart rates of babies slow down when they hear the familiar voices of their parents and caregivers. Singing also stimulates the vagus nerve which helps us relax and be in the moment.
  7. Mindful Walking for a few minutes inside or outside, if the weather is nice. The practice of mindful walking can be a wonderful way to see how mindful breathing and feeling the feet landing on the ground can be inserted into any part of one’s day, even during those long nights of little sleep or those challenging moments of growth and transition in your baby (and yourself). A few minutes of mindfully walking with your baby may be an invitation to remember to take, even 1, deep breath during a hard moment of parenthood. This won’t make the challenge disappear, but it may soften the edges and help us get through the time. Notice how your baby responds when you drop into your body. And, know that this won’t always be the case. 
  8. Downward Facing Dog with the Feet Together, the knees bent, high on tippy toes, and the bottom super high. This inverted position helps one access and tone their inner thigh (adductor) muscles, the pelvic floor muscles, and the low belly muscles (transverse abdominals). It also gives the belly tissues and uterus a little lift and a break against the usual pull of gravity and helps the front body and chest also lift and open, which often feels nourishing and energizing. We often build into variations of dog on tippy toes and on a block against the wall, and when one is feeling strong and open enough over time, they may choose to eventually walk their feet up the wall hip height for an inverted L pose. 
  9. Chest and Shoulder Openers are the number 1 types of postures that participants in Baby & Me classes recommend. The feeding and caring demands of the first year (or few years) of a baby’s life are extremely hard on the caregiver’s body. Already, from nearly a year of pregnancy, a person’s chest and head has, most likely, been pulled forward by their growing baby and breasts, which has compromised their natural spinal curvatures, and thereby placed strain on the shoulders and neck regions. Similar patterns usually get carried into early motherhood, as a mama is looking down, holding, and caring for their little one almost constantly. The body may also not be getting proper rest for some, so recovery and healing may be taking an extra long time. This leaning forward position not only feels crappy, but it also decreases circulation to the breast area, which may affect milk production, and it decreases circulation and tone around the throat and thyroid gland region, which could have an impact on fertility and one’s overall state of having “energy” and feeling well. Simple postures, like a supported bridge pose, that help to gently open the chest and shoulders and align the neck and head are a must in postpartum classes. 
  10. Block-Squeezing Utkatasana helps strengthen the inner thigh adductor muscles and stabilize the pelvis. One meaning of “stabilize” in this context is that by squeezing the block evenly from both inner thighs, the muscles are becoming symmetrically strong and other asymmetries around the pelvis may begin to shift into a more ideal place. The adductor muscles are one of many muscles that play a role in “holding together” the pelvis, and these muscles coordinate with the pelvic floor group of muscles and abdominals too – all muscles that are crucial in pelvic and spinal support. This intense posture allows one to feel how strong they are, which can bring a sense of energy and confidence to a new parent, which is so valuable in the first years of parenthood when we often question many of our decisions and ability to parent. We usually “swish” around colorful scarves while doing Utkatasana, which makes it much more entertaining for mamas and their babies. 

Well, there you have it. This list could go on, but I’ll leave it at a nice and even “10.”

Postpartum and Baby & Me Yoga classes are offered weekly virtually and in-person in Albuquerque, NM. Baby & Me classes are geared towards those who’ve been fully cleared to exercise by their healthcare providers and for babies who have not yet begun crawling quickly. Baby Moon Yoga classes welcome all mamas, daddies, and caregivers. 

Anna Flipped Her Baby! – & That’s Just the Beginning

Anna Flipped Her Baby! – & That’s Just the Beginning

This is Anna. Her baby was in a transverse lie position (sideways), which by most providers necessitates a C-section for safety reasons, up until this past week when he rotated into a head-down position at 36 weeks. Anna was thrilled, because she is hoping to birth her baby without surgery. She believes her baby rotated during or right after prenatal yoga (the day before she’d had an ultrasound that still showed him transverse), during which we’d practiced a balanced session that  included many postures to help cultivate mobility in and around the whole pelvis. When a pelvis is mobile, it’s just one more piece of the puzzle that can help a baby move into a space that may propel a labor to go more smoothly and quickly. The baby’s head will be able to move and rotate allowing it to drop deeper into a pelvis (and out!), like a lock finding its way into a key (a Gail Tully analogy).

We do many postures in prenatal yoga to promote balance and mobility in the whole body. These include: 

Outer hip-openers like Agnistambhasana (Firelog) variations. My favorite one of these that I recommend daily for most human beings is the accessible variation with one’s buttocks scooched towards the edge of a chair seat (pictured below). Make sure that your weight is tipped towards the fronts of the sitting bones versus towards the tailbone for maximum benefits. Breathe slowly and hold for at least 1 minute on each side.

Agnistambhasana variation with a chair.

Inner thigh & pelvic floor softening, which are touched on in many prenatal yoga postures like Parsva Konasana (many great prenatal variations in the Silver Moon Yoga Syllabus of postures), Trikonasana, Baddha Konasana, Malasana, side lunges, and one of my favorites is a passive variation of Upavistha Konasana with the forehead resting on a chair (pictured below). Add in horse lips releasing breath for maximal release in the jaw, tongue, and pelvic region. Sit on enough props so that your weight is slightly tipped forward of the sitting bones. Breathe slowly and hold for 1-3 minutes.

Low back opening and lengthening, which can be accomplished in forwards folds like Paschimottanasana (legs wider apart for pregnancy), Uttanasana (legs wider apart for pregnancy), Tarasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana variations (including using chair & wall), and the Spinning Babies’s Forward Leaning Inversion (pictured below), which also helps release ligaments that connect the uterus to the sacrum = opening the “sacred doors of the pelvis” – Gail Tully. Make sure in seated or standed forward folds that the knees are bent enough to keep the lower back long versus excessively rounding the back.

Thigh and hip flexor stretches like a side-lying thigh stretch, Parsva Konasana, and lunges, which have many variations. I’ve pictured one below using a chair.

In a 1:1 private session, I’d throw in a few minutes per side in the Spinning Babies Side-lying Release as well as their recommended Body or Fascia Jiggling and the Standing Sacral Release.

It’s ideal if any yoga postures are practiced with an experienced prenatal yoga teacher who has a well-trained eye on proper alignment and form for pregnancy. These postures will probably have some element of challenge but should overall feel fantastic and useful to the pregnant practitioner.

Anna has been coming to classes bi-weekly since early on in her pregnancy, and for the past few weeks has been practicing at home some of the things that we do in class like the Forward Leaning Inversion, the chair outer hip-opener, and ball circling. Way to go Anna! You made the space in your uterus for your baby’s head to slide into! 

This is Anna’s story, which is not meant to be set as an expectation that these movements will do this for all bodies, but more as a reminder that they can and often do work. Some pregnant people may need to do them way more than another birther. We are all carrying and examining unique body stories. 

Founder of Spinning Babies, Gail Tully, says that a head-down position is only half of it. The placement of a baby’s head-down position and whether it will be able to tuck its chin and rotate through the pelvis is another huge and nuanced factor in the birthing equation. Another factor is that there are many variations of pelvic shapes which combine in unique ways that make no pelvis exactly like another one. The most predominant variations lie in the shape of the pelvic inlet, which means that each baby will have its unique journey of moving or engaging in the pelvis. A mobile pelvis will allow babies to move and spin as they need to to make their way through the pelvis and into the birthing canal and out into the world. I hear many people saying things like, “I’m all set; my baby is in a head-down position, so I’m ready for labor!” I absolutely love this confidence, but where it’s appropriate I try to encourage pregnant yogis to keep moving and opening and coming to yoga as long as it’s still feeling supportive. The baby’s journey has only just begun!

Therefore, the fusion of prenatal yoga that I usually teach is not only intended for those attempting to turn their baby from a breech position. It’s also great to encourage a nice head positioning once a baby is already head-down. Above all, I encourage pregnant yogis to move in ways that feel nice and that align with their body’s wisdom and intuition. Birthers often can feel what types of movement are beneficial to them when given the space to explore, listen, and feel. 

I combine yoga concepts of safe alignment and form, restful and relaxing postures, and breath awareness practices with some Spinning Babies theory in my classes and private sessions. Beginning yoga before pregnancy is ideal, but if you’ve already passed that, come as soon as you’re feeling up to it. 

The Spinning Babies website offers great step-by-step instructions on how to do many of their recommended exercises. 

I hope to see you in class! It meets in-person and virtually.