Yoga Split

I admit that I haven't been good about finding time for a personal yoga practice lately, even though having yoga in my life is very important to me. It's so easy to find the excuses, but even carving out 15 minutes for myself would be very beneficial. I might just need to start getting up at 4:30 AM, if Sprout will allow me by going to sleep a little earlier!

I'm at least managing to do some yoga on the weekends, when I have the time and motivation to plan or prepare for my upcoming classes. I just need to get more creative with squeezing in my yoga, perhaps. For example, I sometimes do a headstand in Sprout's room after I've put her down in her pack n' play--especially if she's still fussy and I know it's going to take a little while to get her to sleep. After all, I might as well spend the time doing a little yoga rather than hovering near her door when I know she's going to start fussing in a few moments!



I will start teaching my gentle yoga class and co-teaching my mama-baby yoga class in a little under one month. I'm really excited, even though my postpartum body is still pretty deconditioned. Either way, I've been having fun planning the class with my yoga mama co-teacher who I'll call Seattle. We'll be teaching the class in Seattle's home studio, and Seattle was kind enough to offer her studio for my gentle yoga class as well.

I'll teach one hour of gentle yoga 30 minutes before the mama-baby yoga class on Saturdays, starting October 16th. My gentle yoga class is already full, with seven students pre-registered. I've taught five of the seven students before, so that makes me a little less anxious about starting up again and having Sprout with me while I teach. I wonder how many other yoga teachers have instructed a class while breastfeeding, which I'm sure will occur in my class at some point? Yoga wear for breastfeeding moms, now that's a new market that should be tapped, too! This cute Momzelle nursing top could work, though it is pricey at $50.

Ha! And after doing a quick google search, check out this (Israeli) video clip on the challenges of being a breastfeeding yoga mom: see here. Heheh, smart baby, and that mama has good balance!

The mama-baby class has space for only one more mama. So, we're already successful on student recruitment--and I'm still receiving emails a few times each week from new students! It makes me happy. Seattle and I are the only people offering mama-baby yoga within a 50 mile radius, I'm pretty sure, and both Seattle and I are learning as we go. At least we're learning with our own babies :). I also purchased many books on mommy-baby yoga, and have been borrowing Netflix videos on baby yoga.

It's really a joy being able to do yoga with my daughter. After teaching the baby yoga class, I'll be able to say I've taught through the phases of life--from baby, through pregnancy, to yoga for seniors. Not bad for someone who just started teaching in February 2008 as a "extracurricular" passion.