yoga breakdancing

Wow.

Break ton Neck from Alex Yde on Vimeo.

Yoga Split: teaching excitement

Last week, I completed a 16 hour training on teaching postnatal yoga. Above is a picture of the peaceful lounge at the studio in Raleigh where most of our training took place. We had a whole day on anatomy, and then a day observing a mama-baby class and taking a postpartum class. There were only two of us in the class, so I'm glad they still held it! I took the time off work to attend, driving back and forth from Greenville. The class will definitely strengthen my own teaching, and made me realize I need to have more focus on the abdomen and pelvic floor for myself and my student mamas.

In other yoga news, my new sessions of regular yoga and mama-baby yoga start up this weekend after a month break. My regular yoga class is full with 8 people, three of whom are new and the others are either friends or students I've had since I started teaching two years ago :). Our mama-baby class for precrawlers will be small, with only three others besides the co-teacher and myself (with our own daughters). On the other hand, we're trying out offering two toddler-mama yoga classes in April, and both class are completely full (8 mama-toddler pairs) with a waiting list. It's going to be a full room!

Finally, if that wasn't enough excitement for the yoga teacher aspect of my life, on March 18th we're scheduled to film a short mama-baby yoga segment for our local news!

Yoga Split: yoga mama gifts

Wondering what to get the yoga mama in your life, or what to ask for yourself if you're a fellow yoga mama like me? One can always use more yoga t-shirts, or cute baby onesies for your little one. Cafe Press to the rescue! I have always liked selecting gifts from Cafe Press, because you can easily find items with personalized messages that fit your life. Below are my yoga mama gift favorites.



Baby Onesies/Child:
Teenie Yogini
My Mommy Does Yoga
Future Yoga Instructor Just Like My Mommy
Little Yogi
Yogi in Training
I'm in child's pose. Namaste
Yoga Baby with Blocks


Yoga Mom
Yoga Mom: Handling Tantrums One Sun Salutation at a Time
Yoga Mama Tank top
Yoga Mom
Yoga Mom silhouette
Yoga Mom cap sleeve


Other:
Baby Om Ornament
Yoga Baby Bib

Yoga Split

Beautiful video of yoga being practiced in NYC, via YogaDork. It reminds me of how lucky I am to have taught yoga in many life stages--to babies, while pregnant myself, and to seniors..along with a 'normal' level 1 yoga class to anyone who wants to come.

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.