Teaching Baby Yoga
Yoga with babies? You mean you do it together? . . . What exactly goes on?'
I get asked a lot of questions about postnatal recovery and baby yoga classes. In most so-called 'postnatal yoga' classes, there is little interaction between mother and baby. The teacher instructs the mother to place baby on a bean bag whilst adults do 'proper' yoga. What happens then? Babies get bored, they get hungry and fretful and noisy. Mums get stressed and frustrated or they leave the class because their baby needs a change or a feed or is yelling too loud. It's as if the babies are an inconvenience that threatens to interrupt the serious business of the yoga.
I experienced classes like this after my first son was born. Neither of us had much fun. So we visited Françoise Freedman's classes at the Yoga Therapy Centre and they were much more our style. It was a bit of trek up to Bloomsbury from Brixton on the tube with a busy babe, so we decided to set up our own class where we could both enjoy yoga together. Now it's three years on, and over two hundred new mothers and babies have enjoyed the classes too. Presently there are four weekly classes for mums and babies, all full to capacity. This article describes what goes on, why it matters, and why we need more postnatal recovery and baby yoga teachers.
Imagine eight new mums and their babies practicing yoga together. Picture the scene at the end of the class. Five mothers in savasana, four babies resting by their sides and one lying across her mother's belly. Two mums are lying on their sides breast-feeding their babies and the third is feeding sitting up, her baby supported by the cushions on her knees. The teacher is sitting cross-legged in the corner with her baby on her lap, guiding the class through a rotation of consciousness and a balancing full yogic breath practice. Other than the voice of the teacher and occasional suckles and snuffles from the feeding babies, there is a peaceful quiet.
Then one of the feeding babies starts to burp loudly, whilst his friend tucks up his knees and issues a crescendo of juicy farts. The mothers smile as they begin to chant eleven resonant 'aums'. By the time the last 'mm' fades into silence the farting baby needs a nappy change and his burping colleague has left a trail of baby vomit down the back of her mother's sweater.
Baby and postnatal recovery yoga classes can be unpredictable affairs. Each class is a unique response to the present needs of the day's students. The birth experiences of mother and baby have a huge impact upon the range of appropriate practice: a first time mother recovering from a caesarean will need different practices from the mum on her second baby who had a rapid home birth; the fractious big baby who had a traumatic forceps delivery will enjoy different aspects of the class than the the tiny baby with feeding problems. All are welcome in the class, and all share an appreciative response to the chance to relax together. Mothers report that their babies tend to sleep well after the sessions, and that common problems like constipation and colic are eased by integrating the yoga into daily routines. The mums experience the classes as a time to recharge, relax and ease physical discomfort.
The postnatal period is a time of massive change and intense vulnerability for mother and baby. A yoga class can provide a safe and supportive haven. An important part of the class is the opening circle, when each mum speaks about the preceding week's events - sometimes with excitement and joy at the latest development in the baby's abilities, but sometimes with sadness and desperation - at sleepless nights, painful colic, feeding problems, or severe postnatal depression. As the mothers in the group get to know each other the class becomes a mutually supportive environment. The space needs to be comfortable and the class structure informal enough for the mums to feel free to feed or change their babies as and when necessary.
Sometimes the class is quiet and sometimes there is crying. Sometimes the babies are full of chuckles and sometimes they want to snuggle and feed. Sometimes the mums are knackered and sometimes they're full of beans. But there are always appropriate practices for each pair. The youngest babies to attend have been nine days old, and the oldest are ten months (after which point they and their mums 'graduate’ into the mother and toddler class, which is an entirely different story altogether). For all ages, the class has a co-operative spirit of ‘give and take’, alternating yoga for babies, with yoga for mums and yoga together.
To teach these sessions takes imagination and an absolute commitment to
spontaneity. A regular weekly rhythm is helpful, but class plans are practically
useless, because you can’t predict how many ‘feeders’, ‘sleepers’ or ‘cryers’ you’ll
have at any particular point in the class. However, the sessions always include
gentle asana and movement for the mums, often using pawanmuktasana practices
to energize mothers and entertain babies simultaneously. The postures are
designed to help alleviate common post-natal aches, pains and ailments such
as ‘feeding hunch’, sacro-iliac pain, piles and stiff necks.
All are integrated with the needs of the babies and mums together, so for
example majariasana is practiced with sound effects for baby entertainment,
and kandharasana has the babies seated on the pubic bone.
There are gentle stretches and rhythmic movements for the babies, plenty
of singing and some bija mantra chanting for ‘sonic massage’ of
the babies. Above all, the emphasis is upon what my inspirational mentor
Françoise Freedman describes as ‘relaxed handling’: a
way for the mother to hold, lift and carry her baby with ease and mutual
comfort so that mother and baby finish the classes more harmoniously in tune
with each other.
For expectant mothers the time they spend in their yoga class is a precious opportunity to form a strong and peaceful bond with their unborn child. Once those babies are born, we owe it to them and their mothers to give them the chance to continue to develop that bond through yoga. It’s a special kind of work, and we need more teachers who are able to run these kind of classes.
Resources:
A pamphlet for yoga teachers outlining the principles of postnatal recovery and baby yoga is available from Sitaram Partnership, 7 Holmewood Gardens, London SW2 3RS. It costs £5 including p&p.
Essential reference for anyone interested in the subject is the work of
Françoise Freedman. Her books ‘Postnatal Yoga’ (£9.95)
and ‘Baby Yoga’ (£10.99), and CD ROM 'Baby Yoga and Massage'
(£12.99) and video 'Yoga with Babies' (£8.50) are all available
from Birthlight, 7 Essex Close, Cambridge, CB4 2DW.
Uma Dinsmore-Tuli
First published in Spectrum; Journal of the British Wheel of yoga. Winter
2001