Mommy and Me yoga may denote a practice strictly between mother and child, but fathers should not feel excluded. The format name typically refers to mothers practicing with their babies from birth to roughly six months old, but it can also refer to family-orientated classes. Local yoga studios in your area may offer specialty training workshops to help you learn how to teach to this special population.
Features
Studios often designate classes depending on a child's age group. Postnatal women often practice together with their babies up to six months old. Parents practice poses while holding their child, or if the child is old enough, on separate mats. Classes may last from 30 minutes to one hour, as long as the babies are agreeable.
Significance
Family yoga classes can help develop the bond between parents and children. Mommy and Me yoga instructor and LA Yoga Magazine contributor Desi Bartlett says that practicing with a baby or child teaches parents about living in the present moment. It is also a way for mothers to strengthen their bodies after giving birth. Teaching parent and child yoga classes is an opportunity to use creativity in pose and class structure.
Programs
Mommy and Me yoga is a specialty format, so most trainings are one- or two-day intensive workshops held by yoga studios. The governing organization of yoga schools and education, Yoga Alliance, does not have a listing for schools that specifically train in the format, as of 2010; however, it does allow you to search for schools that have children's yoga teacher trainings. Schools that teach children's yoga often have family, Mommy and Me, and prenatal yoga teacher trainings. Many styles of yoga, such as Iyengar, Integral, Jivamukti, and Kripalu, offer workshops pertaining to teaching family formats.
Poses
Yoga with infants classes often uses poses that a mother can practice while holding her baby, such as knees to chest with the baby held on the lower legs, or boat pose, with baby on your lap. As a child becomes more active, an instructor might teach downward-facing dog with the toddler under the parent. A mother or father could also hold a child on the hip while balancing on one leg in tree pose. Partner yoga poses work with children from about age four and up. Side-to-side tree, holding hands warrior three, and foot-to-foot boat are just a few poses you might learn to teach in a Mommy and Me yoga class.
Considerations
To learn how to safely teach a Mommy and Me yoga class or other family-orientated format, study with a school that is registered with Yoga Alliance. One of the first premises you should expect to learn in a teacher training class for this format is that children come first. When you teach your Mommy and Me yoga classes, your students may cry, fuss or get bored despite their parents' desire to learn. Babies and children should be offered a break from the mat if they get cranky.
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