Baby and Me Yoga - Warmup and Tummy Time

Angela Cerkevich: Hi! My name is Angela Cerkevich and Im a yoga instructor with Yoga Tales in the Bethesda, Maryland, and this is how to do yoga with your baby. Right now, were going to warm up and get some tummy time. So, lay your baby on your babys back in front you and come to hands and knees pose. Were just going to move the spine around a little bit. Making eye contact with your baby and maybe a little bit of pick-a-boo.

So, inhale lifting your head, arching your back, draw your shoulder blades down your back, belly is dropping. Exhale, pick-a-boo, yeah there is a little smile. Drop your head down, take your navel to your spine, continue to exhale. Again, inhale look up, hey there, look up at the sky, drop your belly, shoulders blades, down your back. Exhale, pick-a-boo, drop your head down round back, squeeze all the air out of your lungs. Inhale there, good deep breath in, chest expands. Exhale, pick-a-boo, o beautiful smile, drop your head down. Dropping your tailbone towards the floor, inhale, come back to neutral spine.

Now, were just going to circle your tailbone, just a little bit. Get nice and cushy loosen up those hips. Especially if you have spend a lot of times carrying baby around, were putting a little bit of extra weight on our bodies, those hips tend to take a lot of, a lot of that weight and then they get tense and really tight. So, if you are not in risk of your baby grabbing your hair, you can even roll your head and neck around. Maybe even try and go the opposite direction of your tailbone, should be pretty moving for your baby. Now, we are ready for some tummy time.

So, depending on the age of your baby, will it depend on how long a tummy time you have? If your baby is really young just a few weeks old, they are only going to have a tummy time for a short period of time. Joss is doing okay here though. She has got a nice strong neck and she has been working on her tummy time, so she can do it for quite a bit. Most babies tend to get grouchy in their tummy time though, but dont let that stop you from doing it. They really needed to get that strength into their back and into their neck and we do too, right? So, you are going to place your hands underneath, or next to your chest, reach out long through legs, hey cutie patootie, maybe try and make some eye contact with your baby. Its always more interesting for them if they have something to look at.

Alright. Youre going to take your shoulders roll them away from the floor. This doesnt mean they come out to your ears, this means they roll away from the floor and then shoulders blades down your back. Hands are beside your chest. Nice and relaxed in the neck. Now, if you want to lift up with your back muscles, not even pressing into the floor yet, and then when you are ready, you can press your hands into the floor and drag, isometrically drag your hands down towards your hips pressing your chest forward. Breathe in, breathe out. Now, I am up pretty high, if your shoulders are up here thats a good indication that you need to go down, lower down and relax a little bit, and just loosen up the shoulders, roll them around. Hey, were doing okay kido, I think youre doing a great job. Yeah, youre yeah.

Lets come back up again, inhale lift, roll the shoulders nice and relaxed, shoulders down the back. Press the hands into the floor, dragging them towards the hips. Exhale, one more breath here, breathe in, breathe out and lower down. You had enough?

I think its time to move on. So, now were going to work on our Kegel exercise in a squatting pose.