Baby, Tot, & Tyke Yoga: Star Pose!

The other week when we went to the beach, we did a little yoga.  Miss Penelope and I love to do yoga outside spontaneously.  Yoga has so many benefits, but one of the reasons I love sharing it with Penelope is that it is a form of play.   And playing with your child is so important.  It shows them that they are important for one.  But it is also a way to work through any tension or stress from the day and reconnect.

Star pose is one of her favorites right now.  Especially, since she has been working on standing with her feet together and jumping in dance class.

For this pose, they start in mountain pose, with their feet as close together as possible and their hands in prayer position in front of their hearts.  Then they do an explosive jump and jump their feet into a wide angle and their arms out by their sides.

When you do it, to show them how, be very expressive, excited and always look them in the eye.  I am not sure why looking them in the eye helps them learn, but it does.  Say, Star Pose! As you jump into the pose and then wiggle your fingers as you say Twinkle! Twinkle!

Another variation is to move one hand up and one hand down, alternatively, as you rock from one foot to the other, all the while singing Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star, or the Itsy Bitsy Yoga version of it.

For babies or toddlers, you sit them in your lap or lay them on the floor on their backs and move their arms for them as you sing the song.

You can see a full list of all my yoga tutorials here.

What is your little one's favorite yoga pose right now?

You can find this yoga pose and more in the awesome book by Helen Garabedian.

By Best Kids Health Blog

Tree Pose

This picture was taken by Robin Adams Photography back 2006, right before I opened up my yoga studio. I used this picture in some marketing collateral.  Seems like another lifetime ago!  Otherwise known as life BP (before Penelope).

I love tree pose so stinkin' much.  It is one of those poses, where when you look at it, it looks so easy.  So you saunter your leg up, like it aint no big deal, and you can't do it.  You can't even have your foot on your foot and balance.  It humbles you.  It forces you to take a big look at yourself and forces you be honest with yourself in the present moment. 

At the same time, for some people, it is one of those poses you can fake.  Sure, you may be able to get your leg up and make a triangle with your bent leg, and balance.  But how is your form?  Are both your butt cheeks pulled in?  Especially, the cheek of your standing leg.  Is your knee cap of your standing leg, pulled up and your thigh engaged?  Is the weight of your entire body, spread perfectly and evenly across the bottom of your standing foot?  Is your bent knee at a 90 degree angle with your pelvis? Or is it pointed slightly forward?  Are both your hips facing forward?  Is your belly button pulled up into your spine?  Are your shoulders down away from your ears?  Are you staring at your drishti (a focus point on the wall, at eye level, to help you balance) and thinking of nothing but your breath?

It is a complicated pose, no doubt about it.  But the beauty of practicing and mastering, balancing yoga poses, is that whatever you accomplish in class can directly correlate to mastering balance in your own life.  Learning to live in a perfect state of balance, in regards to all things, in something I strive for and truth be told, one of the biggest lessons I learned when I had my studio, was how to keep my life in balance.  Tree pose is one of the things that helps me along.

Once you can do some sort of balance in tree pose, you will start to notice that one side may easier to balance on and that it changes by the day, by the hour and by the minute.  You will also notice, that moment you come out of the present and start thinking about your to do list, you will fall.  



For babies and toddlers, tree pose is a different experience.  It is one of pure joy and elation as they learn about their bodies and what they can do with them.  Tree pose, is one of my favorites to teach, because once a toddler can master this on their own, the look on their face when they do it for the first time, is priceless.   The picture below is of Ava Grace, age 18 months.  And me when I used to look young, pretty and full of life.  Now, I look like someone ran me over with a truck, ah, motherhood.

For toddlers, you show them how to do tree pose first.  But you show them the easiest way  you can.  With your foot by your ankle, or on top of your foot.  Later you can show them the full version of it, if you want.  But this is a really hard pose for them, so make it attainable at first.  Usually, it takes well past the 2nd birthday before kids can balance on one foot, so don't despair if it takes them awhile.   You can hold onto them,  or show them how to hold onto the wall.

For babies, you move their legs for them, like the picture (which by the way is more Robin Adams, and this is Ella Shea, age 6 months).  They can be seated or standing.  For babies, you are simply getting them to experience the movement, which helps them set the brain pathways for later and they will pick it up faster when they are older.

So there you have it.  Tree Pose.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Did these pictures spark your interest in more yoga studio pictures by chance? When I was looking for these on the computer, I found more pictures Robin took of the studio, it really was a beautiful place.  Anyone interested in going down memory lane with me?

And tell me your Tree Pose story! 

Spontaneous Yoga!

Here a few pictures of Penelope doing yoga on our trip to California. Pretty much where ever she goes, she will bust out into some spontaneous yoga. It's amazing to watch.

Some Down Dog.

 Some Donkey.

And Frog Pose.

And a little Rolio, in the middle of a hike.

I posted some of our trip pictures here and here on the blog, but here is the rest of our trip pictures if you want to see.

I also tagged some of these pictures to the Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby Facebook page.  I put a call out the week for our HMHB fans to post some pictures of their little ones doing yoga, or themselves, or pictures of working out, cooking, sewing, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, you know, all the things we are into...I want to see of your pictures!!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Butterfly Pose for Tots

Butterfly pose is such a fun and easy pose for your toddler. You can start teaching this pose as soon as they have mastered sitting up. In fact, most babies, as they are learning to balance while sitting up, will naturally put their feet together in front of their bodies,  to create a more stable foundation for themselves.

First you need to do the pose yourself and show little one what it looks like.

As a totally unrelated side note, I am having a really hard time finding the right word to describe our babies/tots/toddlers/little ones/kids. It's starting to drive me insane. Penelope is not a kid but she is not a baby, clearly she is a toddler, but the poses I talk about here are not just for toddlers they are for babies too and even older kids for that matter. Ahhhhh!! So if anyone has a good word that encompasses all those things PLEASE let me know.

Ok, back to Butterfly pose.

So once you have done the pose your self you can help your little one (see what I mean!!!) by putting their feet together for them. Then show them how to move their knees up and down by gently, doing it for them.


Then move your own knees up and down and show them again. And say Butterfly!!! You do it!!!!

I like to say Butterfly slowly and rhythmically, almost like I am chanting and I move my legs in the same rhythm that I am speaking.

Then I like to say, now open up your feet like a book! I do the sign for book, and then I open up my feet. So the outside of the feet stay together and inside of the feet open up.  Then again, I say your turn!!!

Then I usually do the sign for Butterfly and go back to "flapping my wings".

In an older kid class, I may take my first two fingers and use them as my "antennae" and play around with them really getting into pretending we are butterfly's.

Butterfly pose is a great pose for Mama's too, it is one of the best poses for releasing tension in your hips, groin and inner thighs.  Which is oh so important if you are trying to conceive or are pregnant.

And as always give them lots of praise when they do the pose.  Try not to say good job, but other things like yay! you did it!  what a beautiful butterfly!  how does it make your legs feel?!

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!

Yoga Wednesday: Bridge Pose!

This is a picture of some of the little yogis in a past Tot yoga class. Aren't they cutie pies!?

They are all doing Bridge Pose. As this age, it is heavily assisted by parent or caregiver but as they grow and develop, they start to do it on their own. Eventually they will even will grab their ankles with their hands or learn to clasp their hands together underneath their body like the adult version.

All you do is hold their feet steady with one hand, you can also squish their feet inbetween your legs to hold their body steady. Then with the other hand, very slowly and gently lift their pelvis off the floor. Be careful to keep their shoulders on the floor as they practice this pose. And of course, you say, Yay! Bridge Pose! Good job! as they do the pose.

For Mama's, this is a great pose to relax and reduce stress but its also a fantastic workout for your thighs and butt if you really hold the pose a long time. I don't know about you, but my post partum butt can use all the help it can get!

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training.  The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice.  Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!

Perfecting Down Dog!

Sweet baby girl is perfecting her Down Dog these days. It's so beautiful to see her do yoga throughout her day. She will just be playing or crawling around and get the urge to do some yoga and bam! She wipes out Down Dog. She is really into Warrior and Kicky Kobra too.

When I first posted the Down Dog tutorial she was just beginning to learn the pose. The learning progression was so fun to watch as she figured out how to do Down Dog on her own. First, she would just watch and watch as I did Down Dog. Then she started cocking her head to the side, because she was trying to imitate how my head looks upside down while in the pose. Then, when I started helping her, by lifting her hips up, she would keep her head up and want to look around. Then, she figured out that when I lift her hips, she puts her head down. Then, she start getting on all fours and just putting her head down. And finally, she put her head down and lifted her pelvis!! All by her self!

I will never forget her little face the first time she did it independently and perfectly. The look of pride and accomplishment was priceless. She knew she did it just right and she thinks she is so awesome for it. Which of course she is. I think the self esteem that children get out of yoga is one of the best things about practicing yoga with them.

As they continue to grow and learn, there is always an opportunity for them to learn a new pose and to praise each milestone as the learn they complexities of each pose. Yoga gives me more opportunities to say Yay! Penelope! You did it!

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!

Baby/Tot Yoga VIDEO: So Big!

 This is a video of Penelope doing her first yoga pose all by herself!  It's called So Big.

The way you do it is you sit on the floor with your legs together and feet pointed up towards the ceiling.  Make sure both sits bones on are the floor (your sits bones are the bony bottom part of your pelvis).  You can feel those bones better by rocking side to side slightly.  This pose is a modified from the adult yoga Staff Pose.

Then raise your arms up over your head, as if you are trying to reach the ceiling.  Your spine is nice and straight and you are looking straight ahead at your child.  When you raise your arms, you say "SOOOOO!!!"

Then you bring your arms down and try and touch your toes and say "BIIIIIGGGGG!!!"  I do it pretty dramatically, as you can see in the video and make a thump on the floor when I bring my hands down.

It's a great stretch for Mama's.

For a baby Penelope's age (9 months) or older, till about 20 months, you alternate between showing them how and helping them by raising their arms for them and bring them down for them, as you say
"SO BIG!!"

If you have been doing yoga with your baby since they were born, like us, this the time yoga gets really fun and exciting.  You can really start to play and interact with your baby at a different level.  Its so amazing to watch them learn.  Their little brains are like sponges!   They are just so smart and absorb everything you do and say.

Penelope will do So Big if I prompt her or she will just randomly do it when she is playing the floor with a toy.  All of sudden she busts out the yoga and makes her mama proud!


Check out the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVxwHkWJys

And let me know what you think about the video!  Do you like it better than pictures for our weekly yoga tutorial?


The one today was kind of haphazderly planned.  She was doing it and I grabbed the camera real quick.   If you guys like it, I can do more videos, but spend more time on the explanation of the pose in the video.

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!