The reality of practicing yoga with a baby

When Memphis was a newborn and I was newly postpartum, I could set Memphis in his rocker or on the ground beside me and flow on my mat. He'd kick his little feet and wave his little arms but he couldn't go far.

My practice was slow as I was still recovering and regaining strength, but I made it to my mat nearly every day. 

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I had this vision of us practicing yoga together once he gained head control.

In this vision he was loving every moment, giggling as we entered poses and growing into a little yogi. We would be a yoga power duo, taking Instagram by storm with cuteness.

But then Memphis got bigger. More active. He went from that little newborn who couldn't even roll over to a crawler ... no, a speed crawler ... and now he's pulling himself up on anything and everything. He wants to explore his surroundings, not his chakras. He certainly doesn't want to sit still for yoga. That's boring, Mom!

This might not be your experience. Maybe your baby does love to do yoga. Maybe they love sitting still and doing pranayama with you before nap time. But as for the rest of us, we have to be flexible (and I'm not talking about getting into the splits).

Yoga with a cute 20-lb dumbbell

I practice yoga with Memphis but they are short practices. It's less about the emotional, mental and spiritual benefits of yoga. There's no savasana. No meditation. It's play time for both of us and about interacting with him more than anything (with the added benefit of working my muscles a bit).

When I recorded this practice, Memphis was teething. He feels better now, three days later (of course). But on this day, he was a little fussy. Not at his worst, but not at his best. He didn't want to stay in one posture long at all and was more interested in chasing the camera than he was in going into a down dog. 

I thought about rerecording it. I could record another video for this week and postpone the baby video for a day when he was more cooperative.

But then I decided against it. Odds are, your baby isn't going to be the perfect example while you do this practice with us. We're in this together, and we'll work it out. We've got this!

So here it is. A less-than-perfect but realistic baby yoga video. It's only 9 minutes long, but with the added weight of the baby I still felt the practice afterward and I think you will too. 

Even if Memphis doesn't care about yoga, I'm happy we get to play together. I'm happy he gets to see his mama taking care of herself. And I'm happy to be setting a good example for him.