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Yoga Tough Love
Dear Alternadad:
Is there any point to Mommy and Baby Yoga, for the baby?
Yoga Mommy
Dear Yoga Mommy:
There are few yoga clichés I hate more than "kids are natural yogis." While its true that kids are generally more flexible and open-minded than adults, that doesn't make them "natural" anything. They don't want to do yoga any more than we do. TKV Desikachar has a story in his biography of his father, Sri Krishnamacharya, the father of modern hatha, or physical, yoga. One day young Desikachar, aged approximately eight, didn't want to do his practice. So his father forced him into the lotus position, tied him up with ropes, and "left me like that for a while to think about it."
Now THAT is "Parent And Me" yoga. The classes that yoga studios present, mostly soft-focus poses with some animal noises and crappy Gymboree songs, serve an important function in that they get moms out of the house and moving for a little while, thereby reducing infanticide, suicide, and alcohol-abuse rates. Everyone can use some yoga now and then. But for the baby, the effect is, at best, unprovable. Yoga is hard, annoying, solitary work, not an extension of attachment bonding. Like I always say, take a kid to a yoga class, they'll do yoga for a day. Tie them up with ropes in full lotus, they'll do yoga for a lifetime.
Is there any point to Mommy and Baby Yoga, for the baby?
Yoga Mommy
Dear Yoga Mommy:
There are few yoga clichés I hate more than "kids are natural yogis." While its true that kids are generally more flexible and open-minded than adults, that doesn't make them "natural" anything. They don't want to do yoga any more than we do. TKV Desikachar has a story in his biography of his father, Sri Krishnamacharya, the father of modern hatha, or physical, yoga. One day young Desikachar, aged approximately eight, didn't want to do his practice. So his father forced him into the lotus position, tied him up with ropes, and "left me like that for a while to think about it."
Now THAT is "Parent And Me" yoga. The classes that yoga studios present, mostly soft-focus poses with some animal noises and crappy Gymboree songs, serve an important function in that they get moms out of the house and moving for a little while, thereby reducing infanticide, suicide, and alcohol-abuse rates. Everyone can use some yoga now and then. But for the baby, the effect is, at best, unprovable. Yoga is hard, annoying, solitary work, not an extension of attachment bonding. Like I always say, take a kid to a yoga class, they'll do yoga for a day. Tie them up with ropes in full lotus, they'll do yoga for a lifetime.
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Comment by mcglory13 on April 29, 2010 at 5:12pm -
Welcome back stranger.
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Comment by Daria on April 29, 2010 at 6:47pm -
I never understood the Baby and Me yoga classes--especially ones that suggested I bring him in the car seat. Are there babies who are happy in there? My kid was only happy when he was in motion.
I did go to a pretty cute Toddler yoga class. The teacher actually taught yoga principles at their level and taught simple poses. It would have been better if I had known what I was doing because then I could have participated along with him. My kid was too young for it when we went, but I would be game for trying it again in a few months.
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Comment by kommishoner on April 29, 2010 at 8:02pm -
I could never get into mom-and-baby yoga. The little man just cried, and I felt mad because I'd blown 15 bucks and taken the subway just to sit on my stupid yoga mat breastfeeding. Coulda done that at home.
Now the little man does yoga at daycare, which is pretty cute. I have no idea how they got him to do it, though. When I do it at home he thinks it's an invitation to climb on me. Altogether, I'd say yoga with my kid has raised, not lowered, my likelihood of committing infanticide. ;)
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Comment by DLBK on April 30, 2010 at 8:41am -
I think Baby and Me anything class is to get the mom out of the house.
When I try to do yoga at home my toddler climbs on me, too! He likes downward dog because he can get on the floor below me; he also likes to do downward dog himself.
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