As busy moms, it can be difficult to find time for "traditional" forms of exercise. Hands-free time is little and precious, and when we have it, most of us would rather (let's face it) relax with our husbands, take a hot bath, or just go to sleep!

But more importantly, this is our opportunity to model healthy exercise habits for our children!

The average child in the United States today exercises less than 20 minutes a day! This is a shocking and worrisome statistic, especially in combination with rising rates of obesity and diabetes among our nation's young people. Research shows that PARENTS are the most important role models in a child's life.

Healthy habits start early. In early childhood, our babies' whole job is to observe their world and try to make sense of it. We are their world in a very real way. What they watch us doing NOW is what they will expect and enthusiastically attempt to emulate for themselves.

Through conscious movement of breath and body, Yoga gives us a total body/mind work-out. It allows us to focus the mind and release tension while increasing strength, flexibility, and range of motion.

• Can be practiced by people of any fitness level.
• Can be as strenuous as you need it to be based on what you put into it.
• Gentle enough to practice in the presence of even the tiniest babies.
• Wonderful way to help the body recover from the effort of pregnancy and childbirth.
• Low-impact nature of yoga is healthy for the joints.
• Increases confidence and a sense of well being.
• Stimulates the creative mind/imagination as well as the physical body.
• Non-competitive.

This is an opportunity to connect with our babies and with our deeper selves, and to develop a sense of unity and community with other moms and babies.

• It is just plain FUN! The babies LOVE it!
• Dancing provides aerobic exercies for the mamas!

  Please note: This is NOT about being fabulous dancers! This is about exploring new and different ways to move with our babies.

• Our children look to us to model how bodies work. The more creatively we move with them, the greater their physical vocabularies will be as they grow.

• A peaceful time for bonding with our babies.
• As in any yoga class, it is important to relax the body as fully as possible after performing postures.