Mommy and Me Yoga

Sometimes I feel like I'm loosing my mojo.

I used to be the girl who wanted more than anything, to be extremely successful in my career. Now more than anything I want to schedule play dates and plan little activities for Lil' J and myself.

Instead of scheduling after work meetings I'm scouring for emerging teeth. Instead of shopping for suits I'm on the hunt for the coolest new infant toy. 

I think it's important to have something as an escape. Especially being a woman, and a mom, and having so many duties to fulfill.

Funny enough, my ideal "getaways" tend to include my daughter instead of exclude her. What can I say, she's kinda a cool kid. Plus I already feel guilty for missing so much when I'm away from her at work.

I distinctly remember my mom waking up early to exercise when I was younger. My sister and I would put on our bathing suits (because they were our version of workout clothes, hello!) and exercise to a Mickey Mouse workout show while our mom walked on the treadmill.

I think that was my inspiration for wanting to experience something similar with my daughter.

When I was on maternity leave I researched things I could do with my baby. Lil' J loves to get out of the house. Having gone on seven flights in her first eight weeks of life, she was used to getting out, and I think she still craves it now because of that.

I don't really like being confined to my house for more than a couple of days either so I made a list of things in my community that we could go and do together. One of the things I didn't get to do during maternity leave was postnatal yoga. You bring your baby to class with you and exercise with them.

I was bummed we didn't get to do it during my leave, but luckily there's a class Tuesday mornings, on my day off, so we can still go.

We were running late our first week, but made it in time for introductions. Lil' J was the only baby with a bow and leg warmers--We were a little overdressed. But we still fit in. I think.

I was amazed at how full the class was. There was a mom with twins, and 15 other moms in the class!

Our yoga class on Halloween week

The first good half hour is dedicated to exercises just for mom, and your baby is below you watching you on their blanket. The second half is doing singing and exercises using them, then the last twenty minutes or so is for baby yoga, where you do stretches for them, and where you do a restoration walk, and pose with them.

There's some time to socialize at the beginning, middle, and end of class. I at first sometimes felt a twinge of jealousy while the stay at home moms planned a play group meet up during the time I'd be at work. But who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to join in.

I loved it so much my first week I bought an 8 week pass that same day. I'm surprised at how much of a workout I get, and how much of a bonding experience it is for my daughter and I. It's makes me a little sad at the same time though, because I doubt I'll get this experience with baby number two. ... Which isn't on the way, or anything, but you know how I plan ahead.

The place we go for yoga has a special class for moms with their new babies, then a class for moms with crawlers, and one with toddlers. If we can budget for it I hope to keep going. It's $17 a class, which is kinda steep, especially since we go once a week. But with the pass it goes down to about $13 a class. Which is still a lot when you consider my husband's gym pass is something like $25 a month. I tell myself I deserve it though, and take joy in the splurge.

So here I am. Gone are the days of using my Carmen Electric Striptease Workout DVDs, and welcome to the days of mommy & me fitness.

I'm not sure if my mojo is going, or coming. Or maybe it's just transforming. Either way, I think I like the way it's moving.

If you have a baby I'd highly recommend looking into postnatal or mommy and me yoga it's SO FUN! So fun in fact, that I just bought a mommy and me workout DVD called Infantastic Baby Reps, and I love it too! I also rented Infantastic's Dance Baby Dance from the library after reading the glowing reviews! It was $25 so I passed on buying it at the time.

I want to share my postnatal workout with you so I'm going to send an Infantastic Baby Reps DVD to a blog follower who comments on this post before next Thursday night! You've gotta be a follower cause I'm buying is for you! Somewhere with your comment, just let me know you'd like to be entered!