Yoga is for absolutely everyone—even babies! And at Appleseed Yoga for Kids, we take an extra special approach to teaching yoga to infants.
School administrators are often shocked when I tell them we teach yoga to infants. In fact, one told me the other day it was “definitely not possible since of course it couldn't be developmentally appropriate.”
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Babies are natural yogis, living completely in their bodies and the present moment. There is so much we can learn from them and the way they experience the world.
At Appleseed, our infant yoga classes take a workshop-style approach, where caregivers are just as important as the infants. If there is an outgoing and gregarious infant in the room who feels comfortable with strangers (it happens!) our teacher will connect with them and invite them to sit in their lap. If they are willing, the teacher will use them to demo poses. If not, we use a doll.
Our baby yoga teachers will:
Help clear and prep your space for practice
Sing and connect with each baby and their caregivers
Demonstrate movements and stretches for both babies and their caretakers to support digestion, crawling, walking, rest, and more!
What does an infant yoga class look like?
Here is an example of a baby yoga class you can expect when booking Appleseed Yoga at your daycare:
Heart Warm Touch - caress baby from head to toe, welcoming them into the room and letting them know yoga time is starting
Neck Rolls for the adult - Hands gently resting on baby she encourages the caregiver to gently enjoy some neck rolls to release tension
Baby Massage Time! Doing a dry massage technique on top of clothing, the teacher gently massages baby from head to toe getting the blood moving through the body.
Hip Sequence: (Teacher ideally has babies lying on back with feet facing the caregiver)
hands go to baby's feet and push knees to ribs firmly, repeat with one side, then the other
put baby's legs into lotus pose
bring soles of the feet together for a nice stretch in butterfly
holding the ankles only, lift baby's hips slightly off the floor and then drop them back down gently
Standing Sequence:
Caregivers learn safety hold (baby's tummy faces the ground, one hand on farside armpit, on hand on diaper)
Bounces in safety hold
Gentle swings in safety hold
See-saw in safety hold
Spiral lifts in safety hold
Rest: Your Appleseed Yoga teacher will put on gentle soft music. Caregivers are encouraged to lay down the babies and then they lay down themselves and take a little rest.
The teacher closes class with a little ritual of song and movement and thanks everyone for being there.
Our Infant yoga classes run for 30 minutes, as with all our other in-classroom programs. We've had rave-reviews of them, especially since administrators have a hard time finding activities for infants to do. One of our schools said this:
We loved that the daycare classes could be geared to all age groups—including infants!
Ready to book us for your infant class? Fill out this form.