Pregnancy Yoga classes
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Zoom Classes: Tuesdays 6pm & Fridays 10am (Contact Gayle for login details)
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Yoga Room,Vredehoek: Wedneddays 10am
Hatha yoga stretching poses, Breathing during pregnancy and how to use breath for labor and to connect with baby growing within. Visualization for relaxation and inner calm.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these classes will still be offered via ZOOM. To join these classes, contact Gayle.
Watch this video for more info around the ZOOM classes:
Mom and Baby Yoga Classes
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Zoom Classes: Fridays 10am (Contact Gayle for login details)
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Yoga Room, Vredehoek: Wednesdays 10am
Hatha yoga stretching to reconnect with your body generally, to help to tone all the internal muscles and strengthen core muscles after pregnancy. Bring baby with we have yoga stretches for them too and for bonding time. Great to get out and meet other mom’s. Babies 3 weeks onwards, toddlers welcome.
Gayle Friedman featured in Woolies Babes:
Yoga for you & your baby
By Adele Hamilton
Yoga for mothers and babies is an excellent way for a new mother to get back in touch with her body, says yoga teacher Gayle Friedman. ‘Most of them come for a month or two, then feel ready to carry on exercising with their babies at home, or to leave their babies at home and go back to a normal yoga class.’
Gayle’s class is designed to work the areas of the body most affected by pregnancy, childbirth and caring for a baby: hips, stomach, waist, pelvic floor, uterus, anus, vagina, and bladder. Stretching and toning the muscles at the side of the waist and hips is particularly important for new mothers, as these muscles become slack from having supported the heavy uterus, and the back and shoulder stretches to counteract the hunching that is an inevitable part of breast-feeding a baby several times a day. Many of the exercises are adapted and simplified from Yoga, A Gem For Woman By Geeta S Iyengar (Allied).
Once you’re in a yoga routine with your baby, it’s a good idea to include some infant massage. ‘Yoga with babies goes hand-in-hand with massage,’ says Francoise Barbira Freedman, author of Baby Yoga (Gaia). ‘In India the custom is, starting from birth, to give the baby a daily massage with oil, followed by yoga, and finally a bath.’
Bonding between and parent is strongly promoted by touch, and fathers, who sometimes feel left out of the whole process of caring for a baby, can try a short yoga sequence such as in the one below. Whether in a class or at home, the slow, studied stretches and mental focus of a yoga session create an atmosphere that helps parents and babies find a relaxed way to be together.
This sequence is for babies of any age. Be gentle and don’t push baby’s limbs into awkward positions. Try not to do yoga directly after a feed as you may cause a reflex reaction if you push on a full tummy. It can be fun to do this after the bath when the baby is free of the constraints of the nappy. To start, gently stroke the baby’s chest, abdomen, legs, and feet, keeping your hands in constant contact with his body. Be aware of the cues your baby gives you: If he’s not enjoying it, stop and try again another time.