Baby Yoga for Mother and Child
By Tatiana Hafez
Tucked away in a quiet street of Heliopolis, Flow is a Mother and Child Movement and Wellness Center. Flow was founded by three young moms who felt the need for creating a space that would provide the community with mother-child quality time, in a comfortable, calming, and intimate studio in Cairo.
The innumerable benefits of yoga, an old age tradition, and its holistic approach connecting mind, body and soul, enhancing our bodies physically and emotionally are widely known. Now this concept can be applied to a much earlier stage of life, with baby yogis being as young as 3 months old.
Regular practice of yoga has proven to help babies as well to improve their overall strength, flexibility, balance and coordination; it alleviates colic and disturbed sleep patterns. For mom, it helps relieve stress, improve breathing and energy control, realign the spine and correct the posture.
Class begins with circle time, where moms and babies sit individually on their mats. The class is divided into a series of activities, starting from mom and baby stretching, baby massage, yoga posing, special hugs and cuddles, all set to rhymes and nursery songs; and ending with mom only relaxation time. Surprisingly enough babies are introduced to some yoga poses and tend to observe and later imitate their moms, doing the same.
At Flow, classes are offered according to the baby’s age and development. Baby Yoga 1 (3 to 11 months), where moms and babies are introduced to yoga-based exercises and therapeutic stretches; Baby Yoga 2 (12-18 months) is comprised of active and playful moves while moms do some yoga for themselves; Toddler Yoga (18 months to 4 years old), is a more stimulating and energetic class, which follows SMART Yoga (Stretch, Move and Relax Together). Also on offer is Infant Massage (as early as 4 weeks), where each class focuses on a part of the limbs, back and face. Flow also offers Music and Move class for babies and toddlers to provide stimulation, combining songs, story and exploration of instruments.
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