Baby Yoga: An Interview With Helen
Garabedian
by Pat
Burke
Pat: Why did you decide to
specialize in teaching yoga to infants and toddlers?
Helen: It is my belief that
over 5000 years ago when yoga was first developing, the yoga masters
studied the movements of babies to create yoga asanas. Visualize in
your mind a baby just learning to hold themselves up with their
palms and belly flat on the earth. Here you can see our cobra pose
being performed by infants. Again, surrender and see downward dog in
your mind. Here you can find a baby that is on hands and feet
pushing up just before coming into standing. In a sense, through the
practice of yoga we are returning to the unrestricted innocence and
bliss of a infant.
Pat: How do babies
practice?
Helen: I teach baby yoga to
two different age groups: birth to pre-crawling, and crawling to 24
months. Moms are responsible for carrying out all of the baby's
movements in the younger group. Moms move the babies into the limbs
and bodies that they have been born into. Younger babies get to feel
their bodies as they are gently maneuvered to aid digestion and
development. In the more active age group, moms are there to
maneuver the baby when necessary and are also open to letting their
child explore yoga on their own two feet.
Older babies learn to express themselves
through movement of the body. For parents, a yoga practice provides
the time to slow down enough to truly see and treasure their baby in
the here and now! Babies grow and develop so quickly it's important
not to miss the present. Every moment offers a new opportunity to
learn more about the emerging personality and composition of your
new baby. Overall, babies love yoga and the attention they receive
in class.
Pat: Do toddlers learn to
perform yoga by themselves?
Helen: After one to six
classes, the crawling/walking babies learn various yoga postures so
well that they will move into different poses just by being asked to
do so. Moms and babies love to show this new found talent off to
family and friends. One of my longtime students, Lily, a joyful
22-month-old redhead moves gracefully from mountain to tree to
downward dog to extended child to cobra to upward facing bow pose.
It is beautiful to watch. Most of my younger students shine the
biggest smile when coming into class and seeing me along with their
baby yoga friends. Some babies get so ecstatic that they shake their
hands and feet up and down in excitement frenzy! One of my students,
Matthew, started practicing baby yoga with me at 4 weeks and is now
9 months old.
Pat: What are the benefits
of baby yoga?
Helen: For the child, yoga
strengthens immunity, improves sleep, improves digestion and
circulation, stimulates neuromuscular development, helps regulate
emotions, can help to relieve gas pains and colic and increases
self-awareness.
Pat: And for the
moms?
Helen: Baby yoga can help
increase parental confidence, reduce stress and anxiety, help
alleviate postpartum depression, promotes intuitive parenting and
lets moms make new friends with other new moms.
Pat: While adult yoga is
becoming more mainstream, it is unusual for yoga to be taught to
children, although the field is growing. How did you come to be an
innovator in this field of baby yoga?
Helen: By examining hatha
yoga postures with the intention of readapting it for the non-verbal
baby to do with or without mom's help, my program began to develop.
My work with babies is a blend of intuition, classical hatha yoga
postures, breathing (pranayama), and the movement of energy, all
with relation to a baby's anatomy and physiology. My teachings are
not only a result of my research, but are based on my experience of
teaching nearly 100 moms and babies each week. Since I was a child,
I have worked with and cared for babies in different capacities.
First as the older sister and then as the neighborhood babysitter, I
consistently used my intuition and creativity to care for and
entertain little ones. Several years ago, I began thinking about how
holistic minded parents could connect with and raise their babies
with awareness. Yoga gave me the platform for my purpose of "helping
many other people find peace and realize their limitless potential
in this lifetime."
____________________
Helen Garabedian is
a USUI Reiki Master/Teacher, a certified yoga teacher, and has
trained
with many spiritual teachers and yoga masters in this lifetime and
others. For more information call 978-443-8468 or visit http://www.baby-yoga.com/.
Pat Burke is the director of Earthsong Yoga Center, 186
Main St #14 Marlboro, MA 01752 and the founder of the
Massachusetts/New England Yoga Alliance. The Alliance provides free
information and referral to all traditions of yoga. For more
information please call 508-480-8884 or email at pat@earthsongyoga.com
or visit her website at http://www.earthsongyoga.com/
This article was originally published in
Spirit of Change Magazine—not to be confused with
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