Baby's First Flight

Welcome back. I am Devin Sistler and this is AcroYoga Family. We have a video designed especially for new parents. Fathers or mothers are welcome to join in, particularly anybody who's been holding baby and may be really exhausted. Because of that, we will start the next few videos in the exact same way and end them with the same sequences.

This will support the consistency and learning for babies as well as their new parents, you. So join in. We're going to reach our hands all the way to the sky, exhale through center, inhaling, sweeping up, lifting up, exhaling through your midline, inhale, looking up, lifting up. And this time we'll get set and ready to take three big, deep alms. Breathing in together.

Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum-Aum. And you can come back to those alms at any time during this practice. If your baby gets a little bit cranky, I find it pretty magical in helping them calm down. So your child can sit in your lap or maybe next to you, whatever they prefer, as we start rolling through shoulders. If you get one relaxing breath during this practice, you've succeeded for the day.

So don't worry about anything else. Now we're going to take a song that I really enjoy that will introduce us to two different signs in American Sign Language, more and together. So we have more and together. If you do these often with your child, you might find that they say more or more or also all sorts of other stuff, kind of like baby talk. That's okay.

I'll sing it once and then you can sing it with me. The more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The more we get together, the happier we'll be. Okay.

So if you only do more and together, that sounds great and you can sing in or you can just listen. Here we go. The more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The more we get together, the happier we'll be.

Babies seem to like that a lot. It's pretty fun. So we're going to continue to move and again, baby can sit with you or watch or be right next to you. From here, place your left hand down, sweep your right arm out and up and overhead and take three big circles. Inhaling up, exhaling down.

Inhaling up and now we'll hold, reach your right finger away from your right hip as you anchor down through that hip to open through the ribs. Place your right hand on your left knee and then walk your other hands behind you. Find a gentle twist, inhaling, finding length in your spine, exhaling to gently deepen the twist. Unwind back to center, take a little tiny forward fold and let your ear rock from one shoulder to the other. Inhale all the way up, right hand down, left arm sweeps out and up and overhead and three big circles, releasing some tension, inviting a gentle stretch as you press down.

Inhale, sweep up once more just like that. And now we'll stay left pinky reaching away from you, left hip anchoring down towards the ground, opening through your ribs. Left hand to the outside of your right knee, take your right hand back and behind you and look over your right shoulder. And to center, plant your hands behind you, draw your shoulder blades up and take a very gentle back bend, looking up and maybe back. Come back to center.

We are now going to take this into baby's first flight. This will develop core strength so brand new moms, please consult with a doctor if you're still healing from a C-section to make sure that this is safe for you. Your baby will come to the side. You can use a folded blanket if you'd like to. Gently place your back on that underneath your sacrum and then lift baby and place them directly on your shins facing towards you.

In the beginning, you might want to have hands on. You can rest your head on the ground or maybe even give a little support under there if that feels better for you. And here we are. So if you'd like a little bit more, you can take some gentle pulses. Keep anchoring your belly button down towards the middle of the ground as you do this to strengthen the deepest, lowest core muscles.

And if you want to add in a silly face or maybe give your baby a kiss, they are getting in some important time on their tummy while you are developing your core. Rest for a moment right here. And if you're ready to level up and you'd like a little variation, you can take your left elbow to the outside of your head and then take that across your body. Please don't hit baby with your elbow though, right? That would not be great.

And you could also reach for the outside of baby if you'd like. One more on this side. And then switch. Notice in the beginning I like to have a hand on baby as I'm figuring out these new movements. I want to make sure he or she doesn't fall.

And then you can also reach. One more. And then hands behind your head right here so you can hold onto baby. You can bring them onto your belly if they like that. You might also bring them to seated and look at you as you take five to 10 breath cycles resting right here.

At the back of your head and your shoulders and your toes sink into the ground. Breathe yourself fully. And when you feel rested, you can always pause this part if you want a little extra. You'll roll onto one side. Use your hands to bring you up into seated.

Come back to a comfortable seated position on your mat. And I invite you to take one om with me breathing in together. Thank you so much for joining me today. Bringing babies first flight, baby bird on shins. I hope you had fun and we'll see you again.