Baby Bird

Welcome back to Acro Yoga family. I am excited to take you on a journey as we explore bird on hands today. First I would love for you to join me for a little warm up. So here we go. Breathing in, lifting your hands up, exhale through center, inhale, sweeping your wings out to the side, exhale long and deep.

Once more in your own time, just like that. And then we begin with three om's. Please join me. Breathing in. We will link breath and movement, reaching your hands to the sky, breathing in, forward fold, breathing out.

Halfway lift, filling up, shoulder blades to the sky, exhale through bent legs, forward fold, inhale, sweep your arms out and up and overhead as you come to stand, palms come back to center. And we'll take that two more times, I'm going to add in a little song. Here we go. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Once more, a little bit faster this time. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.

From here, we're going to pick up our child. They may have been following along or maybe just watching, either one is okay. So we need the baby or toddler or small child, whichever one you have. You can hold one hand under their hips and one hand in front and then come into a horse stance. Heels in, toes out and keep your shoulders on your back.

So I don't want you to lean forward or lean back. It'll be best for your low back that you stay with your shoulders over your hips. And from here, we'll take some little dips. So we're getting strong through the legs, feeling the power in your lower body. Let's do five, four, three, two, one, and then we'll go super low all the way up.

Okay? So just like that one more time, five, four, three, two, one, super low, squatting down, coming all the way back up. And if your kiddo is not too big, the next round you can straighten through your arms and they will really enjoy and might even find it calming to have that little change in atmosphere. So here we go, five, four, three, two, one, lower down, straighten your arms all the way back up and then check in. How are they doing?

Yeah. He's looking good. So we're going to do it once more. Here we go. And this time we'll start on 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, all the way down, all the way up.

Okay. That was a pretty good workout. You should be feeling that in your arms and your legs. From here, turn your child around and this is for smaller children and you can take both hands under their back, toes in, heels out, and now you can take them for a little swing. So this should feel really, really good in your body and if it doesn't, you can simply place them on the ground or invite them to do this with you while you take your opposite elbows.

I don't know if he can really do it or not. So he's just going to sit there like that. Inhale bent through the legs to come all the way up to standing. And now we're going to come to seated on our mats. And for this next section, you may once again find that your child wants to be seated on your lap or they might want to do it next to you.

So here we go, flexing your toes to the sky. Don't use your hands. This is a core exercise. We're going to walk forward, lifting one leg at a time towards the front of the mat and then back. And if you have a little child, you're getting stronger while you're doing it than I am with this stuffed animal.

So there you go. I also have a song right here. It's a very, very simple one. So if you figure it out, you can follow along. We'll do this twice more, so I'm sure you'll get it by the second round.

In and in and in and out and out and out and in and in and in and out and out and out. Yeah, it's a good workout. So let's do it one more time. Here we go. In and in and in and out and out and out and in and in and in and in and out and out and out.

Very nice. From here, we will roll down onto our backs. And this is where we start to play with finding your hands on your child's hips. So just in the front of their torso, from here, you can lift them all the way up and then lower them down. They usually really enjoy the opportunity to be a little bit above you and looking at you.

And this is where you can read the expression on their face to see if they're enjoying it. And I encourage you to give them a big smile if you're enjoying it while you're also working the strength through your arms. And just like we did during horse stance, you might find that you want to do a little pulse and then really low. Give your baby a kiss, your child a kiss all the way up to the sky. Lower down all the way up.

Let's go for five, four, three, two, one. You've earned a kiss. Send them all the way back up and then we will make our way into a low lunge. Very similar to the last exercise in that we're going to be pressing our child overhead. But because we're working in this overhead range of motion, we are utilizing different muscles of support in the body and we're getting stronger through the side body, the shoulders.

Give that five, four, three, two, one. Bring them down to sit. And we'll switch to the other side so you get a lunge on both sides. Here we go. All the way up, all the way down, five, four, three, two, one.

And I think you're ready to come all the way up into standing and now reaching your baby, your child all the way up into the sky and lowering on down. So in this one, you might start to take it in your lower back if you haven't really been working on those other progressions. So make sure that you're hugging your belly button in, your tailbone is long, and you feel really strong. Maybe you just do one lift today and lower them on down. And maybe you can do five.

So here we go, lifting them up, lowering down for four, for three, for two, for one. Draw them all the way in and we'll come back to seated for our closing. We start and end these sessions in a really similar way so that the kiddos know it's the beginning of a new time. It's the ending of our time together. So here we go, singing row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Ring ring ring, it's your foot phone. It's still not time for the phone. I'm doing yoga. So here we go, rock goodbye baby in the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.

When the bow swings so gently and sweet, it will send baby directly to sleep. Give that baby a kiss because it's such a good baby and we'll go to the other side. Ring ring ring ring ring, I'm doing yoga. I'll talk to you later. Rock goodbye baby in the treetop.

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow swings so gently and sweet, it will send baby directly to sleep. And today we are going to set up in a Supta Baddha Konasana. I'm usually really surprised that kids actually want their own set up so your child might want their own set up during this or they might want to find themselves cradled in the little nest that you made with your legs or they might want to rest on your belly. Give them the options and listen to whichever they prefer.

From here we roll on back. The blocks are under the knees so that the legs can fully relax and you can pause here if you'd like to take a longer resting pose or you can just stay here for 10 breath cycles. Allow your head to be heavy. Allow your body to open on every inhalation and sink into the support of gravity on every exhalation. Feel your belly rising and falling.

Roll onto one side. Roll in and give your little one a snuggle. Press your hands into the floor to bring you into seated. Find a comfortable cross-legged position as we set up for our final alm. Bring in together.

Om. Om Shanti peace namaste. Make sure you give a namaste to your little one as well, and I hope you have a beautiful day. Thank you very much, and God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God