Benefits of yoga for new moms

Are you a yoga teacher because:

A) You realize the enormous value of how good yoga makes you feel. 
B) You want to share the benefits of yoga with others.

C) You love how yoga makes you strong, healthy and grounds you
D) You love how it connects you to “life source” and helps you wake up to your life 

or 

is it all of the above for you? 

Being a yoga instructor is a special calling. Making a positive influence on someone’s life is incredibly rewarding and yoga teachers get to do that day in and day out. If you find that having this impact on people is important in your life, and brings you joy, then wait until you hear what it’s like teaching new moms.

If there is one student that yoga benefits in all aspects, it is expecting and new moms. 

Here 4 reasons why yoga has extra benefits for the moms in your communities:

1. Moms need to release fear and anxiety

Whether your student planned on getting pregnant or not, pregnancy is one of the most stressful times in her life. 

She will realize in nine months, a new human being will be in her life. She will be responsible for them and her role will be to care for them around the clock. Even more, she will carry her baby and bring it into the world. It's a lot and it's completely normal for even the most even-keeled person to struggle with fear and anxiety during this time. 

Yoga connects this mama-to-be to her intuition, helps her release that fear and anxiety, and connects her to the heart. 

As a yoga teacher, I have witnessed energy shifts in every single pre & postnatal class that I have taught over the last decade. From feelings of anxiety of the unknown or feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion - a classroom filled with moms at ease, calm, grounded, and grateful. Yoga does the work EVERY single time. It is truly incredible to witness. 

2. Moms need community

Often times new moms feel isolated from their former communities, friends, and regular activities. So, coming to a yoga class filled with fellow moms can make new moms feel less alone and like they belong again. I love how MOGA® pre & postnatal classes bring women together. There have been so many friendships that have had their beginnings in a MOGA® class; and let me tell you, those friendships are lifelines in motherhood!

3. The Postpartum body needs movement magic

Caring for a baby around the clock is tough on the body. “Most newborns eat every 2 to 3 do hours every 24 hours” (source). Think about that for a moment. Every 2-3 hours a new mom is getting up to feed her baby (on average). She is exhausted and most likely slouching over her baby for the 4th, 5th, or 6th feed during the night. Her neck, shoulders, and chest are super tight and her posture is suffering. 

But as teachers, we have a lot to offer these students in our yoga classes as the physical body and emotional systems love movement. 

Your yoga class can help new moms physically heal in the postpartum period, emotionally ground, and come back to the center. 

In postnatal yoga, moms can encourage core and pelvic floor healing through slow and deliberate movement and breathe. They can build inner strength and stability to help them in their day to day lives. They will have better posture and less low back pain. 

In your classes with new moms, offering chest and shoulder openers, deep core strengthening, twists, and breathwork (to learn how to take those deep breaths again) will all benefit the postpartum body.  

We do need to remember to be gentle with our offerings and model being gentle with our bodies, so she feels the permission to do the same.  

4. Moms need to be mothered

When moms show up to a MOGA® Mom and Baby class, they get something they often weren't expecting; for someone to care for them for a change. We tell our MOGA® Instructors that their classes are an opportunity to “mother the mother”. They do this by listening, validating, normalizing, doting over, and most importantly, holding space for their new mom students. 

Motherhood is an all-encompassing, oftentimes overwhelming, and isolating experience. While movement magic may be what brought them to the class, the feeling of being completely accepted and held will likely be what keeps them coming back - even if they don’t know it. 

There is truly no student I have met that is more grateful for yoga classes than the new or expecting mom. Helping moms connect with other moms and their babies is a beautiful experience.