As babies are natural yoga wonders, quite happily falling into downward facing dog and pushing up into upward dog, the focus of Yoga Baby TV is for mum. It is you who has been through lots of changes, your body has adapted to carry a baby, give birth and after such an exhausting process, it is you who has to learn to rebuild strength and yoga for you is not just a physical process, it is a place for you to strengthen your mind, find peace in a hectic world and allow yourself time to both recover and enjoy this time of your life.

The shows will guide you through yoga practice you can take whatever mood you are in, however your body is feeling and whenever you (maybe with your little yogi’s or alone) feel the need for a few moments of beauty.

Yoga has helped me greatly through both of my pregnancies. Having two children close together meant that my home has been a little hectic and yoga has enabled me to laugh, bond with my children, find quiet in the present moment and feel happy in my body. It is a wonderful thing to be able to share this with you!

The new show is filmed at the Yogabode Studio in Norway which is my own studio where I teach many styles of yoga, from gentle Hatha to hectic Hot Yoga. It is here that I have developed the Figure Yoga Style, based on sculpting the body and feeling strong and confident in the process. If you want to know more about Figure Yoga, please see www.figureyoga.com and if you are ever in Northern Norway, why not drop by! The studio site is www.yogabode.com

Jill x

Happy Easter Holidays to all our viewers!

I am thrilled to announce the re-launch of Yoga TV! The new show will be relaunched on May 1st!

The studio is finished and we are all set with new lights, sound and a whole new concept for the show, which will include routines through all stages of pregnancy, birth preparation, post natal recovery to mothers with older children…and a few routines for dads, grandparents and anyone else with a desire to try yoga!

Matthew, my husband and editor has been in the US for a while and has returned full of exciting ideas for the show which we will work in to the new format. You will be able to get the show through the Yoga Baby TV  site (which will also be having a small facelift!), through blip tv, itunes, vimeo and you can even watch and join in using your phone!

I will be available for questions and will be leaving lots of video comments too, so please feel free to contact us and leave feedback!

We look forward to seeing you on the 1st May!

Namaste!

Jill, Matthew, Heidi & Miller x

Tired kids! Heidi and Miller can hardly stay awake after a busy day at kindergarten today. As a departure from a physical yoga topic but more atune to yoga as a lifestyle I wanted to share something my husband and I experienced today. In a temperature of around minus 7, in heavy snow, a Busker was playing outside the shops, his hands shaking with cold.

He had a few coins in his blanket. Now I know what is said of some buskers but I do not believe this man was not freezing cold and in need of some money, maybe even to feed his family. Many people with full shopping bags would not even look at this man playing music in the cold. My thought is this, next time you see someone like this, maybe think they may be better off with that change in your pocket than you. It seems some have forgotten what it means to help a fellow man, let’s not be one of them.

I am almost fully recovered from a bad reaction to some medication and feel alert and inspired to build on the success of Yoga Baby. We are on track now to begin filming in the new studio, in high definition, with improved sound and lighting from January 2009! Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see from the show. It is my aim to look at yoga from the first stages of pregnancy, right the way through to having babies, toddlers and older children. The show will have sections for mum on her own, to help baby development, e.g to encourage crawling and relieve any stiffness, for mum and baby/child in playful or relaxing moods and a whole host of other things! Miller and Heidi will of course join me on the show and maybe we will introduce some new mums and their little ones too!

When yoga becomes part of your lifestyle rather than an exercise system, you begin to change other aspects of your life to fit with the new you. The physical asansas (or poses) are only part of yoga. The practice of the asanas brings calmness to the mind and creates space for you to think about the focus of your life. I am often asked if diet is important and the answer is yes, of course it is important! If you are taking so much care of your body and mind by practising yoga then you must look after the health of your body by means of diet.

Eating healthily does not mean sacrifice and once you cut out the junk you feel so much more alive. The easiest way to change your diet is to start looking at ingredients on things that you buy. Once you see how many additive, fats, flavourings etc are in the food you eat it doesn’t seem so attractive any more. Remember where your food comes from and try and cook from whole foods. Use lots of fresh vegetables, pulses and beans to create wonderful flavours. Chances are you will surprise yourself.

I am also often asked if you need to be a vegetarian or vegan to really get the most from your yoga practice. My answer is this – if you believe in yoga as a lifestyle then what you are aspiring to is a life where you take care of yourself and others. A life without violence. From my perspective, the killing of animals creates suffering and to me is a violent choice. Opinions vary and I would never tell my students they had to change their eating habits. However I might ask them to think about it….

Here at yoga baby we are approaching our first birthday – that’s the show, not Miller! We began the show when Miller was 6 months old and it is so great to see so many of you watching and taking yoga practice with your children. Read on to find out more and get info on our competition!

As our yoga babies are not so much babies any longer we thought it could be nice to see some of your efforts together so we would really like you to send in your pics or videos of your yoga time together and here’s the best bit, the photo or clip that Miller and Heidi like the best will win our little competition and the winner will be sent a kids yoga mat from us, signed by Miller and Heidi! What more could you want! We will also post some of your entries up on the site so please let us know if you do not wish to be featured. Send your entries to jill@yogababy.tv

For our anniversary we will have a 2 part special edition show where we look back over the past year, picking up the asanas (yoga moves) we have found most useful for ceratin times e.g. brand new baby, nursing issues and regaining balance. It’s a really fun 2 parter so don’t miss it!

I am off for some intensive hot yoga training in the UK soon, just what I need for a winter in Northern Norway! It is always great to keep learning!

Jill x

I recently completed training in the Alexander Technique and if you are not aware of what the Alexander Technique is all about I would like to share some of the basics with you as it is an excellent way of looking at  the way you use your body and a way of relieving discomfort and posture just by looking at your physical habits.

The main concept of the Alenxander technique is looking at our ‘misuse’ of the body. I will almost guarantee as you are reading this you are sitting or lying assymetrically, perhaps hunched or slumped forwards, legs crossed, head pulled back creating a double chin effect, one shouder higher than the other….. Sound familiar? Often we are so unaware of our habits that they get progressively worse until we one day notice a pain in the back, a dull ache in one shoulder, more headaches, a hump developing in the upper spine. Well, the good news is that it’s not too late. The best thing to do if you are interested in the Alexander Technique (and everybody should be as it has so many benefits) is to see a trained teacher but there are things you can do on your own.

The first rule is to be open to change. Your habits feel normal as you have been doing them for so long. Your body may feel unsure of change so you must persist and make the changes slowly, not forcing the body. Just by being aware of your misuse will help you correct it.

The main problem for most is carrying the body weight too far backwards. Most peoples centre of gravity is further forward than they think. Try lifting the head (not from the chin but from the back of the neck and move the forhead forwards a little). As you do so, move the whole body forwards a touch and look at your stance. Are you shoudlers slumped forwards or pulled uncomfortably back? Try and find a comfortable balance between the two extremes. Is your back over-arched or is you pelvis tucked under. Again try and balance by lengthening the spine. Now try and take this posture into movement. Try walking, leading with the head, not the hips or the feet. You should feel a freedom and lightness of movement.

Of course this is just the beginning, you can use the Alexander technique to change the way you move in and out of a chair, how you read a book or sit in a meeting. It does of course sound like common sense and do we really need to re-learn how to stand, walk, sit and basically move through our daily lives? Actually, yes. If you want to make the most of your body and keep a youthful and balanced figure. I discovered the technique some years ago and still need to make a conscious effort to put it to use, maybe when I have one child balanced on a hip for example! You can utilise the technique in your yoga practice but as with most things, once your awareness is raised it often stays that way!

Yoga comes in a variety of forms and is often associated with quiet contemplation. Moving the body into stillness through a series of yoga asanas is a way to achieve a strong and flexible body whilst also calming the mind. However, this being said…! Yoga with your baby or toddler is a different experience altogether!

All children respond differently to yoga and it may be that you have a child who enjoys the peace and tranquility of yoga, that lies by or on top of you as you move through the poses, maybe moving into poses themselves as they breath and observe. Chances are that is not the case. Chances are that you have children who find yoga enormous fun and want to leap around or on you as you do it, want to try it themselves but get frustrated or with an older toddler, want your full attention and praise as they practice with you.

It is important that you allow your baby, infant or toddler the freedom to enjoy yoga, otherwise you will create a negative feeling whenever you try and practice. Yoga can take it’s different forms according to when you practice, for example a more meditative practice can come after the children have gone to bed or are taking a nap, with a more playful practice when your children are with you. If you can shift your focus away from achieving stillness with your body in perfect alignment to sharing this time of positive activity with your children you will benefit much more from your yoga. You will gain patience and your children will just adore spending quality time with you, a time when you are not cleaning, washing, working or any of the million other things that busy moms do during their day. Also your yoga practice together is a reminder of how good it feels to be a family and as you talk to your children and guide them, this will re-inforce their trust in you, perhaps overspilling into other areas of your life together. Most people will agree that in a typical family, mom is considered the provider of food and comfort and dad is often the one that kids loves to tumble around with. You know what I mean, when a baby falls it wants mommy and when it wants to be really silly and fall around laughing, daddy is usually the one to go for (of course there are also the amazing single moms who we admire so much for having both roles). Baby and Toddler Yoga is a way to indulge in that playful time together. Make the most of it! x