But that didn’t stop Alvarez and baby Sam from attending a Baby and Me Yoga class Wednesday in downtown Cortez at Heart and Core Yoga Studio.
Alvarez was joined by two other moms and instructor Jessica Pease, who brought along her 14-month-old son, Ezra.
Pease started teaching the Baby and Me Yoga class last week. She also has a 3-year-old son named Benjamin.
“I actually got certified as a yoga instructor when I was pregnant,” Pease said. “So the Baby and Me Yoga class seemed like a next step for me. I’ve taught prenatal yoga, and not this because I have little ones of my own.”
Yoga Studio owner Jill Lawson said she was excited to start offering the class last week.
Pease said the class is very informal and often depends on the mood of the babies.
“It’s really relaxed and fun,” Pease said.
The class gives moms a chance to exercise and bond with their babies.
“And as the babies grow and get bigger, you naturally get stronger as they get bigger,” Pease said.
Pease says the class is a good way for moms to meet other moms.
“The babies love it too,” Pease said.
Babies on Wednesday crawled around on the floor, looked at their reflections in the mirror, played with toys while their moms attempted complicated moves such as the Tree Pose, but they also smiled and giggled as their moms held their babies during poses.
The class is on Wednesdays at 10:45 a.m., costs $10 and is about 45 minutes long. Pease said the class is typically best for babies between 6 weeks old and up to toddler age.
“If they do want to crawl or walk around and not be held, I’m fine with that,” Pease said. “It’s really important to go with the flow.”
In yoga, it is important to take cues from your body, Pease said, but when doing Baby and Me Yoga, it is also important to listen to your baby.
A few of the baby’s favorite poses are a pose that has a mom lay on her back as the baby lays belly down on her shins. Another involves a mom holding baby on hips and twisting.
“It is very good for mom, twisting uses abs, but it is also really fun for the babies,” Pease said.
The yoga studio provides mats and other things, Pease says just to bring what baby needs and they will provide the rest.
Julia Buff, mother of 8-month-old Connor, tried Baby and Me Yoga for the first time last week.
“It was fun,” she said, smiling.
Pease had the moms breath deep and massage their babies.
“I used to get growing pains, they grow so fast, they have to enjoy this,” she said, while instructing moms to stretch out their babies legs and then rub them.
“Good job babies,” she said.
