A brief introduction to Maternity yoga class and mom and kids class in Kyoto 2/2

Today's blog is not meant to introduce a yoga class run in a foreign language in Kyoto but share the atmosphere and experience of a mom and kids yoga class run in Japanese that I attend in Kyoto. I hope you would find this article helpful when you look for a class/workshop for a mother and a little kid.

Hello, thank you for visiting and coming back to Porch's blog. Today's blog is about my experience in a mom and kids yoga class in Kyoto. If you would like to read the first half part, please check it out here.

A brief introduction to Maternity yoga class and mom and kids class in Kyoto 1/2

I attended my first mom and kids Yoga class with two months to spare after giving birth to my son. It was recommended by my yoga teacher who led both a maternity yoga class and mom and kids class. Also, if I talk about common sense in Japan, new mothers are supposed to stay home and rest in bed as much as they can in the first month after they gave birth.

Generally speaking, mothers experience major changes in their bodies. New mothers have a distorted pelvis and severely damaged pelvic floor muscles from childbirth. While hormones are trying to swing back to their previous state, they are also trying to produce different hormones to nurture the child!

The focus of the class, however, was not on physical recovery, but on maintaining a mind-body connection amidst the waves of obstacles caused by a new life with a baby. This practice helped me a lot in the really hectic postpartum months.

Here is a description of the yoga class. The studio is about 20 tatami mats in size and is located on the second floor of a coffee shop. One of the walls of the studio has a large window, and beautiful sunlight is streaming in on the breeze through the leaves of the trees along the street in front of the cafe. There are at most five pairs of mothers and children there.

Babies are mainly from two months to one year of age. This is because, in Japan, mothers who were working for a company before giving birth can take one-year childcare leave on the condition that they return to work one year later. So most of the mothers who take the class continue it until their child enters nursery school.

How does the baby participate in the practice? The answer is: they aren't at all. Yoga classes are for mothers. Babies play alone or together when they start crawling. As long as they are not harming other babies, they are free to do so.

To be honest, I miss the days when my son was not crawling. Now that my son is crawling everywhere, it is much harder to do yoga. He is very interested in other moms' water bottles and tries to roll them from left to right.

Aside from yoga, exchanging information has helped me a lot. We talk about playgrounds around the city and events for used baby clothes and items. I was able to have an Inflatable baby shower chair for free thanks to advice from another mom. Also, visiting 児童館 (Jidoukan/local children's center) became our favorite way to spend mornings which was also what I recommended by a mom.

Based on my experience, I would say that mothers tend to be lonely at times, and it can be very difficult at times to just stay cooped up at home with the baby. In my case, yoga was something I could take my child to, but I think it would be nice if everyone could have some kind of activity, any kind of activity, that would give them something to interact with each other.

Again! We would like to know if there are any classes for pregnant women in Kyoto that you had/ you would like/ have wished to have. Also, please let us know about any classes for pregnant women offered in your home country!

Thank you for reading Porch's blog!