Toronto Mom Now recently sat in on a mommy and me yoga class with local birth doula and certified prenatal yoga instructor Jamie Kalynuik and discovered that babies love doing yoga with mom.
While these are called mommy and me classes, they are open to any infant caregivers and promote bonding through loving touch (during the class Jamie cheerfully recommends “now reassure baby with a kiss”) as well as sight, sound and movement stimulation.
Jamie founded Toronto Yoga Mamas to create a community where women can learn, nurture and connect with eachother through their birthing journeys and into motherhood. As a doula who works with families in Toronto’s downtown core she feels strongly about creating a supportive, safe and confident environment thoughout pregnancy and after birth.
Located on Queen East in the heart of Leslieville, Pentimento Fine Art Gallery is a bright and inviting space full of natural light, that serves as host to Toronto Yoga Mama classes and is a welcome environment to do yoga in. Pentimento is a contemporary gallery that shows a diverse range of media from Canadian artists in all stages of their career.
During our morning with Toronto Yoga Mama’s we saw that instructor Jamie Kalynuik makes moms getting fit with their new babies work seamlessly, due to her calm and confident ‘go with the flow’ approach to group classes.
All Toronto Yoga Mama classes are breast feeding friendly and while Jamie leads the class through a series of structured yoga exercises, moms know they can sit out, attend to baby or adapt their exercise to suit baby’s needs at any time during class.
If you’re a new mom in downtown Toronto looking for a yoga class that works for you and your baby or you’re a new mom-to-be searching for prenatal yoga or a doula, we suggest you look no further and give Jamie Kalynuik a try.
