I had tried an exercise class with baby, and it was a disaster. I was frustrated, baby was cranky, and at the end I was just exhausted and not feeling good at all. Still wanting to do some type of exercise, I heard about Tot Yoga. Thankfully for us, Havona Madama, hadn’t been able to find a yoga video to do with her 2 year old. So, Stoney’s mom, a lawyer and an entrepreneur, got to work. The result is Tot Yoga, an instructive yoga video for parents and toddlers or pre-schoolers to enjoy in concert. It is aimed at toddlers from 10 months to 3 years old; exactly where we (baby and this cool mom) are at: perfect! I was very excited at the thought of doing some good for me and the little one. Despite this, I was still very skeptic about Yoga, of all things, with baby.
Nevertheless, my curiosity took over me when I discovered their benefits:
· Promotes calmness
· Reduces stress
· Increases confidence
· Improves concentration
· Develops a Healthy Body
Additionally, Tot Yoga uses playtime as a wind down to promote serene napping for the child!
When I received the video, it struck me that FINALLY, someone was telling me what every mom knows: toddlers do not give attention to anything for very long, and hardly ever follow directions. I was taken aback by a product relating to real mom’s backdrop issues. This translates into the fact that Tot Yoga was designed in such way, that it understands that your toddler will not pursue a specific practice or routine.
Tot Yoga is divided into 3 major sections:
-Following your tot: a creative way to get down to your child’s world and let them lead you into it. Here you get to crawl like and with your kid. By doing so, the video tells us that we are helping prevent possible hip problems, who knew! It is good to behave like a kid sometimes ;-)
-Parent led yoga: now it is your turn to engage the toddlers and give them a little more direction on what to do. This part is a little longer than the previous one. It is another opening to put in some subtle education by talking about the animal you are making the pose of, or feeding their creativity and imagination as you change poses, or tell a story related to the yoga you are doing.
-Your yoga: finally it is your turn. This is the longest section. Here you get in a little me time as you strengthen and stretch. The poses you do in this chapter aim at stress reduction and improved flexibility.
We set out to test the Tot Yoga DVD with our panel of moms and their kids. Among our group we had some who had never experienced Yoga, some beginners and a couple intermediate Yoga students. By the way, parents in the video are yoga novices.
The class took place at gym and was loads of fun for moms and children alike. The
Class did not develop at all how I had envisioned it. Actually, their proposal is much more relaxed and fun, like yoga should be, right? Kids were around parents, and came in and out of the exercises with ease for all. There was calm and happiness all around us.
This needs to be emphasized; Tot Yoga effectively conveys peace and tranquility. It melts away the tension parents had before class begun wondering if their kids would follow directions or be disruptive to class.
Instructions and guidance are imparted by Khadi Madama, the host of the TV show “Yours Truly Yoga”
Now, all of the above was too good to be true, so I challenged the DVD once again, and did some Tot Yoga with baby at home. Alone, and with no one else to distract us, it was even more enjoyable! Laughing, relaxing and learning through playful exercise, we bonded further. We imitated animal sounds and made trees together. He got a kick out of watching me following him around as he crawled and walked around. As if on cue, he followed the video’s directions to do the panda pose. He was very amused the entire time. This is definitively a great activity for both of us, so enriching and unique in bringing us closer. All the while, educational for my little one, who was mixing up animals and their sounds, he finally got it right!
I also see how this can contribute to getting kid’s creativity and imagination going as my little one who is learning his first words talked non stop. It sounded like a very interesting story.
This Yoga video program is the perfect activity for a rainy or snow day, too.
Tot Yoga achieves fun, imaginative interactive play, and calmness throughout a good half hour while teaching by example the importance of exercise for a healthy life…. WOW!
It truly delivers the “unwind, fun, chill out” factor this little blog aims at delivering moms with our reviews! What a perfect match!
You know we will be doing plenty of Tot Yoga play-dates from now on, and so can one of you!
Cool Mom Cool Tips readers get ready! Tot Yoga has two important announcements for us:
· Havona has been generous to us, she is offering all of you a price reduction that makes the DVD sell to you affordably at $14.99 which you can take advantage of by using code COOLMOMS at http://totyoga.com
· She is a very giving lady and besides the discount code, she is giving us the opportunity to giveaway Tot Yoga to one of you.
To enter, all you have to do is go to Tot Yoga and under their section “I have no yoga experience, can I do Tot Yoga?” Tell us what you learn from them.
For bonus entries you can:
1- Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post (5 entries)
2-Follow Tot Yoga on Twitter and tweet : RT @coolchillmom #win a Tot Yoga DVD for you & #toddler enter #giveaway http://bit.ly/dm6JUR #kids #yoga #fun (you get an entry for every tweet ; don’t forget to leave a link to your tweet).
3- Follow us on Twitter and tweet : RT @coolchillmom #win a Tot Yoga DVD for you & #toddler enter #giveaway http://bit.ly/dm6JUR #kids #yoga #fun (you get an entry for every tweet ; don’t forget to leave a link to your tweet).
4-Grab our button (3 entries)
5- Follow our blog publicly (3 entries)
6- Add us to your blog roll (2 entries)
7- Enter any of my other current giveaways (2 entries per giveaway).
8- Promote this giveaway, and give us the link of where and what you did. (3 extra entries).
9- Vote for us at the Little Remedies contest for great prizes for both YOU and US http://bit.ly/9JYOBW (4 entries per vote - you can vote daily)
Can't get enough of Tot Yoga? Join them on Facebook.
Thanks Havona for introducing us to such an exceptional product and for being so generous with Cool Moms Cool Tip readers!
*Open to US and Canada residents.
*Make sure we have a way to reach you, by either enabling your email through blogger, or leaving your email in the comment.
*Winners are chosen by random.org, so make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!
*Rules for each entry must be followed to be valid.
*Giveaway ends on April 15th, midnight EST.
*Winners will be announced on our Facebook fan page, join us there .
*Winners will be contacted via e-mail and will have 48 hours to reply or new winners will be chosen.
Thanks Havona for introducing us to such an exceptional product and for being so generous with Cool Moms Cool Tip readers!Labels: DVD, Giveaway, Havona Madama, Khadi Madama, toddlers, Tot Yoga, yoga, Yours truly yoga
Tot Yoga is divided into 3 major sections: