A relaxation especially for new parents

Being a parent is the best job in the world. It's a blessing, a joy, challenging and life changing. Nothing can prepare you for it.

If you are a new parent you will know exactly what I mean!

I invite you to take a moment to be with the miracle of being a parent, this is especially for new parents, but if you are a parent of any age child you may enjoy this practice too and you can adapt my words to suit. You can read the relaxation and follow my guidance as you read, or you can listen to the MP3 below and follow my voice.

To begin, wherever you are reading this take a moment of pause, breath in deeply and breath out slowly and gently. Do this a couple of times.

If you are holding your baby feel the connection of touch between you. Maybe you are feeding your baby, maybe soothing them, maybe just holding them as they sleep. Feel their warmth, their breath moving in and out, hear any sounds they are making.

If your baby or child is near you connect to them through sight and sound, what are they doing? What are their sounds?

If your baby or child is not with you bring them to mind in anyway you wish.

Feel the connection and love between you.

Now bring your awareness to yourself. Check in with how you feel right now.

Having a baby is a huge achievement, physically and emotionally. You are experiencing huge changes in your body, mind and life.

You may be feeling on cloud 9, joyous, contented, proud. You may be feeling tired or exhausted, challenged, even overwhelmed or anxious.

It's ok and perfectly natural to feel any, or a mix, or all of these things, they are all part and parcel of the fourth trimester, the first few weeks right after your baby is born. And they are a part of being a parent at any stage of your child's life. As a new parent these daily changes, adaptations, learning, joy and challenges can be extreme. After giving birth emotions are running high, hormones are changing and sleep is less easy to come by. Know that however you are feeling it's ok to feel it. You are doing the best you possibly can. It's good enough.

Bring your awareness to your belly feel your inhale gently fill your belly, feel your belly release gently as you exhale. Notice what this sensation feels like. Can you feel connection to your belly, or are you not feeling connected there? There's no right or wrong, just let the breath gently inflate the belly with each inhale and release on your exhale.

Place your hand on your belly to help you feel the movement, or maybe your baby is resting there and you can feel your belly press gently against them as you breath.

Stay with this for as long as you like, breathing deeply into your belly, without straining or being too effortful. Just breathe gently. Let the breath guide you, let it soften around your belly, let it soothe you.

And if you lose the rhythm or connection to your breath that's ok, pause and start again if you want to.

When you are ready bring your awareness back to your baby. You might see or feel or hear their breathing, watch how they breathe deeply right into their belly and through their whole body. Deeply, smoothly, comfortably. If you can't see them right now, notice the next time they are sleeping.

When you are ready take a couple of smooth deep breaths in and out and you are ready to continue the rest of your day, breath by breath, moment by moment.

If you were holding your baby during the relaxation, notice their response. Did they soften and relax as they felt your body, breath and heart rate calming? Did they become more active? Taking a moment like this in your day with your baby can help them to learn to relax too, taking their cues from the physical cues of your body. You can try this when baby is fractious or when they are calm.

Being a new parent means you really have to be much more in the moment. You have to let go of expectations, plans, perfection. Instead you have to learn to tune into your baby, what they need and how best to fulfil them. It's 24/7 and one of the biggest learning curves of your life. You are doing an amazing job, keep doing the best that you can, that's all your baby needs from you.

Take heart that development stages, and your baby's rhythms will change, come and go. Enjoy the easier ones, know that the harder ones will eventually pass. Hold onto every moment, because it goes so fast.

I hope that taking this time to connect to yourself will give you a moments space to pause, re-balance and re-set, this will help you to re-fill your cup, so that you can continue to give your best to your baby, to your family and to yourself. I encourage you to live every parental moment, joyful or difficult, with self love.


If you would like to spend more time re-connecting to yourself and bonding with your baby, Baby Massage and Postnatal Mum and baby yoga explore tools and techniques to help you rebalance, find time for you and support you so that you can support your baby in the best way you possibly can.

For any body and any birth. Classes will help you to physically rebalance through gentle yoga and movement and to spend time having fun interacting with your baby. You’ll learning gentle massage and movement to aid baby’s digestion and support their sleep.

You can find out more about my postnatal classes at www.breathingspace-yoga.com find the mum and baby yoga and baby massage pages and there’s some free resources there for you too.

And if you are a parent of an older child of any age, yoga is great for you too! Take a look at my website to see what I have on offer for everyone.