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Yoga with Yaga, Dance Dimensions, 638 Main St., Studio 1, Longmont, 303-818-9883, yogawithyaga.com

Instructor: Yaga Richter, a Longmont mother, who has been teaching yoga for about a year. She has basic yoga teacher training from Core Power in Boulder and was trained in prenatal and Mommy and Me yoga at Yo Mama Yoga in Boulder.

Last summer, she taught Yoga for Moms outside in the park near a playground, where older kids could play (and were watched by a designated babysitter).

Richter, who was born in Poland, plans to move her current class outside in June or so, when it warms up. Specific location to be determined. This fall, she hopes to move into the new Family Garden building, scheduled to open in Longmont in May. The Family Garden will be a nonprofit prenatal and parent support facility, offering childbirth education, nursing groups and other classes.

What is the workout? A yoga class for moms and their children of any age (typically from about 6 weeks old to 5 years). Class focuses on restoring the body after pregnancy, strengthening the core and glutes, opening the shoulders, improving strength, posture and flexibility and helping moms find their "inner calm." Part of the class typically focuses on poses for the moms, and another part involves activity for the kids.

"It's all done in a safe manner," Richter says, keeping in mind common postpartum challenges, such as the diastasis recti (an abdominal separation common after pregnancy).

Richter started the Mommy and Me class in late February because she didn't know of any other yoga classes focused on moms and kids in Longmont.

She says her classes fall in between challenging Core Power classes and slower, more restorative and socially focused "mommy and me" yoga classes.

Class starts with a short check-in, when moms introduce themselves and can share challenges and advice, but the class is designed to be a workout, not a social hour. If the kids cooperate, a class typically runs like this: warm-up, basic sun salutations, standing poses, core work, floor strengthening poses and gentle stretches. Sometimes Richter reads to the kids or plays with them at the end so the moms can relax while lying on their backs in the shavasana pose.

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Workout of the week: Mommy and Me Yoga