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This Mom Does Acrobatic Yoga with Her 2 Young Kids

3 minute read

Charity LeBlanc discovered that yoga was the best way to get back in shape after having her two kids, and now she’s learning that it’s also the perfect way for the three of them to bond.

“I love to be fit and working out, and it’s so much fun for to share that with my kids,” LeBlanc, 28, tells PEOPLE. “For them, it’s like playtime, so they’re having a blast.”

The makeup artist and graphic designer from Clearwater, Florida, picked up yoga about five years ago after the birth of her son, Oakley.

“I started doing yoga just to get back into shape, and you learn the arm strength and core strength and flexibility,” LeBlanc says. “A lot of the movements involve using your core, and after having kids your stomach is really stretched out, so it’s nice to use yoga to pull it back in tightly.”

She grew her practice in the years since to include acrobatic yoga, and kept it up during and after carrying her second child, daughter Felicity, 2.

As their motor skills developed, LeBlanc started incorporating them into her movements.

“I was just doing it at home, so they were always around me and near me, and when they were getting bigger and starting to crawl and walk, I started picking them up and lifting them with my feet,” she explains.

“They have so much fun, I think they think I’m a living jungle gym.”

The three of them plan out new movements, and LeBlanc says the kids are thrilled when the tougher ones work out.

“Sometime I’ll show them pictures of things I’ll see and say, ‘Oh, we can probably do this,’ and they get excited about it,” she says. “We’ll discuss what to do, and where to put our hands. We’re always excited when we get something that we expected to be difficult, and then it makes us excited to try the next thing.”

And now she has a pair of budding yogis.

“They pull out the mats all by themselves sometimes and do the little tricks they know,” LeBlanc says. “I think it’s really great for them to love doing it because they’re learning so much about coordination and patience. It’s a good basic skill.”

“I really like to encourage other moms to do it too. I didn’t think the kids would enjoy it as much as they have, so you never know. You just kind of start it with them, and then next thing you know you’re having fun with it and taking pictures, so I would encourage anyone with an interest to start working your way up.”

This article originally appeared on People.com

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