Clear your desk, the dining table, or whatever large inanimate object is in front of you – because your jaw is about to hit it.
The woman in this video is 51-year-old baby yoga ‘guru’ Lena Fokina, and what you’re about to see will leave you with just one question: How can this possibly be real? But you know what? It is.
The Russian mum practices and teaches something called Baby Yoga but don’t be deceived by the pleasant name – there are no mats and stretchy pants here. Fokina’s version of baby yoga involves swinging and flipping infants around her body by their wrists and ankles.
At first glance, it looks as though she’s using dolls – but these babies are real, and if their crying is an indication, acting as an exercise prop terrifies them. Some of the children are just two weeks old.
Fonika told the UK press, that “the method was originally developed to cure and correct the health of children having muscular or skeletal problems but it is also suitable for healthy children. The movements are designed to improve their muscular abilities and development. And the children often turn out to be early readers, singers, talkers, swimmers. It also makes their hands stronger. We are humanists and we don’t do anything wrong.”
Fonika’s videos continue to stun and horrify viewers everywhere. Many have called the practice a form of child abuse. What’s possibly even scarier is that other people are following her lead. Fokina, who has reportedly practiced baby yoga for 30 years and whose videos first went viral in 2012, insists it is safe, beneficial and even enjoyable for the babies
She hopes it will be adopted by parents around the world. For the sake of babies everywhere, we hope it isn’t.
