Feb. 24th and 26th, Reflecting and Relaxation

The younger kids continue to develop their poses, this week we used the song, Head and Shoulders, Yoga pose to put together the mix of poses.  We are working on building our core strength by practicing valley pose.  This one is most challenging for the younger kids, and I encourage them to try it with one leg at a time, and focus on being stable.  We also have been doing some other challenging poses such as bow pose and bridge pose to help strengthen our back and hips.  Be sure to ask them to show you these fun new poses.

I also brought in my breathing ball and we have been spending time quieting our minds towards the end of class in relaxation.  We have been using the ball to remind ourselves to take deep belly breaths and on the exhale letting go of our worries and fears.  We will keep working on this area with the younger kids, Taking time to slow down and focus on deep belly breathing helps relax their mind and rejuvenates their bodies.  

 The older kids, have been practicing more challenging yoga poses and reviewing the alternate nostril breathing technique.
Here is how to practice this Prana-Yama ( Sanskrit word which means Breath Elongation)
1. Breathe in through both nostrils
2. *Close Right nostril and exhale through left and then inhale through left
3. Close Left Nostril and exhale through right and then inhale through right
4. Close Right Nostril and exhale through left and then inhale through left
This would complete 1 cycle, I would suggest you can try 2 cycles
*I have shown the kids 2 different mudras (hand gestures) to close the nostril

 We also talked about opening our hearts through Yoga poses.  We  played a fun game called "Cross the line," I called out various actions that we take on a daily basis that are acts of kindness. Some examples that I called out were "Cross the line
 if you have held the door open for someone
 if you made a card to cheer someone up
 if you took care of a sick pet
 if you ever took part in a charity walk or run
It was wonderful to see their smiles as they crossed the line several times, and realised that we have been using our hearts and being kind:)
To end the class, we reflected on how we could open up our hearts and use our talents to make the world a special place.  It warmed my heart to see what everyone had to share.  We can truly make this school and community a loving place by opening up our hearts:)

Feb 10th and 13th, Connecting and loving affirmations

February was heart month in our Yoga class, so we talked a lot about being kind and loving towards one another.   Building special relationships with one another and connecting with our peers is what we practiced in our yoga classes this week.  The kids were challenged to co-ordinate with their partner and do several partner poses.  We practiced back to back breathing, partner sailboat, partner tree, chaise lounge pose, partner straddle and sufi grind, amongst other poses. 

 In celebration of loving kindness this month, I had handed out hearts to all the students.  Each of them were encouraged to write down one positive affirmation about themselves on the front of the card.  I have posted some pictures what the students said about themselves.  For the younger kids, I had handed out their hearts, alongwith a yoga pose affirmation sticker that best represented them:)

With the older kids, we took the exercise one step further, we randomly handed out the cards amongst the group and this time we wrote something positive about that person whose card we received.  It was wonderful to read out the kind words, that each of them had taken time to share about each other.  It surely fillled my heart:)

Suggested Activity:  I encouraged all my students to think of Valentine's as more than just receiving candies and treats.  Spend some time as a family, reflecting on what makes each of you special and truly take the time, to say something kind and loving to each other, as that is how we can truly enjoy this holiday and make our homes, schools and our community a loving place.

Magical Journey, February 3rd and 5th

With all the snow we have had lately,  I thought it would be such a treat to use our imagination and let our magical mats take us back to the warm Egyptian desert.

We surely enjoyed the sights and did fun yoga poses while sharing and learning about the Egyptian desert.  We talked about what is a Sphinx and what a Sphinx would look like in a yoga pose.  We turned ourselves into a pyramid and then balanced being a cactus in the desert.   We also slithered around the hot desert sand as rattle snakes, crawled around as tarantulas, planked our bodies to be still like crocodiles, opened up our heart centre by going into camel pose and pretended to fly like an Egyptian vulture.  Be sure to ask your child, what part of the desert journey they enjoyed most.

Towards the end of our journey we imagined ourselves being at an oasis.  The younger kids were challenged to place a magical stone, that we found there, on top of their heads and see if they could balance for 5 breath cycles.  The older kids had to transition from seated easy pose to standing mountain pose without dropping the magical stone.  Both groups did a wonderful job focusing and balancing.  We ended our journey by relaxing at the oasis and breathing out any worries we may have had during the day.

Suggested Activity:  Talk to your child about what place they would really like to visit and let your imagination take you there.  Envisioning themselves in their favorite place will bring lots of happy thoughts, and is a great way to unwind before they go to bed.

What is your child's favorite place, please feel free to share and we may just all go there in one of our classes:)