April 23, Cultivating Balance and Self-Control

This week we focused on building balance and focus with the younger kids.  The younger kids played one of their favorite games called Toe-Ga, be sure to ask your child about it.  This game involves patience as they can only pick up one pom pom at the a time, and then mindfully walk over and place the pom pom in a cup.  Once they successfully completed this game they had another challenge, they had to balance a stone on their head and walk without dropping it.  We will continue to practice this skill over the next few weeks.  Here are some pictures of Toe-ga and Stone balance for you to enjoy:)

The older kids played a slightly more challenging game whereby we did a series of balancing yoga poses and their challenge was to keep their balance.  I had taken in bubbles and each of us practiced extending our exhalation while blowing out bubbles.  The challenge for those holding their pose was to be steady, as these soft bubbles landed on them.  We had a lot of fun developing our balance, breath and focus as we played this game.  

We also talked about, "Being Strong," and what that means to each of us.  The students shared the importance of both physical and mental strength.  We then ended the class by reflecting on questions such as: What do you draw your strength from, and who are the people you turn to when you need a strength?

Suggested Activity: Talk to your child about what "Being Strong" means to you and as a family come up with a family tree (image of this to be posted next week).   Use the trunk of the tree, to list the names of activities that help you gain strength and then use the leaves of the tree to list the names of people that you turn to in times when you need strength.  Keep this somewhere as a reminder to show you, that we all have different ways we can be strong, and are also fortunate enough to have parents, friends teachers etc. that are our support when we need strength.

April 16th, Mindful Listening

This week, we focused on developing our mindful listening skills.  Here we learned how we can use our breath to focus and calm our minds, so we can mindfully listen.  

With Easter around the corner, we played a fun egg shaker game called "Match the Sound", which put their listening skills to a test.  This game is a fun way to encourage kids to listen attentively, as they try and figure out subtle variations in sounds.  

The first part of the game they had to listen mindfully and match up the eggs that made the same sound.  The second part of the game they had a chance to match up the sounds with the objects.  Every-time, we guessed an object we did a corresponding yoga pose with it.   

Suggested Activity:  You can also use various treats and play the same game and have kids match up the sounds.  Add a corresponding yoga pose or activity, such as hop like a bunny 5 times, flap your wings like a butterfly etc, once they guess the sounds with the objects.  It will be a fun way to get them moving and enjoying their easter treats.

April 2nd, 2014, Space Mission

This was a very exciting class as we all got to travel to space and wear our special capes as we kept calm and completed our mission.  

Here are some of the poses that the space creatures challenged us with:

We had a wonderful mission, with both the younger and older kids and I was very proud to see our super heroes in action.

Suggested Activity:  Think of an exciting place that you and your family would love to visit.  This is a great way to discuss, what sights one would see there and then use your imagination and see if you can do some yoga poses to go with it.