Imagination, Affirmations and Mindful Movements

This was a fun week, with the younger kids I focused on developing breath awareness and using the What I can See, I Can Be book as a visual guide for our yoga poses.   It was so much fun using our imagination and turning ourself into a still mountain, then a volcano, a tree, a dog, a snake, a mouse, a kite, a boat and a peaceful meadow.  I am very proud to see our young yogis give it their best and smile while holding their poses:)  As a special treat on Wednesday, we also had time to play a fun game Duck Duck goose with a Yoga twist.  We ended our classes with relaxation where they usually center their breath and calm their minds by colouring one of the poses they learned in class and then transitioning into quiet relaxation either lying down or sitting in easy pose.  On Monday, we sang along to a positive affirmation song and felt beautiful, bountiful and blissful at the end of it.  Affirmations are a great way to instill positive thoughts in a child, and work on building their sense of self, and what better way than songs to affirm these positive thoughts!

Hissing like Snakes!

The older kids continue to challenge themselves with short yoga flows while building body awareness. Last week, we talked about 2 types of bones in our leg (tibia and femur) and this week I introduced 2 bones in our arms (ulna and humerus).  Understanding our anatomy, allows the kids to start connecting with various parts of their body as they perform each pose, and thereby embark upon the journey of mind and body connection.
They have also been shown various partner poses; I find these work very well in helping them build awareness of another person and also fostering the spirit of co-operation.  Below are some pictures taken from a previous class showing partner downward dog pose.  Ask your child to show you some of the back-to back poses we learned in class this week.

Partner Downward Dog

Announcement:  On Wednesday, we welcomed Mrs. L, a Yoga teacher and a colleague of mine, who will be joining us occasionally during our Yoga classes.

Yoga at Home:  During class, I have introduced the idea of using our breath, to let go of worries or not so good thoughts.  Trying this out at bedtime works very well, ask your child to lie down on their backs, think about a worry they may have had as they inhale and release that worry as they exhale.
With the older kids we are using visualization and have been filling each worry into a balloon and then releasing the balloon and letting go of our worry.  I usually ask the kids to make a long "haah" sound as they exhale their worries/release their balloon.  With the younger kids I ask them to go into mouse pose and exhale the worries that are trapped in their head into the earth.  Feel free to give any of these methods a try and please do share your experiences on my blog.