Mandalas and more at RUPS Fun Fair

Thank you to everyone who dropped by the Blossom Yoga table at the RUPS Fun Fair.  It was definitely a wonderful evening and I certainly enjoyed making mandalas with all the kids and parents who stopped by.

Most of you who stopped by indicated Yoga in the Park as an activity you would be interested in participating.   Stay tuned, I will be soon posting details for this event on this blog.

Last but not the least, congratulations to the family who won the Blossom Yoga Birthday Party during the silent auction.  I look forward to planning a truly Yog-tacular birthday party with you.

FRIDAY FAMILY YOGA FOR RUPS

I am excited to share that Blossom Yoga will be offering Friday Family Yoga for RUPS family and friends at the RUPS gym on the following dates: 

Friday -> May 13^th, 20^th, June 3^rd and June 10^th

As a RUPs parent myself, me and my family look forward to welcoming you and connecting with your family and building our RUPS community. 

Please note, if you are interested please send in your forms latest by Wednesday May 4th.    

RUPS Friday family Yoga:  No experience needed!  This is a fun class where you can bond together as a family while learning ways to unwind and stay calm after a busy week. We  will be doing gentle yoga poses, creative breathing exercises and most importantly learning ways to relax together as a family.  Parents, caregivers, grandparents all are welcome!

Look forward to connecting with all of you!

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Below is a copy of the Registration form that went home last week.

BLOSSOM YOGA

CONNECT, BREATHE AND GROW

WITH YOGA AND MINDFULNESS

Join us for Friday Family Yoga

Location:   Ray Underhill Public School Gym

No experience needed.  Bring your kids and unwind from the busy week while doing yoga poses, gentle stretching, creative breathing exercises and learning fun ways to relax together as a family! Please dress comfortably and if you have a yoga mat please feel free to bring it.

Bio:  Ummul is a RUPS mom and has been studying yoga and mindfulness for over 8 years and has been teaching Kids Yoga since 2013.  To learn more about Ummul and her fun Yoga classes, check out her blog posts on this website: www.BlossomYogaKids.com

Session Dates:  Friday -> May 13^th, 20^th, June 3^rd and June 10^th

Time:  6:30pm – 7:15pm

Place:  RUPS Gym

Who:  Open to parents/caregivers and kids (4 years and older)

Cost:  Each Yoga Session is $12 per family

           Total Cost of $48 for 4 sessions

Please send the completed form back to your child’s teacher along with cash or cheque* in the envelope provided by Wednesday May 4^th.

*Cheques payable to: Ummul Patrawala

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Parent/Caregiver Name(s):       __________________________

                                                __________________________

Child 1 Name:  _________________________________

Child 2 Name:  ________________________________

Child 3 Name:  ________________________________

Ages of Kid(s): ________      _______      ________

Email address:  ______________________________________

Home Number: _________________  Cell:  _______________

A Mini Surprise - RUPS lunch time yoga registration package

Have you had a chance to take a peek at the Lunch time Yoga registration package?  If you have, did you find a mini intention stick with a smiley face.  Ask your child if they remember the "Happy stick," from the Yoga assembly and how they would use them?

However, if your kids are similar to mine and gave you a brief description of what they are, then no worries, I have got you covered.

The "Happy stick" is intended to instill the value of gratefulness in our children.  Research shows that people who make time to practice gratitude on an ongoing basis end up feeling an innate sense of happiness:)

So why wait till Thanksgiving, why not make every day a day to express our gratitude!

Recommended Use:  Take a moment with your child and while they are holding the Happy stick remind them to smile and share 2-3 things that they feel thankful/grateful for.   Once they are done sharing feel free to model the same by holding the stick and sharing 2-3 things you may be grateful for.  See if you can make this a family tradition and incorporate this gratitude practice in your weekly if not daily routine.

Encourage your kids to think of not just the material gifts but also the intangible gifts they may have such as health, safety, family support etc which make our daily experiences special.

I would love to hear any other ideas you may have on practicing gratitude with kids.  Do you and your family have your own special tradition, please comment below and share.

RUPS LUNCH TIME YOGA - PLEASE BRING IN YOUR FORMS

BLOSSOM YOGA

 Lunch Time Yoga for Grades 1, 2 & 3

Yoga Sprouts (Grades 1-3): Children will have the opportunity to explore yoga poses and mindfulness through books, songs, story telling, art and games.  The program fosters strength (physical and emotional), creativity, focus, body awareness, kindness and self-regulation in a safe and non-competitive environment.

Teacher Profile:  Ummul is a RUPS mom who has been studying yoga and mindfulness for over 8 years and has been teaching Kids Yoga since 2013.  To learn more about Ummul and her fun Yoga classes, check out her blog posts on this website: www.BlossomYogaKids.com

Start Date:  Wednesday, May 4th      End Date: Wednesday June 8^th

Cost:  Each session is $8 for a total of 

$48 for 6 sessions 

Please send the completed form back to your child’s teacher along with cash or cheque* by Thursday April, 28th

*Cheques payable to: Ummul Patrawala

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.