Yoga Kids!

I was asked by my son's teacher to talk about yoga at his progressive pre-school. I was hestitant at first (because I'm merely a practitioner and not a certified yoga teacher) but relented as I've always appreciated the open-minded and non-traditional methods and approach of proggressive schools. Teacher and I agreed to limit my spiel to yoga postures that mimic nature so I prepared a slide show of the animals and the things that we see in nature such as a mountain, tree, cat, dog, horse, firefly etc. and how these look as yoga poses. After some 10 slides we played guessing game by making the class guess which animals the asanas were imitating. The kids went hysterical watching the yogis do the duck, scorpion, peacock and other hatha yoga poses and at some point I really wished I had one of those Tibetan bowl-gongs to bang or even maybe Zen chimes to calm the kids. The children were holding their breaths in excitement and couldn't wait to do the poses themselves.

We started with the mountain pose, or Tadasana. Here I introduced breathing yoga-style. Ekam, inhale. Dve, exhale. Trini, look up...

I had Teachers May and Kleck demonstarte Vrksasana, or tree pose.

A forest...

We played "who could stay longest in eagle pose" also known as Garudasana.

Upward facing dog and its' counter-pose...

Chloe preparing for the Dolphin pose. Before long the kids were having so much fun rocking around in a modified rooster or Kukkutasana and doing the cobra, camel, and the crane while hooting like the animals. Gabby a lithe, fearless 7-year old could even hover in half a handstand then jump through. All this without even knowing about the bandhas! We finished with the butterfly and the lotus. In Padmasana I encouraged the kids to "believe in yourself" and to simply "do your best". Mantras that I hope they would remember for life.

Om...

I distributed animal mandalas (like the ones below) for them to colour at home. Mandala, I explained, in simple Sanskrit means "circle" and symbolises the connection between all beings in the universe. That is why yogis believe in treating nature and its creations with respect in order to preserve the balance of nature.

I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity to impart some yoga to children. I really think I enjoyed the hour with them more than they did. With this and with a deep, long breath, I've decided to continue my yoga practice. Namaste.

(Photos courtesy of May Enriquez and the school's blog.)