Kitchen Safety – It’s Important!

Kitchen.

Making food can be super fun and awesome, and to keep it that way, it’s important to practice a few safety tips when you’re in the kitchen. Having adult backup, knowing how to sterilize and clean your work area, and understanding the proper way to handle different types of foods are all things you need to know and do.

Grown-up Back-up

Before you get started, make sure you get permission to start your cooking project. Let your parent know if your recipe uses knives, a stove or any other appliance used to heat food, or other types of kitchen appliances (blenders, food processors, and other stuff like that), you need to ask an adult for help, especially when you’re just learning.

Having an adult helping you while you cook will help keep you safe, and make sure you have the ability to act properly and quickly if something goes wrong. Besides, it’s always great to have a second set of hands in the kitchen…even the professionals have assistants, and sometimes even whole teams!

Wear an apron to keep your clothes clean and avoid staining. Make sure your shirt, especially, isn’t too large and baggy, as loose fabric can get caught on moving appliance parts, catch on fire, and create other hazards.

Big Bad Bacteria

When you’re working with raw food (even vegetables), you have to keep your kitchen, your cooking gear, and yourself — CLEAN. When you keep your materials clean, it keeps bacteria from contaminating your food.

BACTERIA is what makes you sick (germs), CONTAMINATION is what happens when dirty stuff (like bacteria) gets into clean stuff (like your food).  Food doesn’t have to LOOK dirty to BE dirty, so it’s important to:

Practice the following SUPER IMPORTANT safety tips all the time

  1. Before you start, wash your hands with soap and clean water
  2. Wash your hands before and after handling raw meat, poultry, egg, and fish products. < Really important
  3. Wash your cutting board, knives, and surfaces, especially in between switching from meat to raw veggies and fruits
  4. Make sure all your fruits and veggies are thoroughly washed (you can fill up the sink with water and a couple Tablespoons of white vinegar to make a good veggie wash)
  5. Clean as you go
  6. Don’t eat raw eggs, or foods that have uncooked eggs in them (like dough)
  7. Wash your hands before you eat
  8. Have an adult help you properly store leftovers

Sharp and Hot – PAY ATTENTION!

Always ask your grown-up if you can use appliances with cutters, blades, or heating elements. If they say it’s ok to use a knife, point the blade away from your body and keep your fingers away from the blade when you’re cutting. And watch it when you’re not using it, too. Be careful where you wave that thing!

Pay Attention! Give 100% of your attention to what you’re doing at all times.

Don’t get burned

  • Use potholders or oven mitts when handling hot pots, pans, or baking trays. Don’t use your shirt, or a towel, or the cat.
  • Turn pot and pan handles toward the back of the stove so you won’t flip them over by accident.
  • Never try to relight the pilot light on a gas stove. Only an adult should do this. An adult should also light the burners for you and make sure to pay close attention when you’re near the stove so you don’t catch yourself, clothes, or utensils on fire.
  • Use only microwave-safe dishes in the microwave. Some dishes can break, crack, explode, or get too hot in the microwave. If you’re not sure if something is safe for use in the microwave, ask your grown-up.
  • NEVER put anything metal in the microwave. Even a little foil on a label can cause sparks and fire.

If you practice good safety and cleanliness, and pay attention to what you’re doing, cooking can be a grand adventure. If you have any questions about what’s safe and what’s not, ask your grown-up! Chances are, they know a thing or two about kitchen safety.

Halloween Lesson Plan

AGES:  2-6, 7-11

MATERIALS

  • Halloween music and something to play music (i.e. speaker)
  • Halloween coloring  pages
  • Markers or supplies for decorating mini pumpkins
  • Witches hat

OBJECTIVES/GOALS/INTENTIONS
Use imagination and get the kids excited about Halloween!

MUSICAL MUSINGS
Play some scary or fun Halloween music in the background for either parts of or the entire lesson.

CONNECTING CIRCLE
1. The YogaKids Pledge or, take a minute to clearly explain your expectations regarding participation and behavior.
2. Introduce the Theme “Halloween Night in <your town>”
3. Welcome song (sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down)
Sit in Pretzel and do torso circles right and then left while you sing,
Welcome to YogaKids
YogaKids….YogaKids
Welcome to YogaKids
So glad you’re here!

QUIET QUESTS
Magic Witches Hat Breath – Inhale hands in prayer over head, and exhale hands to heart. (several rounds)

POSES AS PATHWAYS TO LEARNING
Surya Namaskar – Do any variation of sun salutations you like. A sun salutation is one way of thanking the sun for coming out every day, for providing us with warmth and light and vitamin D. Vitamin D gives us healthy bones, allowing us to grow and stay strong. It allows our food to grow for us to eat, giving our pumpkins and apples color and vitamins. This dance makes us strong, flexible, alert, and coordinated. And it’s good for the heart! Ecological Echoes, Body Benefits

Sunrise, Sunset – The sun is setting on Halloween night, and we are ready for a night of fun. The moon is bright, and shining down on our Halloween night. Poses as Pathways

Mountain (Witch’s Broom) – We are witches broomsticks! Take in a deep breath, and then float around the room on the broom stick, blowing out all our air. When all our air is out, our broom turns into a mouse.

Child’s Pose (Mouse) – Repeat Witch’s Broom to Mouse a few times.

Now, it is time for our witch to make her special Halloween Witches Brew. Stand in a wide stance Mountain and begin stirring the pot clockwise then counterclockwise. What will our witch put into her brew this Halloween? First, she puts in two handfuls of bugs! And stir the pot!

Bug Pose or Happy Baby
Stir the pot! Next she adds 4 large green lizards.

Lizard – Can you say, “Large Lucky Lizards Land in our Witches Brew?” Laughing Language
Stir the pot! Next our witch puts in two twisted twigs from her Oak tree.

Tree Pose
Stir the pot! The witch reaches deep down into her pocket and plucks out two eyeballs and throws them into the brew.

Ball pose – Have the children roll back and forth on their mats.
Stir the pot!

Next the witch puts in the skull of an eagle.
Eagle Pose

And a handful of feathers from a wise, old owl.
360 Degree Owl
And stir the pot!

The witch then puts in two wings of a magic butterfly…
Butterfly

Ask the children if they have anything they want to put in, going around the circle and putting in their ideas with or without doing yoga poses to go along with what they come up with.

The last thing the witch puts in is two shells of a snapping turtle.
Turtle – Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. Several species of turtles can live to be over 100 years old. The oldest documented turtle lived to be over 200. Ecological Echoes

The witch laughed. She was pleased that all her ingredients were in. <BIG LAUGH!> She put on her magic Witch’s hat.

Stay sitting with wide legs and stir making big circles in both directions. Then, do a Magic Spell together, saying softly at first, then repeating getting louder and louder.
“Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

Witches Hat Pose (Down Diggity Down Dog) – Have the kids make a triangle out of themselves in this pose.
The witch’s companion, her dog, howled at the moon with excitement.

Up Uppity Doggie Up – Howl at the moon.
Go back and forth between Witch’s Hat to Updog several times howling.

Now that her work was done, it was time for the witch to rest.
Rest in the Pumpkin Patch – Have the kids lie down and take 13 breaths. Expand the belly like a pumpkin
It is time for us to celebrate Halloween with some Trick or Treating.

Row Row Row Your Boat – Repeat the mantra as you do the pose:
Trick or Treat (clapping feet on floor), Smell My Feet (hands and soles of feet clapping)

Freeze and Flow – If you have time, include the Yoga Freeze and Flow game. When the music stops, take turns having each child wear the Witch’s hat and teach a yoga pose to the group.

Sunrise/Sunset – The sun is setting on our spooky Halloween night, time for us to sleep.

Twist and Blow

Savasana

VISUAL VIGNETTE
Have the children color a Halloween coloring page, or decorate pumpkins.

 

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Walking on Sunshine

Sun-Coloring-Sheets

AUTHOR: Chelsea Keller
AGE GROUP: 2-6, 7-11
MATERIALS: Blank sunshine coloring sheets, markers, crayon, stuffed animals/breathing buddies, The Yoga Garden Game, marbles
KEY ELEMENTS:  Ecological Echoes
SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC
Students will have fun in the sun with this class!! With uplifting sun music, a sun salutation, and interactively playing in our yoga garden.
DISCUSSION POINTS

  • Sun, seasons, how plants grow, photosynthesis
  • Patterns (in explaining sun salutations) for 2-6 age group

CONNECTING CIRCLE
Students begin lying down with legs spread in a V with feet touching, connecting around the circle and arms overhead.  Students make a sun, each representing bright rays of… SUNSHINE!  Bridge of Diamonds

POSES AS PATHEWAYS/INTEGRATE THE ELEMENTS

Transformer Series/Sun Salutation   Sun salutations are poses linked together to form a pattern.  Have student share examples of patterns. Show patters perhaps with colorful flowers or other items.  The sun is very healthy for us? It gives us Vitamin D which helps prevent many diseases including:   Type 1 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.  The sun also gives us energy and happiness!  Math Medley, Body Benefits, Ecological Echoes, Musical Musings

Play Reach for the Sun, By YogaKids Fitness Fun Tunes

  • Mountain
  • Reach for the Sun (4 or 5 rounds)
  • Exhale into Rag Doll
  • Inhale/Step back into Down Diggety Doggy Down
  • Exhale into Lizard
  • Inhale into Cobra/Snake
  • Exhale onto all fours
  • Inhale into Cow/Moo
  • Exhale into Cat/Meow
  • Inhale/Push up into Down Diggety Doggy Down
  • Exhale/Walk the dog up to Mountain, ready to repeat!

 

Mountain  “I am strong, I am stable” The sun is shining bright. What could grow? Affirmations, Ecological Echoes

Acorn to Tree  (child’s pose to tree)  Trees grow as a result of sun and water.  This is called photosynthesis, from the Greek phōs, “light”, and synthesis, “putting together”.  Trees convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the trees activities (energy transformation).  Ecological Echoes

Root and Rise  (squat low and then rise up like a tree growing tall)  Our roots keep us connected to the earth, and grounded – just like a tree. Feel your roots, and reach your branches tall towards the clouds and the sun. Ecological Echoes, Bridge of Diamonds

Walking with my Animal Hat (walk with a stuffed animal on the head) (Play Walking on Sunshine or other inspirational music) This pose helps us improve our balance, posture, and concentration. Body Benefits, Musical Musings

Circle of Friendship Flower (Hold hands, childs pose, rise up onto the knees and spread arms)  What type of flower are you (for older group) or what color is your flower (for younger group).  We all Win

Marble Toes  (Pick up marbles with the toes)  Plant seeds in the yoga garden.  Set up hula-hoops around the room as the flowerbeds. Play Hula Hoops by  Omi  We All Win, Musical Musings

The Yoga Garden Game (Available at yogakids.com) If time allows We All Win

 

VISUAL VIGNETTES  Sun coloring sheets, or have students create their own.

QUIET QUESTS

Savasana & Peace Breath
Close your eyes. Relax your body. Feel how comfortable it is to relax your body on the comfort of your own mat, or your wonderful sunshine that you walked on today. Soak up the sunshine, soak up those rays, and enjoy the heat, energy, life and love the sun provides you. Breathe your belly up and down. Take a deep breath in, and breathe out and whisper peace. As you say peace, feel all the peace that fills your body. Sense all the peace that is filling the room. Send peace to the animals, the tress, the plants, and the beautiful flowers in our world. Send peace to your family and friends and everyone you love. Always remember to enjoy the peace and sunshine in your life.

CLOSING CIRCLE
Re-create the connecting circle sunshine created at the beginning of class. This time, ask students to shine their rays even brighter, and reach reach reach their arms all the way to the back of their mats.

Namaste

A Mother’s Sweet Goodnight

YogaKids Teacher Julie Pate wrote this poem after a guided meditation taught at a YogaKids Transformations Training while on her journey to become a Certified YogaKids Teacher. Julie shares that her YogaKids journey transformed her life by transforming her career and relationships . Learn how you can transform your life and become a Certified YogaKids Teacher HERE

A Mother’s Sweet Goodnight
By Julie Pate

The sun has long since set on our day; we sit together as sleep approaches
It is dark, except for the soft glow of the bathroom light in the distance
The fan above gently brushes the warm air against our skin

Love floats through the room resting softly on his nose, and then my shoulder
So fully present in these moments; it feels as if the love can be touched, and held

With the day’s distractions gone, we can finally be here together
and savor each moment, like the last few tastes in a bowl of ice cream

His voice is young and full of wonder as he shares his triumphs and dreams
Tenderness passes from mother to son and back again
We close the day with a thankful awareness
and a hope for another day, to love some more.

A note from the author: “I hope this poem inspires you to cultivate a quiet moment with someone you love today.” And when you are in that moment, may you pause in awe of just how beautiful it is.

 


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Winter Lesson Plan

winter

Winter officially starts on December 21, and ends on March 19.. In this fun YogaKids lesson plan we will explore the winter season’s animals, characteristics and interesting facts while practicing yoga in a fun, safe and educational way.

AGES:  2-6, 7-11

MATERIALS
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, paper, scissors, markers, tape or glue

KEY ELEMENTS
Ecological Echoes

SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC 
We will explore the winter season’s animals, characteristics and interesting facts while practicing yoga in a fun, safe and educational way.

DISCUSSION POINTS
“Winter officially begins on December 21 and ends on March 19.  What happens towards the end of fall that lets us know winter is getting closer?”  (Weather gets colder, leaves fall, days become shorter etc… )

CONNECTING CIRCLE
Share what you like about winter
Peace BreathAs you say the word “Peace”, feel the peace inside you.  Affirmations Element, Quiet Quests
“This pose Increases oxygenation and triggers the relaxation response in the body” Body Benefits Element

POSES AS PATHWAYS TO LEARNING
“During winter, the sun’s rays hit the Earth at a shallow angle, which minimizes the amount of energy that hits any given spot. Additionally, long nights and short days prevent the Earth from warming up”. Ecological Echoes  “Let’s warm up by saluting the sun.”
Sun Salutation  – teach any variety of a sun salutation

“What do people do to prepare for the winter season?”  (Chop wood, buy winter clothes,)
Wood chopper- “Time to chop wood to keep our house warm” – Chop back and forth several times. “We need 10 logs for the fire, let’s count 10 chops.
Note:  for older kids, count by 5’s or 10’s.  Math Medley Element

“Over winter break, many people visit their relatives, do any of you?  Let’s take an imaginary trip to our Grandmas on a boat.”
Row your Boat – sit up on the tailbone, balance the legs in the air, row your arms in a circle.

“Many people take car trips to visit relatives:”
Driving My Car:  Sit in a “L” sit and pretend to be driving a car, move forward by lifting up your tail right then left, then move back.  “Think of a place you could drive to in your imaginary car that starts with the same letter as your first name, Marsha Memphis, or Don Denver Julie Jacksonville” (Note:  For younger students, the teacher should create the locations for the kids) Laughing Language Element

 “Snow falls in many parts of the country in the winter, imagine cool snowflakes softly falling on you”
Finger Dancing– Move from the head to the toes pretending that snow is falling all over you.  Quiet Quest

“Birds migrate south for warmer weather in the winter.  Let’s practice a bird pose”
Eagle –Squat down make an “x” out of the arms.  Brain Balance Element, Ecological Echoes

“Geese fly in formation and work together as a team; we will now practice a pose that takes teamwork”
Circle of Friendship flowers – Hold hand in a circle.  Sit back in child’s pose, inhale and rise up opening the arms wide, exhale back to child’s pose.  We all Win Element

Polar Bear – Sit in child’s pose, make a cup out of your hands, rest your nose in the cup.  “Polar Bear is a cold weather animal There are five nations with polar bears: U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway.”  Ecological Echoes

 Reading Comes Alive with Yoga Element
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle – Teach the following poses while reading the book:
Lion – Sit in child’s pose, rise up and open the back of your throat as you breathe out with a quiet, throaty “Rrrroar.” Quietly roar.  Practice this pose round robin style and have one child start, by rising up and doing a unique roar, have the children repeat this, one by one until everyone has done the pose. Bridge of Diamonds Element
Flamingo – stand with one leg and the opposite elbow bent, switch sides.
Cobra- lie on the belly, push into the hands and rise up into a back bend.  “A snake’s backbone is made up of many vertebrae attached to ribs.  Humans have approximately 33 vertebrae and 24 ribs.  Snakes have between 200-400 vertebrae with as many ribs attached! That is what makes them so flexible and helps them move along! Ecological Echoes Element, Awesome Anatomy Element

VISUAL VIGNETTES
Cut two large circles, and 3 small circles for each child in advance.  Let the children paste the two big circles on to a piece of construction paper to form the polar bears face.  The Three small circles will be the ears and nose.  Let the children decorate the eyes and mouth.  Be creative!

QUIET QUESTS – Guided Visualization
“Lie down on your backs and get comfortable, close your eyes.  Listen to the sweet sound of your own breath ….in…..and out……Feel the gentle rise and fall of your belly as you breath…….pause………..Imagine you just spent the day sledding or skiing with your family and now you are resting.  You can hear the snow as it gently hits the walls and roof of your house….pause…….Once again feel the gentle rise and fall of your belly.  Up…..and down…….pause several minutes.  Now bring your attention back to the room, gently wiggle your fingers and toes…..slowly roll onto your right side and rest….gently push yourself up to sitting.

CLOSING CIRCLE
Fountain of Oms – Everyone chants OM at their own pace and rhythm. We start together, but everyone’s duration is different. Just let the OMs keep coming at various intervals; some short, some long.


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New Years Lesson Plan

It’s time to celebrate a new decade and welcome in 2020  — Take your YogaKids on a trip through 2019 and into 2020 through movement with this FREE New Years Lesson Plan from YogaKids! It’s the perfect teaching tool for the home, studio or classroom.  Help your little Yogis set good intentions for the new year.

AGE GROUP:  3-6, 7-11

MATERIALS:  music, construction paper, crayons/markers, black fine tip markers, white craft glue or glue stick, scissors, magnet strip (optional)

SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC:  To celebrate the passing year, and the beginning of a new one and to set positive intentions (resolutions).

DISCUSSION POINTS:  We are going to take a journey through 2019, and experience some of the highlights of the year.  We will also welcome in 2020, and set intentions for a good year.

CONNECTING CIRCLE:  Sit in easy sit and do torso circles while you sing the Welcome Song (sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down)

Welcome to YogaKids, YogaKids, YogaKids,
Welcome to YogaKids
We’re so glad you’re here!
Musical Musings

YogaKids Pledge:
“I will stay on my mat!”
“I will keep my hands and my feet to myself”
“I will always do my best”
(Include any pledges that would be appropriate for your group)

Peace Breath – Hoping for peace in the coming year; send peace to the circle, to your town, to the world.  (Inhale and on the exhale quietly say the word “peace”) Quiet Quests

POSES AS PATHWAYS/INTEGRATE THE ELEMENTS

Sun rise/Sun set – The sun rose on a January 1st day 2019, one year ago.  (Sit on your heels with hands by the right foot, rise up, lift the arms up and drop over to the left side) Ecological Echoes
Sun Salutation – Play Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves and teach any variety of Sun salutations you like appropriate for your group.  Musical Musings

January brought snow, and cold winds, we warmed our noses with Polar Bear Pose.  (Child’s pose – make a cup out of the hands and bury the nose in the hands) Ecological Echoes
Fun Polar Bear Facts

  1. Polar bears are not white, the hair of a polar bear is actually transparent, and reflects light.
  2. They’re great swimmers and spend a lot of time in the water, some scientists classify them as marine mammals.
  3. They have tantrums. Experts have observed frustrated polar bears throw chunks of ice, kick piles of snow or growl in disappointment after losing prey they’ve been trying to catch.

February came and we celebrated Valentines Day by spending time with people we love.
Partner Pose – Sit and Twist (Sit cross-legged in front of your partner with your knees touching. Put your right arm behind your back, reach out with your left hand and grab your partner’s right hand. turn away from your partner, twist your spine, and look over your right shoulder.  Unfurl and change sides.  Bridge of Diamonds

 March brings a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.  We looked for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Rainbow Pose (side plank lift up the hip and drop the head making a rainbow shape, modify with knee down) Ecological Echoes
Fun facts to share about rainbows,

  1. “Roy G. Biv” is a way to remember the colors of the rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
  2. Rainbows have relaxing and healing qualities and are the universal symbol of peace and harmony

In April we celebrate the rain, and the blossoming plants and flowers with Acorn to tree – Tap on the backs of each child while they are in acorn (Child’s Pose) to symbolize the rain, once they are tapped, they grow into a tree (Tree Pose).  Ecological Echoes and We all Win

We Reach for the Sun and welcome in May (Reach the right arm up, bring it to the solar plexus as you say “Ha”, repeat left) Bring the warm energy of the sun into your own energy center. Ecological Echoes

In June we go for a Boat ride on the lake.  (lean back, lift the feet of the floor and balance, circle the arms and pretend to row your boat.)  Share fun facts about muscles.  Awesome Anatomy

  1. The largest muscle is the gluteus maximus, the muscles of the buttocks.
  2. One of our strongest muscles is the tongue

In July we celebrate the birth of our country, The United States of America

Happy Birthday Candle Series (Easy sit to plough to shoulder stand, back to easy sit) Have the children hold their shoulder stand, and let each child blow out the candles.  Have the student’s count the candles as they blow them out.  Older students can count by 5’s or 10’s.  Math Medley

In August we head to the sea shore for vacation where we find many fun sea creatures:

Crab – crabs have been around since the Jurassic period, 200 million years ago. (walk sideways on hands and feet, like a crab)
Seal – Because they can spend months at sea, seals can sleep underwater(from sitting, click heels together, roll back and click the heels and “Arf Arf” like a seal) Laughing Language, Ecological Echoes, Math Medley

In September we head back to school, and greet old friends we haven’t seen all summer  Namaste – (bow to each child in the circle and say “Namaste”) Bridge of Diamonds

In October we celebrate Halloween.

Pumpkin – A French explorer in 1584 first called pumpkins “gross melons,” which was translated into English as “pompions”. (roll like a ball using your fingers on the top of your head as a pumpkin’s stem.)  Poses as Pathways, Laughing Language

In November we celebrate Thanksgiving, and give thanks for all that we have to be grateful for.  Let each child share something they are thankful for. Bridge of Diamonds

December is the time to celebrate New Year’s Eve with Party Blower Breath  (have the children pretend to blow slowly into a party blower, and take several silent breaths)  Quiet Quests

It is time to set some resolutions for the new year.  Resolution Magnet Visual Vignette

How to make it:  Cut a sheet of white construction paper in half.  Across the top write “I RESOLVE”.  Choose your resolution (i.e. “to keep my room clean”).  Draw a colorful picture depicting your resolution below the words.  Glue your artwork to a piece of construction paper.  Glue a magnet strip to the back of your resolution art and hang on the refrigerator.

Relaxation and guided visualization – Take the class on a journey of the past year, ask them to think of an experience they had that they really enjoyed.  Have the students re-live that experience.  Ask the students to share their experience if they wish.  Quiet Quests

Fountain of Oms (Chant several “Om’s”) Quiet Quests


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Holiday Lesson Plan

It’s that special time of year again! It’s time to celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, and Las Posadas. Teach your YogaKids the story of these special holidays through movement with this FREE Holiday Lesson Plan from YogaKids! It’s the perfect teaching tool for the home, studio or classroom.

 

Holiday Lesson Plan

AGE GROUP:  7-11, 12 +

MATERIALS:  Cotton balls, straws, Christmas tree cutouts, markers or crayons.

KEY ELEMENTS:  Poses as Pathways

SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC:  Children will learn about holiday traditions around the world.

DISCUSSION POINTS:  We will learn about holiday traditions from different areas around the world including Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, and Las Posadas.

CONNECTING CIRCLE:  Share a holiday tradition in your family.

POSES AS PATHEWAYS/INTEGRATE THE ELEMENTS

Peace Breath Send peace to peoples of every nation Quiet Quest, Bridge of Diamonds

Sunrise/Sunset – The winter solstice occurs when one of the earth’s poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern).  Ecological Echoes, Math Medley

Cat/Cow In Iceland, there’s a special Christmas tradition that involves a very special cat that roams the streets one time per year.  Poses as Pathways, Ecological Echoes

Downward Facing Dog (Inn pose) – Las Posadas means “the inn” or “the lodging” and is a Mexican Christmas tradition that symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.  Poses as Pathways

Warrior Series with Affirmations – Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights and symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.  “I am the light” “I share my light”.  Affirmations, Poses as Pathways

Tree Pose –Evergreens are a symbol of eternal life and rebirth. Latvia is home to history’s first decorated Christmas tree, back in 1510.  Ecological Echoes, Poses as Pathways

Half Moon Pose – Chinese New Year is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20.   Poses as Pathways

Star (Jumping Jacks) Wise men from the east were inspired by the star of Bethlehem to travel to Jerusalem to meet baby Jesus.  Ecological Echoes, Poses as Pathways

Caterpillar to ButterflyIn South Africa, every December locals feast on a seasonal delicacy, deep-fried caterpillars!  Poses as Pathways, Ecological Echoes

Birthday Candle SeriesThe menorah is the nine-branched candelabra used during the celebration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Poses as Pathways

Circle of Friendship FlowersThe poinsettia is native to Mexico and Central America, where it was known as “Flower of the Holy Night”. It is believed to have been used as a holiday decoration as early as the 17th century.  Ecological Echoes, Poses as Pathways, We all Win

Table of Contents – Kwanzaa is a week-long annual celebration to honor African heritage and is celebrated with gift-giving and a feast.  Poses as Pathways

Bubble Fish – The Feast of the Seven Fishes is part of the Italian-American Christmas Eve celebration.  Don’t push too hard on your cranium which is part of the skull.  Poses as Pathways, Ecological Echoes, Awesome Anatomy

WE ALL WIN

Traveling Snowballs – Have students blow a cotton ball across the circle with a straw, have them see how far they can move their cotton ball.  Quiet Quest, We all Win

VISUAL VIGNETTE

Have the kids color Christmas tree cut outs making two that match perfectly.

MUSICAL MUSINGS

Play “Let it Snow”, “Frosty the Snow Man” or any holiday song while the kids draw.

WE ALL WIN GAME

Partner Christmas Tree Matching Game – Lie the Christmas trees face down and have the children take turns trying to find two trees that match.

QUIET QUESTS – Winter Meditation

Lie down, close your eyes, and begin to relax.  Each time you exhale, feel more and more relaxed.  Pause.  Imagine lying in the snow in your back yard on a cool winter night.  You are all bundled up with your warm winter clothes, so you aren’t cold, you feel warm and safe.  Pause.  You look up and see the night sky full of stars.  Pause.  Each star sparkles bright in the dark sky lighting up your whole yard.  Pause.  Imagine feeling safe and warm, as if each star is protecting you.  Pause.  Imagine that it starts to softly snow.  Pause.  You feel soft, wet snowflakes fall on your cheeks…..your chin….and each hand.  Pause.  Imagine feeling safe and warm.  Pause.  Stay and rest here for a few minutes.  Pause.  Now bring your attention back to the room, wiggle your fingers and your toes.  Slowly roll onto you side.  Come to sitting.

 

CLOSING CIRCLE

Share Time – allow the children to share their experience during the meditation.  Quiet Quest

Grug – Hugging releases pleasure hormones, it makes you feel good.  Body Benefits, We all Win

 


Learn to write and teach your own Holiday Lesson Plan!

Car Yoga

Family on Road Trip Together

My husband likes to take family rides in the car, as a way to spend time together and get out of the house. But, the minute I think of our three young kids cooped up in our mini-van, I immediately see into the future and hear “Stop kicking my seat,” “I’m bored,” “I’m hungry/thirsty,” or the ever so popular “Are we there yet?” This is where car yoga comes in!

Driving in the car is not an appealing adventure for our kids, unless there is an exciting destination. We can listen to music and play a few car games, but after an hour or so, their attention shifts and bothering each other becomes their primary focus. Car yoga helps to redirect their energy and calm their minds and bodies.  My kids are familiar with the YogaKids breaths and poses, so they can typically adjust them for the car as needed.

I begin by explaining why we need car yoga in that moment– and it is usually because someone is upset or bothered by their sibling. We might begin with “Peace Breath” and after a deep inhale, we exhale and whisper the word “peace.” We begin to imagine peace inside the car, peace between siblings and peace in the world.

We then want to bring our attention to parts of our bodies that have been still since sitting in the car. We might do “Eyes Around the Clock” to exercise our eyes; looking up and down with our eyes a few times, while keeping our heads still. Then looking left and right a few times. We can then start at the top of the ear and gently squeeze or massage down the curl of the outer ear to the lobe and back up. This is a great way to bring their attention to their ears and be sure they are listening to and respecting their siblings.

Keeping our eyes and ears open, we can do a modification of “360-Degree Owl” pose. We turn our heads slowly from side to side stretching our necks and wrap our arms behind us, so that we can open our chest. Followed by “Lizard Tongue,” we flick our tongues in and out as we pretend to catch a bug for a snack. This helps release tension in the jaw and bring our awareness to our mouths and our words – remembering to be impeccable with our word choice.

Lastly we do a seated “Lemon Toes” exercise. We imagine we are sipping sour lemonade up from the bottom of our feet to every part of the body and then breathe out and relax. Doing this a few times, helps release the physical tension that was build up in their bodies. With the kids’ attention redirected, we can keep driving and hopefully reach our destination before they get bored again!  Learn all these car yoga poses in the YogaKids book, available in the YK Shop!

YogaKids Poses:

  •   Peace Breath
  •   Eyes Around the clock
  •   360-Degree Owl
  •   Lizard Tongue
  •   Lemon Toes

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Celebrate the Season with Edible Poses

Girl in Swinging Pretzel Pose

If you’re planning a kids yoga class about Thanksgiving, you might want to include a few fun facts about the holiday. You may also want to include poses that are inspired by food! Here are some facts to share and some of our favorite YogaKids’ “edible” poses! In addition, you can include this very cool Mandala coloring page featuring a few of our favorite healthy foods!

Fun facts about Thanksgiving

  • The first Thanksgiving feast lasted an entire 3 days
  • The average American eats 4500 calories on Thanksgiving, 2500 more than most of us need.
  • Turkey is the traditional dish served because in the 1600s, Turkeys were the most plentiful wild game.
  • Speaking of turkeys, did you know they can drown if looking up while it is raining?!

November 27th is Thanksgiving which is a special day to spend time with family and friends, but most people associate this day with…EATING! Here at YogaKids we have many food-inspired yoga poses. To help you burn off some of the extra calories you will probably eat on Thanksgiving day; try this series of edible poses.

Peanut Butter and Jelly
Reach up and grab the peanut butter and jelly jars that have magically appeared in the air. Rub PB&J all over your hands and smear it between your toes. Spread PB&J on our legs and you belly. Wash you face and hair in peanut butter and jelly. Stretch your arms up again, fold forward at the hip hinge, and lengthen your spine and upper body over your lower body to make a peanut-butter-and- jelly sandwich. Press the backs of your legs into the floor. Press your chest into your legs. Squish those two pieces of bread together. Can you reach your toes to wash them clean?

Pizza
Sit with your legs wide apart. Get ready to make a delicious slice of Pizza. Roll out and stretch the pizza dough to the right by slowly sliding your hands down your legs from your right thigh to your right toes. Then repeat on the left side. Now spread some sauce on the slice by moving your hands from side to side on the floor in the space between your legs. Now let’s grate some cheese. Finger dance from the top of your head, to your chest, down your legs and sprinkle cheese all over that giant slice in front of you. Next add your favorite toppings. Make your pizza colorful and fun; olives, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, red licorice sticks, whatever you want. Bon Appetite.

Popcorn
Start in child’s pose. Stay still and feel the warmth coming up from the popcorn maker beneath you. It is getting warmer and warmer. Your body is full of the heat and soon you will be ready to pop. Now if you are ready – jump high into the air and POP. POP. POP. Repeat and pop!

Table of Contents
Lie on your back. Bend your knees. Place your feet on the floor. Place your hands underneath your shoulders, fingers pointing towards your body. Press down with your hands and feet, lifting your body up until you are in table position. What is on your table? Set each other’s tables for a picnic, birthday party, smorgasbord, tea party, formal dinner, ice cream parlor, and any other ideas you can think of. Say each food or item aloud as you place it on your friend’s table.

Swinging Pretzel
Sit cross-legged. Take hold of your left ankle and foot and place them high up on your right thigh. Now you are in the half pretzel. If you can, do the same thing on the other side. When both ankles are on both thighs, you’re in full pretzel. Switch legs so that each gets a turn on top. Now swing your pretzel. Spread your fingers and palms flat on the floor just behind your knees. Press them down as you lengthen your arms. Lift your bottom and legs up off the floor. With strong arms and breathing, swing your pretzel back and forth.

Which edible poses are your favorite?


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The Importance of Connection

YogaKids class in Circle of Friendship Flowers Pose

YogaKids creator Marsha Wenig knew the importance of connection when she created the YogaKids program over twenty years ago. Marsha created 14 original Elements that YogaKids teachers weave into their classes to create fun, educational, creative lesson plans that are designed to help children thrive. Several of these Elements along with many poses, activities and techniques are designed to help children connect to each other, the world and to their own unique goodness.

Extensive research shows that having good-quality relationships can help us to live longer and happier lives with fewer mental health problems. A sense of connection helps children feel emotionally and physically safe and valued; they develop healthy social abilities and have a sense of sharing and caring for each other. The centerpiece of opening our heart is to remember that we belong to each other.

Professor Brene Brown says, “A deep sense of love and belonging is an irresistible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong.” The YogaKids program helps teachers offer children this sense of belonging and connection. Whatever we practice gets stronger and when children practice compassion and love, that part of them grows immensely and they tap into that part of themselves that is full of light, full of love.

The Ecological Echoes Element connects children to plants, animals and the environment. This Element allows teachers to weave in fun facts while teaching poses. In Downward Facing Dog pose, children might learn that dogs have the ability to detect changes in the human body and are used to help diabetic and seizure patients. While in Tree pose, students might learn that California holds the record for the oldest living trees, with some thought to be 4,000-5,000 years old. Children get the physical benefits of these poses, but also learn to understand their connection to the world.

The Bridge of Diamonds Element teaches children that they are like a diamond: unique and brilliant in their own way. And every child can build a “bridge” from themselves to the larger world. Many YogaKids poses can be transformed into partner or group poses. For example, in Tree pose, children can hold hands and notice how getting a little help from their friend helps them find balance. Bridge of Diamonds poses and techniques give children the confidence to open their hearts and connect to others.

Connecting poses help children feel a sense of community. Many YogaKids activities offer children the chance to work together, while simultaneously celebrating their own unique qualities. In Circle of Friendship Flower (pictured above) children kneel in a circle, holding hands. They inhale and reach arms up, then exhale and fold down into Child’s Pose.  In this pose, when children rise up and back bend, it symbolizes opening their hearts to life. Often when we get hurt, we fold in to protect ourselves, and in the effort, we close ourselves off to life and love. YogaKids helps us to teach children to rise up and stay open to life, open to love and open to seeing their own brilliance.

Poet Thomas Merton said, “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” YogaKids helps children find their true destiny and bask in the beauty of their own true nature.


Discover all the YogaKids Elements in our Certification Program!

 

 

Count Your Blessings Craft

Gratitude Jars

It’s so important to count your blessings! Our Blessings Jar began several years back on November 1s. We would nightly write what we were thankful for on a slip of paper and place it in the “Blessings Jar” that rested on the kitchen table. We would watch our blessings grow as the jar became fuller and fuller. One evening, my daughter asked if she could write more than one blessing to be placed in the jar. Of course!  Write down all your blessings.   

On Thanksgiving ,we would read what everyone had written in the weeks prior. However, one Thanksgiving about two years ago, we visited our out-of-town family for Thanksgiving and didn’t bring our Blessing Jar with us. Upon returning home, my oh-so-smart daughter said “let’s not read them but wait till New Year’s Eve and watch the jar get fuller.”   

Our once Thanksgiving Blessings Jar is now an Everyday Blessing Jar. On January 1st we empty the jar to remember all our Blessings from throughout the year. I have to admit it was a GREAT way to start the new year. As we eat dinner each of us choose a “blessing” (slip of paper with a blessing written on it) from the jar, read it aloud then passed the jar to next person to continue till the jar was empty and our hearts were full.   

I was in complete awe listening to what others found important, blessed or special in the months prior.  There were even days and events that I had forgotten. Not only was this a great way to “count our blessings” but also a nice revisit to the special and everyday events we all encountered.  

When we were finished revisiting our blessings, I place the small blessings paper in a special envelope marked “2013 Blessings.” In the years to come, it will be fun to return to the envelop to listen to our blessings and see our child’s handwriting, vocabulary and spelling evolve.

I look forward to watching the jar fill, grow and runneth over with love and gratitude for all our blessings.

Join our tradition of the Blessings Jar.

  • Choose a jar of your choice – mason jar, recycle jelly jar, pretty jar from the store…  look for something that speaks to you.
  • Decorate your jar with your favorite colors, ribbon, yard, stickers. Be creative. Make it yours.
  • Place paper and pen next to your jar to record your daily blessings.
  • Or place a stone, marble or trinket into the jar every time they feel blessed to watch their blessing grow.  

Make this project yours. We would love to hear what you do or see a photo of your blessings jar. May you be blessed with love and gratitude,


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Thanksgiving Lesson Plan

Thanksgiving Cornucopia

It’s that special time of year again! It’s time to celebrate Thanksgiving — and encourage the greatness of gratitude in our lives. Teach your YogaKids the story of this special holiday through movement with this FREE Thanksgiving Lesson Plan from YogaKids! It’s the perfect teaching tool for the home, studio or classroom.

AGES: 2-6, 7-11

MATERIALS

  • Music and music player (Suggested Music: Native American drums, Hallelujah by K.D. Lang, Colors of the Wind by Judy Kuhn, We Are Native American Tribes by Ella Jenkins)
  • Soft ball
  • Paper tree and leaves
  • Markers/crayons/pens

OBJECTIVE

To learn the story of Thanksgiving through movement. To learn a Sun Salutation as an example of how people from around the world celebrate and give thanks every day.

VISUAL VIGNETTE

Prepare a paper tree and leaves. Hang the tree on the wall, and as students enter the space, have them write on the leaves what they are thankful for. Have the students tape the paper leaves onto the tree.

CONNECTING CIRCLE

Introduce the Theme – We will start celebrating around the world with yoga today. We will start in the United States, celebrating THANKSGIVING!

Centering Circle – Say your name and your favorite thanksgiving food and roll a ball to another student and ask them to share. Go around the circle until everyone has shared.

POSES AS PATHWAYS/INTEGRATE THE ELEMENTS

Take 5 BreathLet’s learn about yoga first! Let’s learn yoga breathing…

Sit cross-legged. Lift one finger at a time as you breathe in through your nose and count in your mind: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Pause for a second with your hand up. Slowly breathe out through your nose and count backward – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, putting down one finger at a time for each number. Repeat.

Warm-up– Include any warm up poses you like here.

Volcano – Once upon a time, about 400 years ago, some English settlers were angry with their king!They were not allowed to worship the God they wanted to, so they decided to leave!

Begin in Mountain pose. Bring your fingertips together at the chest. Jump your feet apart. Place your palms together at the center of your body in Namaste Position. Breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over your head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to Namaste. Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises. Jump your feet back together when you’ve finished erupting.

BoatThey bought a boat called the Mayflower. And sailed it across the ocean.

Begin in L-Sitting pose and place both hands, palms down, alongside your hips. Lengthen your arms and spine. Lean back and lift your legs up. Balance. Stretch your arms forward, palms up. Breathe in and out. Row your arms forward. Reverse, and row your arms backward.

WavesIt was a hard journey because there were a lot of waves.

Sit on the ground and bend your knees, placing your feet on the floor hip-distance apart. Move your knees and legs back and forth to the left and right, as they ebb and flow like waves. Use this as a transition pose between the wet poses. It is a fun and accessible hip opener.

Moo and Meow and Yawn and FlopAnd they did not have much room to stretch out on the boat.

Begin in All Fours Pose. Line up your wrists under your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide and arch your spine to the sky. Loosen your neck and drop your head down. Breathe out long as you meow. Now lift your chest forward and look up with big cow eyes. Dip your belly down and tilt your sitting bones up. Your back will sink down like a cow’s. Make cow lips and moo deeply from the back of your throat. Go back and forth, meowing and mooing.

Stand in Mountain pose. Yawn as you stretch your arms upward with a big yawning sound and then flop forward in Rag Doll. Repeat several times.

Sunrise/SunsetThey were in the boat for 60 days and nights.

Sit on your heels. Open and close your wings several times. Then open your wings and interlace your fingers above your head. Stretch your arms up as you lift your buttocks off your heels with an inhalation. Exhale and drop your hips to the right as the arms drop left like the setting sun. Inhale and arch your arms overhead like the rising sun. Then, drop your arms to the right as the hips drop left. Repeat.

Tarzan’s Thymus TapThey tried to stay healthy.But many got very sick and some died.

Start in any of the base poses, seated or standing. Make two fists and pound your chest. Pound and tap under your arms, too. Howl, yowl and yodel. Feel the power and vibration of your sounds.

Child’s PoseAfter 60 days, they reached America at Plymouth Rock.

Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees a little, so your belly relaxes between your thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears and spine. Your arms lie back along the sides of your legs with open palms facing upward. Place your forehead on the floor. Turn your head to one side and take a few breaths. Then, turn to the other and do the same.

Tree/Leaf and Woodchopper – They needed to get warm, so they started to chop down the trees.

Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. As your balance gets stronger, you’ll be able to raise your foot higher up your leg. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

Take a stance like a woodchopper with the feet hip-distance apart. Interlace the fingers and swing your ax over your head with an inhale. Exhale as you bring your ax down and split your log. Come back and forth several times. Remain down and then roll up slowly. Repeat.

Warrior SeriesThey had a long, hard, hungry, cold winter, but they tried to stay strong.

Begin in Mountain pose. Step one leg back while bending your front leg. Keep your hips facing frontward as you raise your arms straight above your head. Say, “I am bold!” From Bold Warrior, turn your back foot slightly outward and bring your arms down parallel to the floor. Keep your front knee bent directly over your ankle. Say, “I am brave.” From Brave Warrior, shift your weight onto your front leg. Pick up your back leg and stretch it behind you. Keep both legs as straight and strong as possible. Stretch your arms forward and say, “My own power I can hold!” Repeat on the other side.

Child’s PoseWhen it got warm out, they needed to plant food, but the land was different here, and they had trouble. They also needed seeds.

Acorn to TreeThe Native American Indians had been watching the settlers, and they decided to help. So they shared their seeds and taught them how to plant.

Pretend to dig a small hole. Place an imaginary acorn in the hole. Pat it down and water it. Now pretend to be the acorn in Child’s Pose. Act out the process of an acorn becoming a tree, ending in Tree/Leaf pose.

The settlers were so happy and the Native Americans were too, because they grew so much food, and the settlers wouldn’t have to be hungry anymore! So they celebrated! And we still celebrate that friendship and cooperation today! If we take time each day to be thankful, we are happier and healthier.

Sun SalutationIn India, many people do a Sun Salutation each day to be thankful for the sun rising each day – let’s learn it!

There are numerous styles of Sun Salutations. This is one example. Start in Namaste, raising your arms overhead and stretching upward. Fold forward into Ragdoll pose. Step back with one leg into a lunge. Step back with the other leg into Lizard pose. Slowly come down to the floor with your knees, chest and chin. Bring your hips down to the floor, and lift up into S is for Snake pose. Curl your toes under and stretch into Down Doggity Doggy Down pose. Repeat, beginning with the opposite leg and finishing in Namaste.

Cool Down –Include any cool down or closing poses here.

QUIET QUESTS

“Waves” – Guided Imagery by Maureen Murdock

As you breathe in… and… out, imagine that you are on a wave on the sea going up… and… down… up…and… down. You are perfectly safe, either lying on your back in a sailboat being gently rocked by the motion of the sea. And as you continue to move up… and… down… back… and… forth, you will notice the warmth of the sun relaxing you and feel a gentle ocean breeze. You may notice the color of the sky, the smell of the sea air, and the sound of sea birds above. You notice a sense of calm throughout your entire body as you experience the gentle rocking motion of the sea. Allow yourself to feel nurtured and supported. Think about what you are thankful for. (pause 1 minute) Now it is time to come back. I will ring the bell 3 times. On the third time, slowly open your eyes. Now I will ring the bell 3 more times. When I ring it the third time, please slowly roll to your side. Now, begin to wiggle your toes and fingers, and when I ring the bell the 3rd time, please come to a seated pose.

CLOSING CIRCLE

Namaste Song – Use the song along with the movements to end your YogaKids classes.

Namaste, Namaste, Namaste, Namaste
(Put your hands together at your heart and bow to each other.)

I am the light and the light is me.
(Point toward yourself and then to the sun.)

Namaste, Namaste, Namaste, Namaste
(Put your hands together at your heart and bow to someone.)

I shine bright with all I see.
(Move your Namaste upward like in Volcano pose. Separate and arc your arms outward through the air, and return them to your heart in the Namaste position.)

The light in me sees the light in you.
(Gently touch your hand to your heart, palms down and extend your arm out to gesture toward another person with an open hand.)

Bow to me, I’ll bow to you.
(Place your hands together at your heart and bow to someone.)

The light in me sees the light in you.
(Point and bow to someone.)

Bow to me, I’ll bow to you.
(Place your hands together at your heart and bow to someone.)

Namaste, Namaste, Namaste, Namaste
(Repeat)


Learn to write and teach your own Thanksgiving Lesson Plan!

Gratitude and the Highest Happiness

Silver Outline of Person in Prayer

Santosha or contentment is part of yoga’s eightfold path. These eight steps help to guide us to a meaningful and purposeful life. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving during the month of November, this is the perfect time of year to pause and observe Santosha and explore how practicing contentment and gratitude can help make life extremely rich.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra verse 2.42 reads, “From contentment, the highest happiness is attained.”  Contentment blossoms, when desire is removed. Yoga teaches us that the moment is complete; we don’t need to look for something else. Contentment is all about being grateful for what we have instead of desiring something else, or something more.

When we spend our lives seeking, always looking for the better experience (bigger house, brighter diamond or newer car model), we are placing requirements on our own happiness that we can never meet. Once we get those possessions that we seek, we usually barely enjoy them before we are looking for that next bigger and better thing.

Yoga Teacher TKV Desikachar’s definition of Santosha is “to accept what happens.” In other words, when it is cold, let it be cold. We experienced one of the coldest and wettest winters on record her in the Chicago area last year, and the talk all winter was on how awful it was. Many shifted into survival mode and stopped enjoying life.

Looking back, there was so much joy to be had. I connected with many of my southern states friends when they called or emailed their sympathy. I was motivated to plan a great spring break vacation, and had several days to spend with my kids when school was cancelled. Our house was warm and cozy all winter, our old cars still started every day, and many mornings we woke to see our neighborhood blanketed in some of the most beautiful snow we had ever seen.  

Each morning when I trekked out to my studio to teach yoga, I found my students were more grateful than ever to have a beautiful space to come to, a respite from the cold, and a community to share a practice with. The weather couldn’t ruin the winter, only our attitudes towards the weather could do that.

Gratitude asks us to fall in love with our life as it is, and will keep us centered in joy and abundance. This Thanksgiving, take time to not only count your blessings, but to look for the joy in the perfect moments that will unfold right before you.


Live your life with gratitude as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Halloween Yoga Poses!

cats on halloween night

 

We LOVE Halloween! We love getting dressed up. We love eating candy. And we love adding a little bit of holiday fun to our YogaKids poses! Enjoy a few of our favorite Halloween Yoga Poses!

Scarecrow/Ghost Coat Swing

Imagine you are a scarecrow hanging in a field. Your spine is the post that holds you up. Place your hands on your shoulders with your elbows out to the side. With the rhythm of your breath, twist your upper body (head, face, neck, shoulders, and arms) around the post of your spine. Breathe as you move back and forth, side to side. Gradually build up to 50 rounds, then 100. Return to center. Let your arms hang down. Twist your spine back and forth and just let your arms hang loose, as if they were empty coat sleeves. Allow them to fly like a ghost with the momentum of your breath and movement.

Black Cat (also known as Cat Pose)

Begin in All Fours Pose. Line up your wrists under your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide and arch your spine to the sky. Loosen your neck and drop your head down. Breathe out long as you meow. Now lift your chest forward and look up with big cow eyes. Dip your belly down and tilt your sitting bones up. Your back will sink down like a cow’s. Make cow lips and moo deeply from the back of your throat. Go back and forth, meowing and mooing.

Dracula Pose

Roll yourself up in your yoga mat! Relax in one of our favorite Halloween yoga poses!

Broom Pose (also known as Birthday Candle)

Sit cross-legged. Take hold of your toes from the outer side of your knees. Breathe in and out. Roll backwards. Then, let go of your toes while bending your elbows. Use your hands to support and lift your back. Straighten your legs and lift them past your head until your bent toes touch the floor. Squeeze your shoulders and elbows together. Lift the legs straight up to the ceiling. Rest your weight on your shoulders and triceps. Life your chest. Your feet are the candle flames. Have someone light the candles, or blow with enough power to ignite the flame yourself. Wiggle your toes to make the flames flicker. Tuck your chin to keep your neck relaxed.

360 Degree Owl

Roll up your yoga mat and turn it into a tree branch. Bend your knees and perch on your branch. Find your balance and sit as upright as you can. Tuck your arms behind you. Gently flap your wings. Turn your head from side to side, opening your eyes wide. Make a gentle “who” sound.

Witch’s Hat Pose (also known as Dog Pose)

Begin in All Fours pose. Bend your toes forward. Spread your fingers wide. Press your doggy paws and heels downward as you lift your hips and tail to the sky. Lengthen your spine. Stretch your arms and legs as long as possible. Let your head hang down.

 

 

What Halloween Yoga Poses can you invent? 


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Losing Daylight: Help Children Stay Positive During this Season of Change

losing daylight - child playing in fall leaves

It’s finally fall! While the season brings with it exciting things like pumpkin patches, cider, candy apples and Halloween, it also means it’s beginning to get darker outside earlier. Losing daylight has the potential to impact kids and their mental well-being.

The term that accompanies the sadness which corresponds to the change in seasons and loss of sunlight, is Seasonal Affective Disorder. Known as S.A.D. for short, it affects the young more often than the elderly. S.A.D. is identifiable through negative thoughts, an increased amount of time sleeping and isolation once grey skies appear, and can lead to more serious depression.

It’s important for us to help children fight through S.A.D. and find ways to stay positive and motivated throughout fall and winter. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some ways to ensure kids are as happy as possible, no matter the weather outside.

Make Home Cozy

As the weather becomes colder, people spend more time indoors at home. Embracing the seasonal change and making home a comfy haven is one easy way to promote happiness in kids. Having your home be a relaxing place to spend time can have a tremendous impact on a child’s mood. Have plenty of soft blankets around to cuddle under while watching T.V. or having a movie night. With constant adult supervision, light a few candles to create a cozy atmosphere. Check any negativity at the door and ensure you and the kids have a calm space to bask in and forget the weather.

Keep Active

When the weather is dark and grey, it’s easy for kids to feel less motivated. Don’t let that impact the time they spend being active. Activity is not only healthy for their bodies, it’s also beneficial for mental health. Exercise, in any form, helps release endorphins and feel good brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine to help regulate moods and fight sadness and depression. One great exercise to start is yoga. Combining the physical poses and stretches with the mental focus and meditation, makes yoga a great exercise for children’s happiness.

Aid in Restful Sleep

Sleep is always important, but it becomes even more so when battling sadness and depression. We want to make sure kids are getting the right kind of sleep. This means a good and restful nine to eleven hours per night, depending on age. To help kids accomplish this, make sure they’re comfortable in their beds. This all starts with a good base; your kids mattress should foster a good night’s sleep and benefit the way they like to sleep. Then look to their surroundings. Instead of allowing them to sleep with the T.V. on for noise and light, buy a white noise machine and night light. Listen to what their preferences are and work with them to create it. Beware of oversleeping though, as this is a sign of S.A.D.

Get Creative

When they’re feeling sad, give kids an outlet to express themselves. Children are inherently creative, so giving them the tools to showcase this helps to grow that skill while also teaching them to channel their feelings. Have a dedicated craft box filled with supplies for your child to turn to when they’re feeling sad and need something to uplift them. This also offers the perfect opportunity for you to spend time together working on a project. Having your child explain their craft to you can also give you insight into their feelings so you’re able to understand why they’re sad and think of more ways to help.

Set an Example

You are a child’s biggest role model. In their eyes, you have all the answers and the ability to make anything better. Set an example as the seasons change and show your kids how to be happy. Embrace the fun activities that come along with fall and winter, instead of focusing on the increased grey skies and darkness. Spend more time with them to make them feel less lonely and talk to understand how they’re feeling. Being a positive presence in their lives during this time of year can truly make a difference in the way they view the outside.


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Halloween Lesson Plan: Celebrate the Spooky Season!

Halloween Lesson Plan

We love Halloween! And kids do too! Don’t let the holiday slip by without celebrating the season! And if you need a Halloween-themed lesson plan  for your kids yoga class to celebrate the spooky season? Look no further! Enjoy a witches’ brew of festive fun in this Halloween Lesson Plan. (And download a coloring page to go with your lesson!)

AGE GROUPS

2-6, 7-11

MATERIALS

  • Music player with fun Halloween music prepared
  • Halloween coloring pages or mini-pumpkins
  • Crayons or supplies for decorating mini-pumpkins
  • Witches hat

SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC

To get the kids excited about Halloween!

MUSICAL MUSINGS

Play fun Halloween music in the background.

CONNECTING CIRCLE

Recite the YogaKids Pledge (or any classroom rules). Introduce the class theme (“Halloween Night in your town”).
Sit in Pretzel and do torso circles right and then left while you sing the Welcome song (sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down):

Welcome to YogaKids
YogaKids… YogaKids
Welcom to YogaKids
We’re so glad you’re here!

Continue with Magic Witch’s Hat Breath – inhale hands in prayer over head, exhale hands to heart. (several rounds)

POSES AS PATHWAYS

Sun Salutation is a way of thanking the sun for coming out every day, for providing us with warmth and light and vitamins D. It gives us healthy bones, allowing us to grow. It allows our food to grow… giving our pumpkins and apples color and vitamins. This dance makes us strong, flexible, alert, and coordinated… and it’s good for the heart!

Sun Salutation – Do any variation of sun salutations you like.

The sun is setting on Halloween night, and we are ready for a night of fun. The moon is bright, and shining down on our Halloween night.

Sunrise Sunset – Sit on your heels. Open and close your wings several times. Then open your wings and interlace your fingers above your head. Stretch your arms up as you lift your buttocks off your heels with an inhalation. Exhale and drop your hips to the right as the arms drop left like the setting sun. Inhale and arch your arms overhead like the rising sun. Then, drop your arms to the right as the hips drop left. Repeat.

We are a witch’s broomstick! Take in a deep breath, and then float around the room on the broom stick blowing out all our air. When all our air is out, our broom turns into a mouse.

Witch’s Broomstick (Mountain) – Stand with your feet together or hip-width apart, whichever is most comfortable. Arms are at your sides, fingers stretching towards the floor. Press your feet into the ground.

Repeat Witch’s Broom to Mouse a few times.

Child’s Pose (Mouse) – Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees a little, so your belly relaxes between your thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears and spine. Your arms lie back along the sides of your legs with open palms facing upward. Place your forehead on the floor. Turn your head to one side and take a few breaths. Then, turn to the other and do the same.

It is time to make our special Halloween Witch’s Brew. Stand in a wide stance Mountain and begin stirring the pot clockwise then counterclockwise. What will we put into our brew this Halloween? Let’s add some bugs!

Bug Pose or Happy Baby – Lie on your back. Bend your knees into your belly. Open your knees as you grip the outsides of your feet. Bring your needs toward your armpits. Gently rock from side to side.

Stir the pot! Next, let’s add 4 large green lizards…

Lizard – Lie on your belly. Place your hands under your shoulders. Spread your fingers out like lizard claws. Bend your lizard toes forward. Push up until your arms and legs are straight in Plank Pose. Draw your shoulders back and away from your ears. Walk like a lizard, slowly and carefully.

Can you say, “Large Lucky Lizards Land in our Witches Brew?” Stir the pot! Next, we can put in two twisted twigs from an Oak tree…

Tree Pose – Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

Stir the pot! Now, let’s reach down into our pockets and pluck out two eyeballs and throw them into the brew!

Ball Pose – Have the children roll back and forth on their mats.

Stir the pot! Next, let’s add in the skull of an eagle…

Eagle Pose – Begin in Mountain pose. Lift your right leg and wrap it over your left leg. If you can, hide your right foot and toes behind your left calf. Bring your bent arms up in front of you and place the right elbow on top of your left. Twist together your forearms bringing your palms together. You can also interlace your fingers. Bend your knees. Untangle yourself and change sides, bringing your left leg over your right leg and your left elbow on top of your right.

And a handful of feathers from a wise old owl…

360 Degree Owl – Roll up your yoga mat and turn it into a tree branch. Bend your knees and perch on your branch. Find your balance and sit as upright as you can. Tuck your arms behind you. Gently flap your wings. Turn your head from side to side, opening your eyes wide. Make a gentle “who” sound.

And stir the pot! Now, let’s add two wings of a magic butterfly…

Butterfly – Begin in L-Sitting pose. Bring the bottoms of your feet together, with your heels close to your body and your knees out to each side. Stretch your neck and the top of your head toward the sky and make your spine longer. Place your hands at the sides of your head and stick up your pointer fingers to make antennae. Pull your arms back like they’re your wings. Breathe in and out as you flap your wings forward and back, up and down.

Ask the children if they have anything they want to put in, going around the circle and putting in their ideas with or without doing yoga poses to go along with what they come up with.

And now our last two ingredients… two shells of a snapping turtle!

Turtle – Begin in L-Sitting pose. Open your legs wide. Flex your feet and lift your knees. Place your hands on the floor inside your legs. Spread your fingers wide. Slide your hands and arms under your knees, as far away from each other as possible. Bend forward at the hips and lengthen your chest along the floor. Lift your head and look from side to side. Say “hello” as you stretch your arms and legs as far out as you can. Now, tuck in your chin and retreat retreated into your shell. Pull all of your senses inward and rest. Stay in your shell as you breathe in and out. Repeat.

Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. Several species of turtles can live to be over 100 years old. The oldest documented turtle lived to be over 200.

Stay sitting with wide legs and stir making big circles in both directions. Then do a Magic Spell together — saying softly at first, then repeating getting louder and louder…. Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Laugh together like witches! HAHAHAHA! Now let’s be a witch’s hat!

Witch’s Hat Pose (Down Diggety Down Dog) – Begin in All Fours pose. Bend your toes forward. Spread your fingers wide. Press your doggy paws and heels downward as you lift your hips and tail to the sky. Lengthen your spine. Stretch your arms and legs as long as possible. Let your head hang down.

Now let’s be a dog howling at the moon!

Up Uppity Doggie Up – Drop your hips and lift your chest forward with an inhalation. Drop your shoulders away from your ears, broaden your chest and keep your arms strong. Keep your legs up from the floor if you can.

Howl at the moon. Go back and forth between Witch’s Hat to Up Dog several times.

Now that all our work is done, let’s take a rest in a pumpkin patch.

Have the kids lie down and take 13 breaths. Expand the belly like a pumpkin It is time for us to celebrate Halloween with some Trick or Treating. Repeat the mantra as the do the pose:

Trick or Treat (clapping feet on floor), Smell My Feet (hands and soles of feet clapping)

Row Row Row Your Boat – Begin in L-Sitting pose and place both hands, palms down, alongside your hips. Lengthen your arms and spine. Lean back and lift your legs up. Balance. Stretch your arms forward, palms up. Breathe in and out. Row your arms forward. Reverse, and row your arms backward.

If you have time, play the Yoga Freeze and Flow Game. When the music stops, take turns having each child wear the Witch’s hat and teach a yoga pose to the group.

Sunrise/Sunset – Same as before!

The sun is setting on our spooky Halloween night, time for us to sleep…

Twist and Blow – Lie on your back with your knees bent. Stretch your arms out to each side, in line with your shoulders, palms up. Drop your bent knees over to the right and up towards your armpit. Turn your head to the left as you breathe out. Breathe in and bring your knees back to the center and across your belly. Drop your legs to the left side, turn your head to the right, and breathe out. Do several continuous rounds. Then, relax for at least a minute with your knees on one side and head rotated in the opposite direction. Change sides and relax again. Then relax for at least a minute on each side.

SAVASANA

VISUAL VIGNETTE

Have the children color a Halloween coloring page, or decorate mini-pumpkins. You can download one here! coloring page.


Learn to write and teach your own Halloween lesson plans with YogaKids!

Rock Your Chakras Halloween Style!

black cat with pumpkin

Need a Halloween-themed class for your older students? This is a Halloween twist on a chakra lesson plan. Having knowledge about your chakras gives you a guide on how to interpret the experiences in your body. Listening to your body and directing your energy within in a conscience way so you feel safe, creative, empowered, loved, heard, connected and spiritual.

AGE GROUP

7-11

MATERIALS

  • One hollowed-out pumpkin
  • Cooked spaghetti
  • Gummy candy
  • Fangs
  • Cyclops eyes
  • Scarves
  • White 8.5 x 11 paper
  • Markers the colors of the chakras
  • Pencils
  • Wet wipes
  • Cotton balls
  • Clothespins
  • Cedar and lavender oil
  • Green marker
  • Music player and prepared music
  • Blocks

DISCUSSION POINTS

What are chakras? Why do we care about chakras? Where is each chakra located in the body? What are some things associated with each chakra (i.e.: color, sense, emotion, etc.)?

CONNECTING CIRCLE

Place a skeleton in the center of the circle.

Take a moment close your eyes and sit tall on your sit bones. Think about your spine. <Pause.> Look at the skeleton in the center of the circle. There are 33 bones in your spine and 5 sections. The cervical spine is your neck, thoracic is where the ribs attach to the spine, lumbar is lower back and sacral is where your spine attaches to your pelvis and then the tailbone region. When one of those bones becomes misaligned, we feel discomfort.

So, alignment of our spine is essential to our health. We have wheels of energy along our spine called chakras. Energy is what makes all things exist and move. Our body receives energy from the sun, food we eat and the air we breathe, and that energy is sent throughout the whole body. Our chakras are those places where that energy comes into the body and is then sent throughout the body. We want to keep these wheels of energy spinning and balanced so that you feel good, much like spinal alignment. Yoga poses can help keep our spines aligned and our chakras balanced.

Name Game – Go around the circle, say your name and an adjective that is scary that begins with the same letter as your name: Howling Heather. Say all together after each child says their name.

POSES AS PATHWAYS

Sunlight is absorbed through our skin, so we can produce Vitamin D, which in turn allows us to absorb calcium. Calcium strengthens our bones.

Sunrise/Sunset – Sit on your heels. Open and close your wings several times. Then open your wings and interlace your fingers above your head. Stretch your arms up as you lift your buttocks off your heels with an inhalation. Exhale and drop your hips to the right as the arms drop left like the setting sun. Inhale and arch your arms overhead like the rising sun. Then, drop your arms to the right as the hips drop left.

Pull your hands around your face to make it dark. Darkness is scary. Your sight is limited, and you might hear things you wouldn’t hear during the day because the world is quiet. Our first chakra’s sense is smell. Pass around a cotton ball held in a clothespin with cedar oil on it, The essence of our first chakra is meeting our basic needs; feeling stable and secure in our environment. 

Polar Bear – Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees wide apart, toes touching behind you. Bend forward at the hips and slide your chest along the floor. Place your chin on the floor and put your paws over your nose to keep yourself warm. Breathe in and out.

We are going to be the moon rising. Make wide arms circles to draw the face of the full moon. Moonlight is sun reflected off the surface of the moon. 

Volcano – Begin in Mountain pose. Bring your fingertips together at the chest. Jump your feet apart. Place your palms together at the center of your body in Namaste Position. Breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over your head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to Namaste. Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises. Jump your feet back together when you’ve finished erupting.

What comes out when the moon is full? WEREWOLVES!

Play Thriller by Michael Jackson. Howl at the moon.

Transformer Series (modified to become Werewolves) – A vinyasa is a flow of poses linked together through breath and movement. In YogaKids, we call vinyasa flows “transformers.” This example of a Transformer Series transitions through the following poses: Lunge, Lizard, S is for Snake, Down Diggety Doggy Down, and back into Lunge.

When our root chakra is balanced, we feel centered and grounded. “I am rooted to the Earth, I am Safe.” 

Mountain – Stand with your feet together or hip-width apart, whichever is most comfortable. Arms are at your sides, fingers stretching towards the floor. Press your feet into the ground. This downward action through the legs allows the torso, neck, and head to rise like a mountain above the clouds. Notice how tall and light you feel.

Put your hands on either side of your hips and you can feel the ilium bones that make up your pelvis, which is like a bowl. These bones connect to your spine at the sacrum which is a large triangular bone that helps support the weight of our upper body. This is also where our second or sacral chakra is housed which enhances your ability to feel. When it is in alignment your creative energy flows. Orange represents this chakra. Let’s become pumpkins.

Pelvic Bowling – The pelvis is like a bowl, holding the reproductive and abdominal organs. Tip your bowl forward and backward several times. Now realign and lengthen your spine as you return to center. Feel your legs strong and supportive. Feel your pelvic bowl sitting on the pedestal of the legs, supporting the upward mobility of your torso. Stand tall and walk without spilling anything out of your bowl.

Close your eyes and imagine yourself as an orange pumpkin. Make a scary mouth with fangs and everyone reveal their scary face at once by opening their eyes. Do the Darth Vader breath: Try to inhale/exhale through your nose even though your mouth is open. Use your tongue to stopper your teeth. Count to three on inhale, five on exhale. 

Squat & Breath – Stand with your feet hip-distance apart. Bend your knees and squat down. If possible, bring your heels to the ground and keep your feet parallel to one another. Bring your hands into the Namaste position, with your thumbs lifting the breastbone and your elbows opening your inner thighs. Drop your shoulders away from your ears and keep the torso upright. Breathe deeply and quietly as you balance. Continue to increase the duration of time you can squat and breathe.

Sing the following as you do the pose:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
the first one said, “oh my its getting late,”
the second one said, “there are witches in the air,”
the third one said, “but I don’t care,”
the fourth one said, “I’m ready for some fun,”
the fifth one said, “let’s run and run and run.”
Woo went the wind and out went the lights and
the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Rock ‘n Roll – Sit cross-legged. Take hold of your toes from the outer side of your knees. Breathe in and lift up your chest. Breathe out and tuck in your chin. Breathe in and out. Rock your back and roll backwards. Extend your crossed legs over your head. Roll forward, tuck in your legs, and sit up again. Do this a few times to loosen up your spine, back and legs. Re-cross your legs the other way, then roll a few more times.

A pumpkin is in the shape of our pelvis and where our guts are. If you are brave enough to reach inside without looking, there are some prizes. Pass around a carved-out pumpkin that has “guts” (cooked spaghetti) inside. Within the guts, put in gummy organ shaped candy and eyeballs. Share this folktale:

There is an Irish folktale of how Jack-o-lanterns came to be a Halloween tradition. A man named Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him. But Jack being stingy didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the coin, and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form.

Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for another 10 years. Soon after, Jack died.

As the legend goes, God wouldn’t allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by Jack’s trickery but keeping his word not to claim is soul, wouldn’t let Jack into Hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since. The Irish refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern” which became simply Jack-o-Lantern. When the Irish brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, they adopted this fruit for their carving activities. 

Row your Boat – Begin in L-Sitting pose and place both hands, palms down, alongside your hips. Lengthen your arms and spine. Lean back and lift your legs up. Balance. Stretch your arms forward, palms up. Breathe in and out. Row your arms forward. Reverse, and row your arms backward. Try the pose while singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Our navel chakra is our power center which fuels your will to act. Let’s hold hands in this pose as we work to recharge and reconnect with this energy center.

Feel the energy that flows in your body. See if you can connect to your neighbors’ energy like an electric current that flows from one to another. 

Electric Circle – This pose is done with at least three people. Sit cross-legged with your hands on your knees. The left-hand rests palm up, and the right-hand rests palm-down. Breathe deeply into your heart space at the center of your chest. Feel the breath move across your chest, flow down your arms and into the hands that you are holding. You might feel or hear tingling. Whenever you feel this electricity, gently squeeze the hands you are holding. That is the signal to let each other know that the circuit has been made and the current is flowing. With your lips closed and your tongue curled upward to touch the roof of your mouth, start humming or buzzing to imitate the sound of electricity. Get louder and louder, then break the circuit by letting go of each other’s hands. Sit quiet and listen to the silence.

Electricity has transformed us into Frankenstein! Play Monster Mash. Try to walk with arms and legs straight like Frankenstein. Try to cross one leg over the other as you step sideways. Go in both directions.

Ankle/Heel/Toe/Walking – Put on your favorite music or make your own. Lift your toes in the air and walk on your heels. Then, lift your heels and walk high on your tiptoes. Balance on the inside edges of your feet and walk around. Balance on the outside edges and walk around.

When your navel chakra is balanced you feel confident and courageous in your decisions.

Warrior Series with Affirmations – Begin in Mountain pose. Step one leg back while bending your front leg. Keep your hips facing frontward as you raise your arms straight above your head. Say, “I am bold!” From Bold Warrior, turn your back foot slightly outward and bring your arms down parallel to the floor. Keep your front knee bent directly over your ankle. Say, “I am brave.” From Brave Warrior, shift your weight onto your front leg. Pick up your back leg and stretch it behind you. Keep both legs as straight and strong as possible. Stretch your arms forward and say, “My own power I can hold!” Repeat on the other side.

Our spine isn’t straight, it is curved like an S so it can better support the weight of your upper body. Convex is the shape of our cervical and lumbar areas and concave is the shape of our thoracic region We are going to make those two shapes with our back: stretch our chest muscles by opening our arms wide and arching back: then stretch the back muscles by bringing our arms to the front and rounding back. A good way to remember it, concave has the word cave in it and when you cave in, you cave inward. 

Draw a heart with washable green marker on hands of child and dab some lavender oil in center. Our heart chakra fuels our ability to give and receive love.

When we take our heads below our hearts we bathe our brain in oxygenated blood. 

Did someone say BLOOD! (Put your fangs in for Dracula.) Make the shape of Dracula’s cape. When our heart chakra is open and balanced, you feel a deep sense of love, gratitude and connection to all beings, including yourself.

Standing Partner Stretch – With a partner, stand back-to-back in Mountain pose. Both partners take one “baby step” forward. Reach back and take hold of each other’s hands or wrists. Keep your feet rooted to the floor. Lean gently away from each other, as you stretch your chests and shoulders. Come back to center and release your hands.

Dracula is transforming into a bat to fly away. This pose strengthens your arms and core. 

Crow Pose – Begin in Mountain pose. Bend your knees and squat down. Place your arms to the inside of your bent legs and press your hands with outstretched fingers into the floor. Lean slightly forward. Bend your elbows to make a shelf for your knees. Lean forward and balance with your feet off the floor. With patience and practice, you can increase the time you can stay balanced.

We are going to Hiss (tongue behind two front teeth) like a mad black cat (Moo pose) and Purr (as you breath air out of your mouth, flutter your tongue against the roof of your mouth) like we are happy. (Meow pose) 

Moo/Meow – Begin in All Fours Pose. Line up your wrists under your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide and arch your spine to the sky. Loosen your neck and drop your head down. Breathe out long as you meow. Now lift your chest forward and look up with big cow eyes. Dip your belly down and tilt your sitting bones up. Your back will sink down like a cow’s. Make cow lips and moo deeply from the back of your throat. Go back and forth, meowing and mooing.

Zig Zag Breathing – Lay your head down on your friend’s belly pillow. Have someone use your belly as a belly pillow too. Make body zigzags on the floor as everyone breathes from their bellies. Close your eyes and relax. Feel your belly rise and fall with the weight of your friend’s head.

Our throat chakra is the energy center for sound and communication. Everyone wants to be heard. We make sounds in the front and back of our mouths. 

Play with tongue twisters.

  • If two big black cats could blow bubbles, how big of bubbles would big black cats blow.
  • Ghostly ghouls gather gleefully to golf on ghostly green golf courses.

Put cyclops eyes on everyone’s forehead while lying down.

Play Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. Musical Musings

Channel energy through our third eye chakra. This is our center for intuition and insight. Seeing and color represent this chakra. Give each child as a scarf and everyone will work together to keep the scarves in the air. It doesn’t matter whose scarf you rescue. Keep an eye out so you don’t run into someone!

Throw and Grab – Use two or more light objects like scarves. Toss them in the air laterally and try to catch them. Next toss them up laterally but reach across and catch them with your opposite hands. Notice when you add the words, ‘Throw. Throw. Grab. Grab,” it makes this mid-line movement and cross-lateral coordination easier.

These eye exercises will stimulate our Corpus Collosum, the connection between the two halves or hemispheres of our brain. 

Eyes Around the Clock – Use this technique anytime you need to soothe and rest your eyes. Take any seated position. Rub your hands together until they feel hot, then place the palms of your hands over your eyes. Let them soak up the heat. Keep your fingers close together so no light comes through. You can keep your eyes closed or open. Imagine a clock hanging in front of your eyes. Move your eyes to each position around the clock like this:

  1. Look up and down, from twelve o’clock to six o’clock and back to twelve o’clock;
  2. Look right to left from three o’clock to nine o’clock and back to three o’clock;
  3. Look diagonally from one o’clock to seven o’clock and back to one o’clock;
  4. Look from eleven o’clock to five o’clock and back to eleven o’clock.
  5. Now start at twelve o’clock and look at each number around the face of the clock.
  6. Then, start again at twelve o’clock and move in the opposite direction. Circle the cock clockwise three times, then reverse. Try to keep your head still and move only your eyes.

7th chakra is at your crown and it’s your connection to your thoughts and your understanding of the world around you and how you fit into it. 

Headstand (modified) – From all fours position, put top of head on mat. Put arms in an “L” shape position. Place one knee at a time on triceps. If able, straighten legs to ceiling.

Plough – Sit cross-legged. Take hold of your toes from the outer side of your knees. Breathe in and out. Roll backwards. Then, let go of your toes while bending your elbows. Use your hands to support and lift your back. Straighten your legs and lift them past your head until your bent toes touch the floor. Squeeze your shoulders and elbows together. Breathe in and out. To relax in this pose, bend your knees and rest them on the floor on either side of your head. Rest your hands at the back of your knees.

The sky is starting to get light and we are close to the sun peaking over the Eastern horizon. It’s time to return to our coffins to rest. Close your eyes and shut the lid. Imagine what the inside of a coffin must be like. There is no light; no sound; the interior is soft, the bedding you are resting on is comfortable; take a sniff of your lavender, the smell can be calming. Shutting out your senses can be calming on your nervous system. 

Corpse Pose – Lie on your back and relax.

Bring your awareness to the base of your spine, feel your tailbone and sacrum region on the mat. Feel the space between your lumbar region and the mat. Does it feel like you could drive a truck underneath your lower back or does it feel like only a bug could crawl under? <Pause> Feel your ribs expand into the mat as you inhale air into your lungs. <Pause> Press your shoulder blades into the mat and then relax. Let your cervical spine make a natural bridge between your collar bone and back of the skull. 

VISUAL VIGNETTES

Make Pop-up Cards. Fold 8.5×11” paper in half. Refold top half edge to folded edge. Draw half circle along second edge, make upper half of a scary face (no mouth). Draw a pair of short legs and feet on paper so that it looks like half face and legs are attached. Unfold paper and draw other half of circle to complete face and draw a smile. Draw rest of the body. Make sure your shoulders are the width of your legs. Draw arms at sides.

Write I AM…. in bold lettering above the head. Put a dot that represents each color of chakra alongside the body. Don’t put the dots above or below the two folded seams. Write words alongside corresponding color: Red: Safe, Orange: Creative, Yellow: Strong, Green: Loved, Blue: Expressive, Indigo: Connected, Violet: Divine.

CLOSING CIRCLE

We only have this one body to care for in our lifetime. Luckily, we have modern medicine to help us repair a broken bone, fix a tooth and make our eyesight better but the true way to stay healthy is by making healthy choices every day that keep you feeling at ease, peaceful and joyful.

Diamond Breath/Bridge of Diamonds – Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Inhale as you lift your arms overhead. Form a diamond above your head with your pointer fingers and thumbs touching. Exhale as you lower your arms back down to your sides. Repeat. Then hold your diamond shape above your head. Close your eyes and envision a beautiful, sparkling diamond floating above your head. Feel it grow larger and more brilliant. Now open your thumbs and let the magical sparkly diamond dust flow into the top of your head, through the crown chakra and over your whole body. Feel the diamond light surrounding you. Now lift your torso off your heels. Join hands with the children next to you and feel the diamond light move through your group to create a bridge of diamonds. Imagine joining hands with children across the globe and forming a bridge of diamonds; a rainbow of beaming light that spans across the world. Together our love and light will shine in peace.

Share the following quote from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross:

People are like stain-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.


Learn to write and teach your own Halloween lesson plans with YogaKids!

Scenes from a YogaKids Training!

 

A YogaKids training is a totally unique and immersive experience. Because we believe that children learn better by doing — we ALSO apply this same philosophy to our training of adults! You — just like your YogaKids students — learn by engaging in activities and connections to art, music, literacy, and much more. If you’d like a sneak peek at one of our trainings, here’s an exclusive photo gallery of scenes from our recent Level 3 Transformations Training event in Newbury, Massachusetts at Roots to Wings Yoga and Healing.

And, remember, if you want to experience a YogaKids training — start your Certification today!

 

Scenes from a YogaKids Class!

Kids in Roller Coaster Pose

 

A YogaKids class is not just a kids yoga class. A YogaKids class is a totally immersive educational experience — that is super-fun for kids of all ages! We include art, music, games, science, math, literacy, and much more into every class. Here’s a peak inside a recent YogaKids class by YK Teacher Jua Nnafie. The theme is our Wonderful World.

If you’re planning a YogaKids class about the Earth — we hope it gives you some great ideas!

And if you WANT to learn to teach a YogaKids class like this — start your Certification today!

 

International Day of Peace Class Plan

International Day of Peace Logo

The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is a global holiday celebrated annually on September 21. Established in 1981 by a United Nations resolution, Peace Day asks us to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace. Here’s a wonderful class plan for celebrating this holiday with your YogaKids!

AGE GROUPS

7-11, 12+

MATERIALS

What does Peace Feel Like by Vladimir Radunsky, paper and markers or crayons, music

SHORT DESCRIPTION/TOPIC

Children will explore what peace means to them and practice yoga poses to help them integrate the concepts presented.

DISCUSSION POINTS

Introduce the topic. The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world each year on September 21. Established in 1981 by a United Nations resolution, Peace Day asks us to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace. What ideas to you have to help celebrate this day with your family and friends?

CONNECTING CIRCLE

Peace Breath – Close your eyes. Relax your face muscles. Breathe in. Breathe out and whisper the word “peace.” Do these 3 to 6 times. As you say the word, feel the peace inside you. Send peace to the animals, trees and plants. Send peace to your family and friends. Send peace to countries in the world that are at war. Send peace to all the people you love.

POSES AS PATHWAYS

What does peace feel like? Read the book and present the following:

Peace in many languages:

  • Pace – Italian
  • Paix – French
  • Paz – Spanish

What does peace smell like?

Flower Pose – Sit cross-legged, lean back and place your arms under your knees and balance.

Pizza – Sit with your legs wide apart. Roll out and stretch the pizza dough to the right by slowly sliding your hands down your legs from your right thigh to your right toes. Then repeat on the left side. Now spread some sauce on the slice by moving your hands from side to side on the floor in the space between your legs. Add your favorite toppings.

What does peace sound like? Play some beautiful music of your choice.

What does peace taste like?

Popcorn: Start in child’s pose. Stay still and feel the warmth coming up from the popcorn maker beneath you. Now if you are ready – jump high into the air and POP. POP. POP. Repeat and pop!

What does peace feel like?

Sun Salutation – Start standing in Mountain pose, raise arms overhead and stretch upward. Fold forward into Ragdoll. Step back with right leg into a lunge. Step back with left leg to Lizard (plank). Slowly come down to the floor with your knees, chest and chin. Bring your hips down to the floor, and lift up into S is for Snake (cobra). Curl your toes under and stretch into Down Dog. Step forward with right leg into a lunge. Step forward with left leg into Ragdoll (forward fold) . Stretch arms outward and return to standing. Raise arms overhead and stretch upward. Repeat cycle, leading with the opposite leg.

Grugging – gGoup or individual hugs

Imagine what you could with peace.

Ladder to the Clouds Stand tall. Reach up and begin to climb a very, very, very tall, imaginary ladder. Climb all the way to the clouds and beyond. Now slowly lower to the ground as you climb back down to a crouch and rest in Child’s Pose.

PARTNER POSES

Standing Partner Stretch – Stand back to back in Mountain pose. Both partners take one “baby step” forward. Reach back and take hold of each other’s hands or wrists. Keep your feet rooted to the floor. Lean gently away from each other until you both feel a nice stretch opening your chest s and shoulders.

Sit and Twist – Sit cross-legged in front of your partner with your four knees touching. Put your right arm behind your back, reach out with your left hand and grab your partner’s right hand. Breathe in and sit up tall. Breathe out, turn away from your partner, twist your spine, and look over your right shoulder. Switch sides and repeat.

GROUP POSE

Tree – Stand in a tight circle, each member lifts the right foot, bend the right knee, and press the foot against the inside of the left leg. Reach out and hold hands.

VISUAL VIGNETTES

Peace Drawing

Have the children draw their version of peace to celebrate the International Day of Peace.

QUIET QUESTS

Peace MeditationLie down and close your eyes. Notice your belly gently rise and fall. As you exhale, feel more and more relaxed. Imagine your exhale melting all your tension. (pause) Notice how you feel, imagine you are filled with peace. (pause) Now send peace to the animals. (pause) To the trees. (pause) Send peace to your family. (pause) Send peace to your friends. (pause) Notice how you feel. Now completely rest. (pause for 2-5 minutes) Now wiggle your fingers and toes. (pause) Stretch your arms overhead. (pause) Slowly roll onto one side. (pause) Gently come up to sitting.

CLOSING CIRCLE

Fountain of Oms– Everyone chants OM at their own pace and rhythm. We start together, but everyone’s duration is different. Just let the OMs keep coming at various intervals; some short, some long. Feel the Fountain of OMs wash through and around you. The sound and vibration is very powerful. Keep your eyes closed and keep chanting. Keep the OMs flowing and allow the sound to cease with its own natural conclusion.


Learn to write and teach your own YogaKids lesson plans!

Yoga & Me Come Be a Tree – A YogaKids Book Review

Yoga & Me Come Be a Tree book

Yoga & Me Come Be a Tree by Certified YogaKids Teacher and Occupational Therapist Tere Bowen-Irish is a lovely book that showcases various yoga poses in a very special light. Each pose is illustrated by two children performing a pose — one of whom is in a wheelchair. With this approach, the author does a wonderful job of showing how specific yoga poses can be modified for differently-abled children. And more broadly, how yoga is accessible to children of ALL abilities.

There are 2 pages dedicated to each pose. The only text is the name of the pose (including the Sanskrit name), and a short, simple poem about each pose. (For example, for Mountain Pose: “I am a mountain, strong and tall, When I look down, I see it all. I am made from rock, trees and granite. I am the strongest on the planet.” The book also includes a lovely introduction by Ms. Bowen-Irish that details how the book (and yoga, generally) can be used by parents, teachers, therapists, and other child-focused professionals.

Contact praxiscoachtere@comcast.net to order your copy!


Discover more about literacy and yoga in the YK Certification Program!

 

 

 

 

Wet Poses!

Swan
 

In traditional yoga, poses are categorized by the position of the spine. In the YogaKids program, poses are categorized by subject. This helps with planning engaging themed YogaKids classes! There are 20 categories of YogaKids poses — and one of our favorites is WET poses — a category for celebrating water and water-dwelling animals! Here’s a just a few…

Alligator: Lie down on your belly. Stretch your arms in front of you, one palm on top of the other. Open and close your arms like a jaw. Open and close your real jaw as you do this, too. Keep your legs together and lifted like an alligator’s tail. Gently bring your tail up and down.

Row Your Boat: Begin in L-Sitting pose and place both hands, palms down, alongside your hips. Lengthen your arms and spine. Lean back and lift your legs up. Balance. Stretch your arms forward, palms up. Breathe in and out. Row your arms forward. Reverse, and row your arms backward. Try the pose while singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

Spouting Dolphin: Begin in All Fours pose. Lower your elbows to the floor. Make sure your knees are under your hips. Grasp your elbows with the opposite fingers to keep proper spacing. Move your lower arms forward, interlacing your fingers, and make a triangle. Breathe in and out, letting your spine lengthen and your tailbone lift up and back. Work your legs as you press your heels towards the floor. Breathe in and out. Move your body forward so your chin touches down in front of your fingers. Then breathe out and lift out of the water.

Swan: Begin in All Fours pose. Bend your lower legs, pointing your toes to the sky. Glide your body forward. Lift your chest and lengthen your graceful neck. Breathe in and out.

Waves: Sit on the ground and bend your knees, placing your feet on the floor hip-distance apart. Move your knees and legs back and forth to the left and right, as they ebb and flow like waves. Use this as a transition pose between the wet poses. It is a fun and accessible hip opener.

There are many more Wet Poses in the YogaKids Program — and you should always feel free to make up your own!  (Or encourage your YogaKids to get creative!)


Learn all the YogaKids poses in our Certification Program!

Dino Does Yoga – A YogaKids Book Review

Dino Does Yoga by Sofie Engstrom von Alten is a delightful book with a sweet story and beautiful illustrations. There are many ways to incorporate yoga poses into the reading of this sweet book.  A lonely egg who has lost its way, soon hatches Dino.  Dino does many yoga poses including; sun salutations, warriors’ tree and child’s pose and finishes in relaxation pose.  Breathing, body benefits and even self-esteem are all incorporated in this sweet story.  Dino Does Yoga would be a great bedtime story because several energetic poses are taught at the beginning helping kids get rid of anxious energy followed by several relaxing calm poses that will help kids drift off to sleep just like Dino.  Book is ideal for toddlers to elementary age children.


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A Classroom Management Success Story

feet

Classroom management can make or break an educator. This is why, during our Level 3 Transformations Training, we talk a lot about classroom management. We teach what we know works — and we ask our students to share their own success stories. From YK Apprentice Beth Clemenger came this awesome story of success…

As a school counselor, I work with students with a variety of disabilities: autism, ADHD, learning issues of many varieties, and others. Several of my students have behavior issues and can be disruptive to other kids.

Last year, I got a new student. She was 9 and recently adopted from an international orphanage. She was, for the most part, nonverbal and had no concept of appropriate behavior. We decided to try her in my yoga class that only had 5 students. Also, in this class, I had a boy that would challenge me often by saying” I hate this pose” or “why are we doing this?”

I decided to talk to the boy about being the “mentor” for this girl. He had already had contact with her as she was in his class. She had a 1:1 aide with her at all times for safety as she would try to bolt out of the building.  

Well, the first class was a disaster! The aide was so upset because she could not get the girl to “do the yoga poses.” The mentor boy was upset because the aide was doing his job.

I talked to the aide about it being okay if she just sat on her mat — that was the first goal. I added more engaging music, put a breathing buddies on each mat at the beginning of the class, used more props (such as hula hoops, scarves, balls, bubbles, balloons, marbles). This was really engaging for the nonverbal girl and it gave my mentor boy a way to “show “her how to use the props. 

I also had to explain to the other kids how to best interact with this girl — so that her behavior did not upset them or disrupt their yoga experience. We moved her mat a little toward the back and placed the mentor boy directly in front of her. The rest of the students knew that this boy was her “helper.” I also asked the aide to participate doing the poses with the class. This helped greatly. Rather than having an adult correcting the modeling, the girl was better able to engage with the yoga.  

We love this story so much. The techniques engage and empower both students. Well done, Beth! Thank you for sharing!


Transform your teaching in the YogaKids Certification Program!

Sock Eye Pillows

Sock Eye Pillow Craft

Created as eye pillow pals for Savasana — but can double as Breathing Buddies — this Visual Vignette idea from Certified YogaKids Teacher Sue Beres is super-cute and easy to make. Fill newly purchased socks with lavender scented rice * and tie with a ribbon. Add the eyes with a glue gun.

*Please note: Kids with sensory issues may have an aversion to the lavender scent so it’s good to have some unscented ones available.


Get more Great Ideas when you train to be a YogaKids Teacher!

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Ball Yoga

beach ball

June 21 is the first official day of summer! Celebrate the season with this super-simple We All Win game! You can play it with 2 or more people — all you need is a marker, a beach ball, and knowledge of a few YogaKids poses! Perfect for classes and parties!

 

Instructions:

  1. Write YogaKids poses on each section of the beach ball. (See below for list!)
  2. Throw the ball to a friend to catch. If in a group, you can pass the ball or throw it to someone across from you.
  3. When you catch the ball, see which pose your right thumb is pointing to — and read it aloud.
  4. Everyone does the pose together.
  5. Keep going — and make sure everyone has a turn to catch and throw the ball!

 

YogaKids Poses to include:

Volcano – Begin in Mountain pose. Bring your fingertips together at the chest. Jump your feet apart. Place your palms together at the center of your body in Namaste Position. Breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over your head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to Namaste. Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises. Jump your feet back together when you’ve finished erupting.

Lizard – Lie on your belly. Place your hands under your shoulders. Spread your fingers out like lizard claws. Bend your lizard toes forward. Push up until your arms and legs are straight in Plank Pose. Draw your shoulders back and away from your ears. Walk like a lizard, slowly and carefully.

Tree – Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. As your balance gets stronger, you’ll be able to raise your foot higher up your leg. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

Snake – Lie on your belly. Gently squeeze your legs together to shape your body long and strong, like a snake’s. Place your hands under your shoulders and breathe in. Lift up your chest and head. Pull your shoulders down away from your ears. Breathe out and hiss the sound of a snake. Flick out your tongue. Lower your chest and rest on the ground. Repeat.

Eagle – Begin in Mountain pose. Lift your right leg and wrap it over your left leg. If you can, hide your right foot and toes behind your left calf. Bring your bent arms up in front of you and place the right elbow on top of your left. Twist together your forearms bringing your palms together. You can also interlace your fingers. Bend your knees. Untangle yourself and change sides, bringing your left leg over your right leg and your left elbow on top of your right. Try to balance for 10 seconds on each side and gradually increase the time. Use a focus friend if you need guidance.

Flamingo – Begin in Mountain Pose. As you extend one leg straight back, bend forward at the hips. Spread your arms open like graceful wings. Establish your balance by clearing your mind and fixing your attention on your breath. If you feel like flying, gently flap your wings. Repeat with the opposite leg.


Learn all the YogaKids poses as a YogaKids Teacher!

 

 

 

 

 

Twist and Blow

Girl in Twist and Blow pose
p47

Have you ever squeezed water out of a wet towel? In this pose, we twist our body to wring out tension and tightness. Our spinal nerves get nourished. Vertebrae muscles get stronger. The organs in our belly get exercised and revitalized. Get ready to twist and blow!

Instructions

  1. Lay on your back.
  2. Hug your knees into your chest. Clasp them gently.
  3. Rock back and forth.
  4. Return to center.
  5. Stretch your arms out to the sides. Palms are up.
  6. Inhale and drop your hips and bent knees to one side. Twist your ribs, neck and head to the other.
  7. Blow out through your mouth.
  8. Change sides.
  9. Twist back and forth 5-10 times, then release onto one side and relax for at least a minute.
  10. Blow out fully.
  11. Breathe in deeply.
  12. Close your eyes.
  13. Do the other side.

Notes for Parents and Teachers

You can help your child increase the twisting action. As she twists her lower body to the right and upper body left, help her in the following way:

  1. Place one hand on her left lower back and the other hand on her right shoulder. Move her hips in one direction.
  2. Lengthen her chest by pressing her shoulder gently down towards the floor in the other direction. Encourage the spiraling of the spine to stretch and relax her.
  3. Give her a kiss on the cheek.
  4. Move her knees to the other side.
  5. Repeat.
  6. Let your child help you to twist and blow too. Spinal twists massage the internal organs as well as the spine.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Math Medley/Awesome Anatomy
Your spine consists of 3 groups of bones that help you stand up tall: 7 in your cervical spine or neck, 12 in your thoracic spine or chest area and 5 in your lumbar spine or lower back area. How many bones are in your spine? 31 spinal nerves run through your spine and connect to every part of the body. How many vertebra bones and nerves are in your backbone?

Body Benefits
The twisting action of this pose massages the kidneys, liver, stomach and intestines. It makes your digestive and elimination systems healthy and strong.

Dragon Breathers

Dragon Breather Craft

 

From Certified YogaKids Teacher Melissa McDonough,  this Visual Vignette is a perfect addition to any dragon-themed class. Don’t forget the inclusion of the YogaKIds Dragon Breath Pose — a child-friendly variation of Kapalabhati that tones the abdominal muscles and energizes the entire body.

 

Dragon Craft Instructions

Begin with toilet paper tubes and decorate them  with markers and foam stickers. Then glue red, orange and yellow tissue pager to the center of the inside of the tube and lightly push the rest of the paper into the tube. When the kids blow into the opposite end of the tube, the tissue paper would come out like a dragon breathing fire.

 

Dragon Breath Pose

Sit comfortably in any of the seated poses. Place your hands on your belly. Breathe out through your nose with a strong snort as you snap your belly back toward your spine. Focus on your breath as it goes out. A little bit of air will naturally sneak into your nose after each snort — you don’t need to think about inhaling as it will happen naturally. Repeat this breath. Then breathe in and out normally. Add more rounds of Dragon Breath as you feel comfortable. Your Dragon Breath will get stronger and longer with practice.


Learn all the YogaKids poses as a YogaKids Teacher!

Ozone Shield Craft

ozone craft

A Visual Vignette classroom idea for integrating important Earth science from YogaKids Apprentice Rebecca Lizotte:

Stand in Mountain Pose with the Earth (a print out, globe, or ball) in the center of the group. Imagine your climbing a gigantic ladder up to the cloud into the stratosphere. (Ladder to the Clouds pose). Share the following about the Earth…

The stratosphere is between 5 and 31 miles above the ground, where the earth is protected by a brave group of tiny defenders called ozone molecules. They band together and form a shield around the globe called the ozone layer. She then had the group hold hands and protect our earth like the ozone molecules. These molecules let in the suns life giving warmth but shield off the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

Unfortunately on earth, years ago, humans made chemicals that attack the ozone layer, called CFCs. These chemicals were used in refrigerator, air conditioners and aerosol spray cans. Once we figured out that these chemicals were harmful to the ozone layer, most countries in the world stopped making them. But we still have to be aware of the bad ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays are bad for your eyes and your skin. That’s why it’s important to stay out of the sun or wear sunscreen and sunglasses when we go outside.

Have your class make an Ozone Shield Pomander Ball using an orange, whole dried cloves and toothpicks. Students perforate the orange with the toothpicks and creatd the outline of a shield with a circle (sun) in the middle. Have the kids insert the cloves (ozone molecules) along the perforation. Pro Tip: To preserve, place the pomander in a paper bag to dry out for a few weeks. The cloves will draw out their moisture. Throw away if mold appears.


Change the world as a YogaKids Teacher! YogaKids!

My YogaKids Journey

Julie Pate

When I started the YogaKids training, my two sons were two and four; I was knee-deep in diapers, temper tantrums, and playgroups. I would often sit, buried in piles of brightly colored plastic toys and wonder if I would survive the toddler years. Days would pass slowly, filled with an endless stream of mundane parenting tasks. I felt as if pieces of me were being carried out of the house with each bag of dirty diapers.

The yoga tradition teaches us to be present in the moment, because it is in the moment that true joy can be found. Fretting about the past and worrying about the future is said to be a true path to suffering. This is a tough realization when your moment is a 2 year-old screaming in the grocery store because he wants to get out of the cart and throw paper towel rolls across the aisle.  

The first few years of my son’s life, I did have a yoga practice. However, what I found was that a few hours on my yoga mat each week was just scratching the surface of what I really needed to cultivate a connection to joy. My previous practice was perfect for the life of a carefree young thirty something with a great job and a loving husband. Introducing two energetic toddlers to the mix, for me,  was a recipe for stress and unhappiness.

Shortly after my youngest son turned two, I was teaching adult yoga at a wellness center when the program director approached me to start a kids program. I didn’t know anything about teaching kids, and I could not imagine teaching children what I considered to be a very adult practice. I wondered how I could get kids to sit quietly and breathe, when my own sons seemed to be racing through their days at 110 miles per hour. The idea intrigued me enough to look into certification programs. I decided to pursue certification with YogaKids because the program is well-known, respected, and comprehensive. I had read Marsha Wenig’s book YogaKids Educating the Whole Child Through Yoga and loved her creative, fun approach to not only yoga, but life.  

When I began on my YogaKids journey, it never occurred to me that I would benefit so personally from the program.  My spiritual, personal, and professional growth was so profound, it became central to the certification process for me — and the actual CYKT (Certified YogaKids Teacher) behind my name was a fringe benefit.  

During the At-Home Practicum, YogaKids introduced me to some wonderful resources. Erich Schiffmann in Yoga the Spirit and practice of Moving into Stillness shares that “The way you think and define yourself is central to your perception, behavior, and experience of the world.” This really resonated with my experience at the time. I was seeing myself as caretaker, and had pushed aside the wife, friend, teacher and student that I was before I had children. My time on the mat helped me to connect to my best self, the part of me that I most wanted to cultivate — and the YogaKids program helped me to see that.

Another one of Marsha’s suggested books is Living Your Yoga by Judith Lasater. In the book, Judith says “Everything changes in this world, but flowers will open each spring just as usual.” This too resonated deeply with me. Even though my life had changed so dramatically, the beautiful things remained and were just waiting for me to notice them. Not only had the beauty remained, but my whole life was opened up to new possibilities of love that only a parent can fully understand. The joy of seeing your child laugh, learn, grow, and love is a joy that is almost beyond comprehension.

There are over 175 original YogaKids poses, and Marsha teaches to remain present while practicing each pose.  The awareness I practiced while in the poses stayed with me and began to affect my whole life. I noticed my body response when I became angry with my children; it was almost as if I could step outside of myself and view negative behaviors with compassion and understanding. I didn’t want to become angry when my sons fought with each other or were disobedient. I wanted to parent with kindness, love, and gentle guidance.  

The awareness that YogaKids required of me in the practice began to seep into the rest of my life.  I was able to pause and notice when I was about to exhibit a behavior I didn’t want to with my family. I was able to change my mood quickly and react from a place of love to the many challenges in the day of a parent. The time I spent as a YogaKids Apprentice (YKA) was time spent cultivating love, creativity, and a childlike wonder for the world.  YogaKids helped me to see that, for me, anything was possible.  As a YKA, I was in my heart-space, and it was a place I really liked to be. I began to yell less, stress less, react to challenges with patience and love, and truly savor moments with my family.  

Parenthood can be a time of great inner turmoil, but the YogaKids program teaches a calm approach to caring for yourself and your children. It teaches you to be with your children in the all-important present moment. YogaKids teaches you to be mindful, and mindful living provides you with energy, calmness and the potential for insights. Here is hoping you have many great parenting moments with your YogaKids today.


Transform your life in the YogaKids Certification Program!

Spring Time Yoga Poses

girl in butterfly pose

Spring is such a magical time… and here in the Magical Garden, we LOVE IT so much! The weather gets warmer and flowers begin to bloom. It’s a time for bunnies, butterflies, and flying kites. Join us in celebrating spring with some of our favorite YogaKids poses!

 

Reach for the Sun

  1. Begin in by standing tall in Mountain pose.
  2. Breathe in and reach up high with an outstretched hand.
  3. Grab a piece of sunshine and pull the power into your solar plexus, your inner sun.
  4. Exhale with a “HAH” breath.
  5. Repeat with the other arm.
  6. Alternately reach with the left and right arms.
  7. As you practice, increase the force of your breath.

 

 Circle of Friendship Flowers

  1. Kneel in a circle with a group of your friends. Hold hands.
  2. As you inhale, reach your arms up, lift your buttocks off your heels, and stretch back arching your back and neck.
  3. As you exhale, continue to hold hands and fold down into Child’s Pose.
  4. Repeat a few times imagining all the different flowers that you could be.

 


Butterfly with Antennae

  1. Begin in L-Sitting pose, with your legs straight out in front of you.
  2. Bring the bottoms of your feet together, with your heels close to your body and your knees out to each side.
  3. Stretch your neck and the top of your head toward the sky and make your spine longer.
  4. Place your hands at the sides of your head and stick up your pointer fingers to make antennae.
  5. Pull your arms back like they’re your wings.
  6. Breathe in and out as you flap your wings forward and back, up and down.

 

Kite  

  1. Begin by standing tall in Mountain pose.
  2. Come onto your tippy toes and stretch your arms up and out to the side like tree arms.
  3. Lean to one side and stretch a leg out to the other side.
  4. Change sides.
  5. Play with your balance as you find your way and move with the wind.
  6. Feel your body flying like a kite!

 

Bunny Breath

  1. Get comfortable in a seated pose.
  2. Make your neck and back as long as you can, tucking in your chin slightly and letting your lower jaw relax.
  3. Take short, quick breaths in through your nose.
  4. Twitch your nose like a bunny. Then breathe out through your mouth with a long, smooth sigh.
  5. Repeat, increasing the number of inhalations and the length of your exhalations as your breath power gets stronger!

Learn more Spring Time poses as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Help Children Experience More Joy with Lemon Toes

Lemon Toes pose

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson, and is a technique in tensing and relaxing the muscles. This technique leads to an increase in relaxation throughout the entire body, essentially, physical tension melts, which in turn relaxes the mind and emotions. YogaKids creator Marsha Wenig developed the Lemon Toes technique to take a very adult practice and make it kid-friendly. In this version of PMR, children imagine their toes are straws, sipping sour lemonade up from their toes to every part of the body. Children sip, pucker, breath and relax.

Cultivate Contentment

Santosha is one of the niyamas, yoga’s observances, and it means contentment. Life can be very challenging, and Lemon Toes helps kids understand that pain comes and goes. Children develop tools to cultivate contentment even in challenging times. In Lemon Toes, we experience the sensation of constriction, tightening and compression in the entire body, followed by a feeling of ease. This can be very comforting to children as they begin to trust that pain in life is inevitable, but suffering is not. Living a joyous life is less about avoiding challenges, and more about how we deal with and think about life’s challenges. Lemon Toes helps kids experience tension and realize that they are still OK. It gives them trust in the universe.

Author and happiness expert Shawn Achor says that only 10% of happiness is based on our external world meaning where we live, what fun “stuff” we have, the weather etc… 90% is based on how our brain processes what happens to us. We could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii sipping a fruit drink while someone rubs our feet and still be miserable — or we could be walking in Chicago on a cold dark windy April morning and experience much joy. Lemon Toes helps kids process discomfort as a natural part of life, and helps them to experience less fear and anxiety around discomfort.

Welcome Opposites

When we experience pain, it is important to also find the opposite of that — or ease. Dr. Deepak Chopra spent time in a monastery in India, and part of their practice was to go out into the streets barefoot and beg for their food. Deepak told his teacher that walking barefoot was extremely painful and his teacher told him to focus on the foot that is in the air. In Lemon Toes, kids experience constriction and then the opposite of that, extreme ease. The ease is much sweeter after the constriction than before. Children are able to notice their being more easily and the practice is very mindful. Welcoming the opposite of sensation improves focus and concentration.

Body Sensing

Mindfulness refers to staying in the present moment; it leads to a deeper sense of peace. When we shut of the mind’s constant stream of thoughts (many of which are negative), we tap into that place in ourselves that is full of peace. Body sensing is a mindfulness technique used to draw focus inward. We can’t sense the body and think at the same time so thoughts begin to melt away. Lemon Toes draws the attention inward, and children improve focus, concentration and reduce stress.

Practice

Lie on your back. Imagine that your toes are straws, sipping sour lemonade up from the bottom to every part of your body. Hold your breath as your toes curl and pucker. Breathe out as you relax your toes. Work your way up your legs, belly, chest, and arms, sipping, puckering, breathing and relaxing. Make a sourpuss face. Tighten up your nose, eyes, cheeks, teeth and forehead. Let our hair curl. Hold it, squeeze it tense it. Release. Finally, tighten your whole body at once. Hold it for 5-10 seconds. Completely release, relax. Feel the difference between sour, tight and ten


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses and their benefits as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

Teaching English Language Learners

Little girl playing with blocks at home

Yoga benefits our students physically, mentally, and emotionally, but yoga for learning language? Let’s explore how yoga promotes language acquisition in English Learners.

English Learners (ELs) are people whose native language is one other than English. They are learning the culture of a new country, academic language in school, and social language for daily interaction. Sometimes young ELs live with the added stress and responsibility of interpretation for family members in a variety of business and medical settings.

We know practicing yoga can aid with relaxation, self-regulation, and self-awareness. In addition, yoga can be a great resource providing further experiences with expressive and receptive language. Yoga offers mental and emotional release in the midst of a long day, where ELs are constantly trying to make sense of the language and routines around them. Using minimal verbal cues, children can participate in breath and movement.

Total Physical Response, TPR, is a well-known language teaching method coordinating language and movement. YogaKids exemplifies the Total Physical Response, combining language with physical movement and modeling. Think of how often yoga instruction includes direction and position vocabulary such as up, down, left, right, in front, behind, around, etc.  Body parts of humans and animals is another category of terms used throughout YogaKids instruction.  These are just a few Laughing Language activities that are perfect for ELs.

Participation in yoga class also offers ELs a fun way to engage with peers. YogaKids provides children the opportunity to participate in large and small group partnerships. ELs can take a turn as pose leader, promoting oral language development, even if they know very little English. As YogaKids Teachers we provide a safe environment in which to experiment with language.

Listed below are a few ideas to support English Learners in your YogaKids class:

  • Modeling is key. (You are an actor in a silent movie.)
  • Visuals, like pose cards, are helpful. After introducing a sequence, students can use the pose cards to retell the pose story or create their own.
  • Speak slower, not louder.
  • Repetition; remember multiple exposures are needed to internalize a new concept.
  • Simplify language; use precise terms with paraphrasing.
  • Position EL near socially positive peer.
  • Choral responses provide a safe way to participate orally.
  • Allow children to simply observe (safety of choice as they learn receptively).
  • Offer ways to demonstrate that do not require speaking. “Show me…”
  • Provide options for student responses, i.e. “Mountain or tree?” (Model as you say the options.)
  • If you have your own space, label the room. (window, blankets, blocks, water, wall, etc.)  This is helpful for ELs with strong oral language but limited written skills.
  • Implement music. It teaches the rhythm of language, and culture.

Remember facial expressions and body language can be easier to understand than words.  So let your light and love of children shine!


Learn how YogaKids can help you teach children of all ages and abilities!

Spring Is in the Air (a free YogaKids class plan!)

butterflies and flowers

What better way to celebrate the spring season than with a fun-filled YogaKids spring-themed lesson plan? Perfect to use in the home, studio or classroom, this FREE class plan includes a spring craft, a We All Win yoga game, an original yoga flow, poses perfect for the season, and much more!

MATERIALS

  • name tags
  • crayons
  • sharpies
  • coloring pages
  • ping pong balls
  • straws

 

CONNECTING CIRCLE

Spring is March 20 to June 21. When it’s spring in the northern hemisphere, it’s fall in the southern hemisphere (Australia). Share fun facts about spring as you do the following poses together:

  • Reach for the SunWe are closer to the sun in the spring.

Begin in Open Mountain pose. Breathe in and reach up high with an outstretched hand. Grab a piece of sunshine and pull the power into your solar plexus, your inner sun. Exhale with a “HAH” breath. Repeat with the other arm. Alternately reach with the left and right arms. As you practice, increase the force of your breath.

  • Moo and Meow  – Many animals have babies in the spring.

Begin in All Fours Pose. Line up your wrists under your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide and arch your spine to the sky. Loosen your neck and drop your head down. Breathe out long as you meow. Now lift your chest forward and look up with big cow eyes. Dip your belly down and tilt your sitting bones up. Your back will sink down like a cow’s. Make cow lips and moo deeply from the back of your throat. Go back and forth, meowing and mooing.

  • Polar BearAnimals such as bears who hibernate start to wake up and become active.

Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees wide apart, toes touching behind you. Bend forward at the hips and slide your chest along the floor. Place your chin on the floor and put your paws over your nose to keep yourself warm. Breathe in and out.

  • Finger-Dancing/Salutations to MeDuring April, you will see more rain showers.

Sit on your heels or cross-legged. Begin at the top of your head and gently stimulate your hair and skin by lightly dancing your fingers all the way down your body. Allow the self-touch to feel good, as it wakes you up, stimulates your skin and lymph system and makes you feel alive. Do this technique along with Salutations to Me. Each time you touch a part of your body say a silent affirmation or kind statement to that place: toes; skull, hair, face, ears, neck, throat, chest, breasts, belly, bottom, legs, arms, feet, etc.

  • Circle of Friendship FlowersMay the flowers will start to bloom.

Kneel in a circle, holding hands. As you inhale, reach your arms up, lift your buttocks off your heels, and stretch back arching your back and neck. As you exhale, continue to hold hands and fold down into Child’s Pose. Repeat a few times imagining all the different flowers that you could be.

 

POSES AS PATHWAYS

Do a Planting Seeds Yoga Flow together!

  • Mountain Stretch your arms up overhead and say “hello” to the sun and pluck some “seeds.”
  • Ragdoll Dig a little hole and plant the seeds.
  • Standing Half Forward BendLift halfway and pretend to pour water on the planted seeds.
  • Ragdoll Pat down the dirt around the planted seeds a bit more.
  • MountainClasp hands overhead, making a “sun” with raised arms.
  • Repeat the previous poses one time.
  • Low SquatIt’s time to see if anything has sprouted! Squat down low. I see something!
  • Mountain
  • TreePlace one leg on the shin and grow your branches up. What kind of tree are you?
  • Repeat the transition from “squat” to “tree” on the other side.

Celebrate springtime activities with the following poses:

  • Kite

Begin in Mountain pose. Come onto your tippy toes and stretch your arms up and out to the side like tree arms. Lean to one side and stretch a leg out to the other side. Change sides. Play with your balance as you find your way and move with the wind. Feel your body flying like a kite.

  • Wind Chimes

Stand with your feet a little wider than hip-distance apart. Swing your arms back and forth in harmony with your breath. Be sure to keep your feet planted. You are a wind chime moving with the wind. Now separate your feet into a wide stance. Bend forward and take your right hand to your left leg. Lift your left arm to the sky and look up. Now lower your left arm and take it to the right leg. Twist your torso towards the sky and look up. Go back and forth several times.

  • Roller Coaster – Amusement parks are open in the spring, and many towns host festivals!

Sit down in a line with your legs spread wide. Clasp your hands around the person in front of you. As the roller coaster climbs up the hill, lean back. Then lean forward as you speed downhill. Be brave and raise your hands as you lean from side to side

  • Butterfly with Antenae

Begin in L-Sitting pose. Bring the bottoms of your feet together, with your heels close to your body and your knees out to each side. Stretch your neck and the top of your head toward the sky and make your spine longer. Place your hands at the sides of your head and stick up your pointer fingers to make antennae. Pull your arms back like they’re your wings. Breathe in and out as you flap your wings forward and back, up and down.

  • Bridge – Some people take trips in the spring to visit family!

Lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Place your feet hip-width apart as close to the sit bones as possible. Press your feet into the ground and lift your hips to the sky. Place your hands however it’s comfortable to support your lower back and pelvis. Lift your chest and arch your spine.

 

WE ALL WIN

Play Ping Pong Ball Breathing. Give each child a straw. Blow a ping-pong ball around the circle by blowing.

 

VISUAL VIGNETTES

Print or draw flowers with 4-8 petals and have the students color in the flowers with a light color crayon, then write something they love about themselves on each petal.

 

QUIET QUESTS

The Cherry Blossoms – “My friend Rengetsu was returning from a pilgrimage when she stopped in a town to rest for the night. Although she appeared tired and hungry, each door she knocked on refused her lodging. As the sun began to set behind the hills, she hiked up to a cherry orchard on the hillside. There she made a little bed of leaves under the trees and fell asleep. But something stirred her in the middle of the night. A beautiful scent fell over her. Pulling herself up from the sleep, she saw the loveliest of sights, the black sky behind dozens of trees with pink cherry blossoms, all blooming radiant and shimmering in the moonlight. Rengetsu took in the beautiful experience. Then she turned toward the town, gave a little bow, and said, ‘Oh people of the village, thank you so much for turning me away tonight, for if you did receive me, and give me a place to rest in your home, then I would never have been able to witness such beauty!’” Imagine you are lying in the cherry blossom.

 

CLOSING CIRCLE

  • Fountain of Oms

Everyone chants OM at their own pace and rhythm. Start together, but everyone’s duration can be different. Let the OMs keep coming at various intervals; some short, some long. Feel the Fountain of OMs wash through and around you. The sound and vibration is very powerful. Keep your eyes closed and keep chanting. Keep the OMs flowing and allow the sound to cease with its own natural conclusion.

  • Namaste

Put your hands together at your heart and bow to each other.

 


Learn to write and teach your own YogaKids lesson plans!

Yoga Tools for Temper Tantrums

child screaming

When my son was 3, he was diagnosed with a dairy allergy. Not long after the diagnosis he had a meltdown over a Sponge Bob ice cream cone at a local zoo. Despite my efforts to entice him into a non-dairy treat, he insisted on the ice cream, and as the discussion continued, we both became more and more agitated. Eventually the incident ended in a full out screaming fit with my son lying down on his back and kicking his feet, while making balls out of his little fists. As a small crowd of people watched, I tried desperately to calm him down, eventually getting so angry myself that I picked him up and dragged him back to the car literally kicking and screaming.

Most parents of toddlers can relate to this story. Shortly after the zoo incident, I started yoga teacher training with YogaKids. In the ,training I learned many techniques to calm the body and the mind. I soon began to incorporate what I learned with my own children and it led to a harmonious journey into peaceful parenting the YogaKids way.

 

Take Steps to Prevent Tantrums

Setting clear boundaries, offering rewards for good behavior, and staying away from triggers will help to prevent tantrums. My son’s ice cream meltdown could have been prevented if I had steered clear of the ice cream stand in the first place. It would have also helped if, as a family, we avoided ice cream when together. Finding special non-dairy treats that my son liked and having those at-the-ready would also be a helpful tool to promote peace and happiness.

 

Stay Calm

During a temper tantrum, it is very easy to get angry and frustrated yourself, but this will only fuel the situation. If you stop and observe how you feel during the tantrum, you may find an inner calm present behind the stress that eases the tension in the situation. If you find calm, that energy will help to calm your child. Your child will come to understand that they can trust you to be peaceful and calm no matter what, and will find this comforting. Observing your breath is a great tool to focus on while the tantrum is happening. Once your child has calmed down, speak softly with kindness and empathy. Let your child know you understand why they were frustrated, and practice peaceful breathing or a mindfulness technique after the tantrum is over. This will build your child’s “peace muscle,” your child’s ability to tap into that part of them that is full of ease and joy.

 

Tantrums Can Help Your Children Get Their Feelings Out

As long as your child is safe, tantrums can help them to release frustrations. Small children often have a hard time articulating how they feel, and they may not have developed coping skills to handle life’s everyday stressors.  It is very healthy to release tension instead of keeping negative thoughts in. Crying, jumping up and down, or lying down and kicking can help to release tension. If we don’t express frustrations often, they lay dormant and can block positive energy and affect our ability to enjoy life.

 

YogaKids Tools for Temper Tantrums

YogaKids offers many tools to help kids release excess energy, move their bodies in healthy ways, and calm down and find peace.

Volcano – This pose offers a healthy outlet for tension.

Begin in Mountain pose; bring the fingertips together at the chest. Jump the feet apart. Place your palms together at the center of your body. Breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to heart. Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises.

Rocket Ship is another healthy way to blow off steam in a fun way.

Begin from a Squat, inhale and shoot your hands and body upward to the sky and make blast off noises. Come back down and do it a few more times.         

Peace Breath – Once stored energy has been released, Peace Breath is a great way to calm the nervous system.

Close your eyes. Relax your face muscles. Let your skin drape over your bones like a soft blanket. Breathe in. Breathe out and whisper the word “peace.” Repeat 3 to 6 times

Swim Ducky Swim is a technique that can be used at the end of a yoga practice, at bedtime or anytime you have 5-10 minutes to calm down and help to increase focus.

Lie down on your back. Place a rubber ducky on your belly. Breathe gently in (your belly button rises) and out (your belly button sinks down.) As your belly rises and falls like the waves, your ducky surfs the waves as you inhale (breathe in) and floats as you exhale (breathe out). Give your ducky a slow and gentle ride with your breathing. You can used any small stuffed animal or favorite toy for this exercise.


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses and their benefits as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Facing Fear and Anxiety with Challenge Poses

child in crow pose

At a small amusement park along the Jersey shore, waiting with my kids for a turn on the ride, my eyes and ears were drawn to one particular child. High excitement could be felt from the kids in line anticipating glimpses of the ocean, onlookers, and sand sailing by as the ride whirled around. Kids already on the ride were happily screaming and yelling, at times waving to family and friends, their eyes wide with seeing a blur of blue ocean and sky.

Except for one child. One little girl, crying uncontrollably as the ride increased its speed and circular motion. Unprepared for the motion and sensations, her whole being shouted “stop the ride, I want to get off!”

Like the response expressed by the little girl on the ride, trying new things can leave one feeling under prepared, overwhelmed, and over faced. Teens especially, already grappling with physical and emotional changes, may find trying new experiences daunting while trying to navigate their ever-evolving inner and outer worlds. Awkwardness and shyness can prevent them from trying anything different or novel. They don’t want to appear silly, inept, or clumsy in front of their peers!

Trying new asanas can produce anxiety in a student who feels it is beyond their ability. It gets even worse if they feel they are the only one in class who cannot do the pose! This is a great learning opportunity! An idea to address these concerns is to incorporate “Challenge Poses”.

First, provide and maintain a safe and supportive learning environment. Suggest that awareness of the breath is a great aid for the students to gauge their response. Then have the students pick a pose (example: Camel, Crow, or any pose your students find challenging and out of their comfort zone). The students can choose individual poses or all work on the same one as a group.

Example: Dromedary Delight (aka Camel pose)

Instructions: Kneel on the floor with your legs and knees hip-width apart. Curl your toes, push your thighs forward, and bring your hands to your lower back. Lift your chest. Breathe evenly in and out as you extend your rib cage and broaden your chest. Continue to lift your chest with each breath as you bring your hands to your heels. Increase the duration and repetitions of the pose as your spine and chest become more flexible. Rest in Child’s Pose after each back-bend.

You can take the pose “apart” by doing it in stages:

  • Beginner  (just touching backs of legs)
  • Intermediate (feet flexed, touch heels)
  • Advanced (feet flat, touch heels)

Have the students decide how far to go and how long to stay in the pose (defining edges). Explore adding props (the hands rest on two blocks next to the heels rather than heel touch). This modification makes the pose more accessible.

Here are a few more challenging YogaKids poses. Think about how they can be broken down into stages.

Wheel: Lie on your back. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor, with your heels as close to your sitting bones as possible. Raise your arms up over your head and bend your elbows. Place your palms flat on the floor beside your ears with the fingertips pointing toward your shoulders. Pull your elbows toward each other. Press down into your hands and feet, as you straighten your arms and legs. Your chest and thighs lift toward the sky. Imagine a wheel underneath you, supporting the spine in this convex shape.

Headstand: Lace your fingers together and place your forearms on the floor. Set the crown of your head on the floor, placing the back of your head in your interlaced hands. Inhale and lift your knees off the floor, slowly walking your feet closer to your elbows. Exhale and lift your feet off the floor, pulling your knees to your chest. With a firm upper body and abdomen, extend your legs skyward. To come out of Headstand pose, draw your knees into your chest and bring your toes to the floor. Walk your feet away from your elbows and gently drop your knees to the floor. Rest in Child’s Pose.

Crow: Begin in Mountain pose. Bend your knees and squat down. Place your arms to the inside of your bent legs and press your hands with outstretched fingers into the floor. Lean slightly forward. Bend your elbows to make a shelf for your knees. Lean forward and balance with your feet off the floor. With patience and practice, you can increase the time you can stay balanced.

Whenever working on challenging poses, be sure to give time for exploration. Allow for feedback of the experience. Ask questions; what was felt prior to trying this pose? Was it a positive attitude; I will do this! Or a negative attitude; this is impossible! No way! Discuss feelings around the process. Did they feel self-criticism? Were there feelings of accomplishment, happiness, frustration, or discouragement? New experiences can test our edges, whirling us way out of our comfort zone. But it also opens us up to new possibilities and a great opportunity for growth.


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses and their benefits as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Helping Kids Choose Happiness

children in pedal laughing pose

I recently saw an interview on TV of a new mom with her baby. The reporter asked her what she wanted for her child.  “I just want her to be happy,” replied the mom, an answer that probably most of us would give. As new parents we give our baby their basic needs to satisfy their happiness. As toddlers, we find that instant gratification in the form of a toy or treat works to bring happiness.

There comes a time when a child can learn that happiness comes from within. Our feelings are never wrong; we just need to learn how to understand and cope with our emotions. As parents, teachers, and child advocates we can help kids choose happiness over unhappiness.

We can foster happiness by displaying positive emotions like empathy and gratitude. Surround the child with people who lift her up rather than bring her down. We can also reflect on our own attitude towards happiness. In yoga, we practice Santosha, or contentment. Would a bigger house or new vehicle truly make us happy?  If we often complain about material possessions, then the child will associate that with attaining happiness.

It is also valuable for a child to understand that being sad is okay too. The loss of a pet or a friend moving away will make us sad, and sometimes only time can help.

I feel so blessed to have YogaKids in my home and community to help nurture happiness within. When I teach a class, my intention is always to have the student leave feeling happier than they did prior to class. When I notice that a child in my YogaKids may be grumpy, here are some poses I incorporate:

 Volcano: This pose safely releases emotions. Fill your volcano with something you love!

Begin in Mountain pose. Bring your fingertips together at the chest. Jump your feet apart. Place your palms together at the center of your body in Namaste Position. Breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over your head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to Namaste. Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises. Jump your feet back together when you’ve finished erupting.

 Untie the Knots: This pose loosens up your whole body to relax, shake, and feel great!

While standing, untie your neck by rolling your head around. Untie your shoulders by moving your shoulders up, down and all around. Untie all your knotted muscles and joints from head to toe. Massage and stroke them after you’ve untied them. Untie them until you feel nice and loose.

Tarzan’s Thymus Tap: This is a great pick-me-up for tired or cranky kids. The taps promote blood flow to the brain.

Start in any of the base poses, seated or standing. Make two fists and pound your chest. Pound and tap under your arms, too. Howl, yowl and yodel. Feel the power and vibration of your sounds.

Peace Breath: Send peace to all the parts of your body, especially your heart.

Close your eyes. Relax your face muscles. Let your skin drape over your bones like a soft blanket. Breathe in. Breathe out and whisper the word “peace.” Repeat. As you say the word, feel the peace inside you. Send peace to the animals, trees and plants. Send peace to your family and friends. Send peace to countries in the world that are at war. Send peace to all the people you love.

Pedal Laughing: Laughter can be the best medicine! If you fake laugh long enough, it will eventually turn into a real laugh!

Lie on your back. Bend your arms and legs like you’re riding a bicycle in the air. Pedal forward and laugh. Pedal backward and laugh. It might be hard to really laugh at first, but once you get started, you won’t be able to stop. Have fun and be silly with this one. Form a pedal laughing chorus. High-tone laughters are sopranos and lower ones are bass. Medium-low laughters are toners and medium-high are altos. Make music with your laughter!

In YogaKids classes we often incorporate books and music.  I love a book called The Feel Good Book by Todd Parr. It’s perfect for ages 4-7, but I find older kids enjoy it too. Of course, the popular song “Happy” by Pharrell is fun and sends a positive message too!

After Savasana, the time of relaxation and renewal at the end of yoga class, I love to incorporate quotes. A favorite of mine is from Dr. Seuss in his book Oh the Places You’ll Go!

“You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose
Choose happiness!


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses and their benefits as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Open Your Heart

Child in Bubble Fish pose

Our fourth chakra is the heart chakra. A healthy heart chakra is defined by one’s ability to experience compassion, love, generosity, and kindness. Help kids open up their heart chakras with these YogaKids poses!

Bubble Fish: Lie on your back with your arms at your sides. Bring the bottoms of your feet together and open your knees outward. Press your feet together and flop your legs up and down. Slide your hands, palms down, underneath your backside. Squeeze your shoulders together. Arch your back as your chest lifts off the floor. Place the top of your head on the floor. Feel your gills open and close as you breathe. Make fish lips and blow bubbles. Imagine you have gills instead of lungs.

Wheel: Lie on your back. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor, with your heels as close to your sitting bones as possible. Raise your arms up over your head and bend your elbows. Place your palms flat on the floor beside your ears with the fingertips pointing toward your shoulders. Pull your elbows toward each other. Press down into your hands and feet, as you straighten your arms and legs. Your chest and thighs lift toward the sky. Imagine a wheel underneath you, supporting the spine in this convex shape.

Dromedary Delight: Kneel on the floor with your legs and knees hip-width apart. Curl your toes, push your thighs forward, and bring your hands to your lower back. Lift your chest. Breathe evenly in and out as you extend your rib cage and broaden your chest. Continue to lift your chest with each breath as you bring your hands to your heels. Increase the duration and repetitions of the pose as your spine and chest become more flexible. Rest in Child’s Pose after each backbend.

Rocking Horse: Lie on your belly. Bend your knees and reach back to take hold of your ankles one at a time. Lift and broaden your chest as you squeeze your shoulder blades and inner thighs together. Look forward and bring your feet towards the sky. Notice how the entire back of our body contacts, so that the front of your body can open and lift like a proud horse. Take strong breaths in and out, as you begin to rock. Increase your rocking time with regular practice. Rest in Child’s Pose when you get tired.


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

We All Win: Rock, Tree, Bridge!

Child in child's pose, children in tree pose and child in bridge pose

This is a great cooperative game to play with friends! Get into a wide circle and have everyone get into alternating poses of Child’s Pose (rock), Tree, and Bridge. Then, one person gets up and goes around the circle stepping over the rock, walking around the tree ,and through or under the bridge.

Move slowly and mindfully so as not to disturb the rocks, trees and bridges. Work together to get through the obstacle course without a tree falling over or a bridge breaking! Everyone gets a turn.

Child’s Pose Instructions: Begin in Heel-Sitting pose. Open your knees a little, so your belly relaxes between your thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears and spine. Your arms lie back along the sides of your legs with open palms facing upward. Place your forehead on the floor. Turn your head to one side and take a few breaths. Then, turn to the other and do the same.

Tree Pose Instructions: Begin in Mountain Pose. Lift one foot and press your foot against the inside of your other leg. You can use your hand to place your foot anywhere between your ankle and inner thigh. Avoid the knee joint. As your balance gets stronger, you’ll be able to raise your foot higher up your leg. Bring your hands to your chest, palms together in Namaste position. Then raise your arms up above your head. Stretch them out wide, like the branches of a tree. Separate your fingers. Balance and breathe. Now repeat on the other side.

Bridge Pose Instructions: Lie on your back with your arms by your sides. Place your feet hip-width apart as close to the sit bones as possible. Press your feet into the ground and lift your hips to the sky. Place your hands however it’s comfortable to support your lower back and pelvis. Lift your chest and arch your spine.


Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Courage in Heartbreak: Healing After a Pregnancy Loss

Jua Sandra Nnafie - van Dijk

“You don’t realize how strong you are until being strong is the only option you have.”

Adapted from a quote by Bob Marley

If you are reading this, that means that I found the courage to share the story of my pregnancy loss.

If you are reading this, that means that we are one step closer to sharing and opening up to stories about pregnancy loss.

Thank you for reading.

I am sure that my journey in the YogaKids program has given me the strength to get back up, after I took a big fall into the dark in early November 2018. As part of an assignment in the YK program, reading Judith Hanson Lasater’s book Living your Yoga was what helped me start reliving my own yoga.

When I was almost eleven weeks into my fourth pregnancy (or sixth if you’d count my two earlier miscarriages), my gynecologist gave me the heartbreaking news that I would most likely lose this baby within the next two or three weeks. BOOM! Just like that, I fell from cloud nine all the way into the deepest, darkest black hole I had ever known.

I have a husband who loves me dearly and I have three amazing children. This fourth baby, however, had been a forever wish inside my heart. That wish would now go up in smoke. The three weeks that followed were so confusing. Still pregnant, but not really. My mind and heart were swinging from hope to despair to deep sadness. For the first time in my life as a yogi and a mom, even my own yoga practice couldn’t keep my thoughts calm and collected. I did have over 15 years of yoga experience, but this sudden shift from happiness to sadness was too much to handle.

I felt lost and alone. Honestly, I felt like giving up on trying to feel happy again. I had to keep going for my family though. I had to find a positive vibe somewhere. But where?

Only three people knew about my pregnancy. My husband, my mom, and a friend in school — whom I had told at only 7 weeks pregnant, driven by a gust of pregnancy enthusiasm when I heard she was selling baby stuff. I had been keeping my nausea, fatigue and mood swings hidden from the rest of the world for 11 weeks. I had already been fantasizing about how I was going to break the happy news to my friends and family. Now, I was all of a sudden keeping something else a secret. I was secretly carrying a life that was slowly being “absorbed back into my body.” That’s what my doctor said. It hurt, but I wasn’t showing my pain to anyone. Nobody knew I was pregnant, right? So, no one could know I was having a miscarriage during those long, agonizing three weeks.

It wasn’t until a few weeks into my grieving period that it hit me: we do not tell people we are pregnant, so we do not have to share the sad news if we have a miscarriage. (I think you may have noticed that I put my other two pregnancies that ended in a miscarriage in parentheses. I do count them as pregnancies, but would others do the same?) Why I wonder? Why can we only share happy pregnancy news?

Is it wrong or weird to feel sad about losing someone I never even met?

Well, on November 15 2019, when I lost my pregnancy, all my belief in my own yoga and meditation practice went down the drain. Not a single method could calm me down. I cried so much, so loud and non-stop. I was sadder than I had ever been and nothing could help me to take away this feeling. Not a single moment did I think that my breathing could calm me down. I have lost loved ones before, but never in my life had I experienced this much hurt and pain before. For the first time I really felt heartache, there where my heart lives. It hurts. So much.

There I was, lying in bed, listening to my family living, and trying to hold onto my heart, almost trying to squeeze the hurt out of my heart. What was I to do? How could I ever get back up and running, full of smiles and energy, like I always am?

For no particular reason, I remembered the next YogaKids assignment I needed to complete. It involved reading Judith Hanson’s book. Just like you started reading this post, I started reading her book. And….it turned out to be a step in the right (or should I say ‘light’) direction.

I took the liberty of using the assignment as part of my grieving process. It was as if each chapter in the book touched upon another part of the pain I was feeling. Each chapter seemed to be offering me another way of dealing with all the emotions racing through my heart and all the thoughts twirling in my mind. After each page, I felt that I was reconnecting with myself a little bit more. Baby steps.

Tears ran down my face while reading the book, and writing up my assignment, but I allowed myself to feel the hurt, the anger, the disappointment, the shame. I tell you, I feel a lump in my throat even as I am writing this post. The pain is still there. I have found ways to deal with it, most of the times. I have found a way to start living my yoga again.

Thank you, YogaKids, for offering me a way out of total darkness.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my story.

I feel stronger every time I find myself able to share this experience with others. Even though I do not know you, it feels we are now sharing a heavy load, which makes it a little bit easier to carry.

I would like to finish by suggesting that if you went through a miscarriage yourself, please find people who will listen to your story and who will support you while you are grieving your loss.

Sorry for your loss. Sharing the pain really does help.

Namaste.

With a smile,

Jua

 

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Winston Churchill


Learn more about the YogaKids program here.

Presidents’ Day Cookies

president's day cookies

President’s Day is a national holiday celebrated on the third Monday of every February. What better way to honor some of our founding fathers on President’s Day than with a sweet treat in the likenesses of George Washington and Honest Abe? Here’s the super-simple recipe for these creative cookies!

You will need:

  • Sugar cookies (fully cooled)
  • Chocolate bar that’s divided into sections (if you need to cut the chocolate, dip the blade of a sharp knife in hot water for a few seconds so the chocolate doesn’t break)
  • Black gel icing
  • Regular chocolate or vanilla icing (homemade royal icing would work the best, but we just grabbed a tub of cake frosting off the shelf for this project)
  • For small president cookies, use mini-marshmallows (dehydrated, for hot cocoa — you can sometimes find these in shaker canisters in the baking aisle), mini-chocolate chips
  • For large president cookies, use mini-marshmallows, full-sized chocolate chips

Use the icing to attach the hats, chocolate chips, and marshmallows to the cookies, then draw on little faces with the black icing. You may need to let the icing set for about half an hour so Abe’s candy bar hat will stay on as you serve the cookies.

About Presidents’ Day

This year, Presidents Day falls on Monday, February 20, 2017. February 22 was George Washington’s birthday, and Presidents Day began as a day to honor our very first president. For what presidential actions were Abraham Lincoln and George Washington most well-known? Who is your favorite president, and why? Can you name the Presidents in order? Here is a list of the US Presidents, from the founding of this nation to the current day.

  1. George Washington, 1789-1797
  2. John Adams, 1797-1801
  3. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
  4. James Madison, 1809-1817
  5. James Monroe, 1817-1825
  6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
  7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
  8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
  9. William Henry Harrison, 1841
  10. John Tyler, 1841-1845
  11. James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
  12. Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
  13. Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
  14. Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
  15. James Buchanan, 1857-1861
  16. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
  17. Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
  18. Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877
  19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
  20. James Abram Garfield, 1881
  21. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
  22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
  23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
  24. Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
  25. William McKinley, 1897-1901
  26. Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
  27. William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
  28. Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
  29. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
  30. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
  31. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
  32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
  33. Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
  34. Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-1961
  35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
  36. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
  37. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
  38. Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
  39. James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
  40. Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
  41. George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
  42. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
  43. George Walker Bush, 2001-2009
  44. Barack Hussein Obama, 2009-2016
  45. Donald John Trump, 2016 (current)

Happy Presidents’ Day!


Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

YogaKids Poses to the Rescue

girl meditating

Is your child feeling angry? We have a pose for that  Is your child feeling anxious, we have poses, breathing exercises and techniques for that! Are you kids fighting with each other, we have a pose for that! YogaKids has tools for all of life’s challenges, and when used regularly, yoga can help you and your child find joy, good health and peace!

Confidence

If your child does poorly on a test, misses the goal in a soccer game or is upset about getting braces, they may lack confidence which can lead to low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness or lack. Reach for the Sun is a YogaKids pose that would be a great way to start the day, or can be used after a disappointment or challenging situation. This pose brings energy to the solar plexus which is our area of personal power. It also includes a slight back bend which will improve mood, and help to build joy, optimism and confidence.

Reach for the Sun – Begin in Open Mountain pose. Breathe in and reach up. grab a piece of sunshine and pull the power into your solar plexus-your inner sun. Exhale with a “HAH” breath. Repeat with the other arm. Repeat ten times.

 

Bullying

When peers are critical, judgmental or just plain mean, kids can be left feeling helpless and sad. Sun salutations help to bring positive energy into the heart, are energizing and uplifting. Practice before or after school for a jolt of joy.

Sun Salutations – From Mountain, raise arms overhead and stretch upward. Fold forward into Ragdoll. Step back with right leg into a lunge. Step back with left leg to Lizard. Slowly come down to the floor with your knees, chest and chin. Bring your hips down to the floor, and lift up into S is for Snake. Curl your toes under and stretch into Down Dog. Step forward with right leg into a lunge. Step forward with left leg into Ragdoll. Stretch arms outward and return to standing. Raise arms overhead and stretch upward. Repeat cycle, leading with the opposite leg. Repeat one to ten times.

 

Anger

Kids often have a hard time dealing with life’s challenges and have not developed the skills to cope with disappointments, disagreements or not getting what they want. If anger is kept inside, it can lead to much suffering, and affect long-term health. Volcano is a pose designed to discharge feelings of anger in a healthy way.

Volcano – From Mountain pose; bring the fingertips together at the heart. Jump the feet apart.  Watch your hands as you raise them over head. Breathe out as you explode your arms outward. Lower them to your sides and return your hands to heart.  Erupt and release again and again. Make big, exploding volcano noises. Jump your feet back together when you’re finished erupting. Repeat ten times.

 

Fear

Staying in the present moment is often a great antidote to fear. Fear is often a product of worrying about some future perceived threat. Peace Breath is a way for kids to stop and notice how they feel in the present moment.  They focus on their breath and notice the softness of their own lips as the say “peace” or feel the gentle rise and fall of their belly.

Peace Breath – Close eyes and relax the face muscles. Let your skin drape over your bones like a soft blanket. Breathe in. Breathe out and whisper the word “peace.”  As you say the word, feel the peace inside you. Send peace to the animals, trees and plants. Send peace to your family and friends. Send peace to countries in the world that are at war. Send peace to all the people you love. Repeat 3-10 times.

 

Grief

Grieving is an important part of accepting that a loved one, pet or friend has died. When feelings of grief become overwhelming or don’t dissipate over time, yoga can help kids feel happy, uplifted and joyous. Direction breath is a children’s version of a pose called the Breath of Joy, it brings awareness and light to the heart.

Direction Breath – Stand in mountain, inhale and stretch arms forward, out to the side and overhead.  Exhale and bend forward into Rag Doll.  Repeat about 10 times.

 

Anxiety

Worrying about school, friends, sports or life’s challenges can cause anxiety. When feelings of anxiety distract kids from being able to enjoy life, Eyes Around the Clock is a technique that can help kids learn to focus attention on the present moment instead of living in possibility of a future problem.

Eyes Around the Clock – Imagine a clock hanging in front of your eyes.  Move your eyes from 12 to 6 and back to again.  Look right to left from 3 to 9 and back.  Look diagonally from 1 to 7 and back, then 11 to 5.  Now start at twelve o’clock and look at each number around the face of the clock. Then start again at twelve o’clock and move in the opposite direction. Try to keep your head still and move only your eyes.

 

Sadness

Opening the chest, and taking in a full inhale has been found to improve mood, confidence and our outlook on life. Dromedary Delight is a back-bend that can help kids feel open to the magic of life. Warm up the spine before doing this pose, and encourage kids to pause during the day for a gentle version for quick pick-me-ups. This can be done seated at a desk, or standing with hands gently clasped behind the back. Pause in the pose for several breaths.

Dromedary Delight – Kneel on the floor with your legs and knees hip width apart. Press the tops of your feet into the floor, push your thighs forward, bring your hands to your lower back, fingers pointing upward, and lift your chest. Breathe evenly in and out as you extend your rib cage and broaden your chest. Continue to lift your chest with each breath as you curl your toes forward and bring your hands to your heels to imitate a camel’s hump. Delight in the dromedary for ten seconds. Rest in child’s pose after each back-bend. Repeat. Increase the duration and repetitions of the pose as your spine and chest become more flexible.


Learn ALL the YogaKids poses and their benefits as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Spinning Senses Game

Kids playing Spinning Senses game

At YogaKids, we LOVE games where WE ALL WIN! These are sometimes called “cooperative” games — because they strengthen our cooperation skills. Here’s an example created by one of our Certified YogaKids Teachers called Spinning Senses. She created while going through our program and we love it so much!

Here’s how to play…

Cut a piece of cardboard into a circle and divide into sections labeled with all the 5 senses: hear, see, small, taste and touch. Put a bottle in the center. Gather items that have a strong scent (essential oils are perfect), taste-able items (sour, bitter, salty, sweet), and touch-able items (examples: sand paper, velvet, plastic, wood).

Everyone takes a turn spinning the bottle. On your turn, play out as follows:

  • Hear: Close your eyes. The person on your right makes a sound.  Guess what the sound is.
  • See: The person on your right chooses an object in view. Guess what the object is.
  • Smell: Close your eyes. The person on our right chooses something for you to smell. Smell it and guess what it is.
  • Taste: Close your eyes. The person on your right chooses something for you to taste. Taste it and guess what it is.
  • Touch: Close your eyes. The person on your right chooses something for you to touch. Touch it and guess what it is.

What a great way to strengthen our senses!

 

Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Coffee Filter Flowers

coffee filter flower craft

Coffee Filter Flowers are easy to make and very pretty!

Coffee filters are made of a very porous type of paper — porous is an adjective used to describe things that have many tiny holes that allow water and air to pass through them. Rocks, fabric, and papers are a few of the things that can be porous.

Coffee filters have to be porous because the water needs to pass over the ground-up coffee beans, taking away only flavor and color, into the coffee pot below. The same thing happens with rainwater as it flows through many layers of porous rocks and dirt, which slowly filter out little particles until the rainwater reaches underground aquifers, where the water pools inside the earth, purified after many years.

Porous paper is really fun for making water-based color crafts, because we can see the color travel through the porous surfaces. Sometimes we get unexpected results, and we can see mixed colors separate into different colors! For instance, green is made using a combination of the colors yellow and blue, so if you allow green inks to separate on a coffee filter, in some cases you will be able see both the yellow and blue colors pull apart as they travel over the porous surface of the paper.

Materials

  • White paper coffee filters
  • Food colors*
  • Thin floral wire, strong string, or yarn (to attach the blooms to the stems)
  • Wax paper, a drop cloth, or some other protective surface to work on
  • Sticks, heavy straws, strong wire, or thin dowels (to use for stems)
  • Cup of clean water
  • Four small containers for holding the colors, and cotton swabs to use as applicators

Instructions

  1. Set up: pour a couple Tablespoons of water into your four containers, then add a couple drops of food coloring to each.
  2. Fold your coffee filter in half, then in half again. (You may fold again, if you please!)
  3. One side of your folded coffee filter will be a point. You must not cut into or cut off this point — this is the center of your future flower, and you must be able to pinch it together to tie it onto the stem. At the other side of your folded coffee filter is the wide, rounded side of the triangle. You will cut points and rounded edges into this side to make petal shapes.
  4. Cut as many coffee filters as you want.

Adding color (Two Ways) 

Now: you may either touch the cotton swabs with color on them directly onto the coffee filters, or you may first use the clean water to wet your coffee filter before adding the color.

If you add the color to dry filters, the color will be more saturated, and will not separate as much. The filters should dry fairly quickly, unless you really put a lot of color on.

If you add the color to wet filters, it takes less color to “travel” over the surface of the paper. The filters will dry much more slowly, and may need to be set on a plate in a sunny window. If you live in a very dry place, the water will evaporate more quickly than if you live in a place with high humidity.

Finishing Up

Let the filters dry completely. Open them up and see your beautiful flowers!

Now, pinch the flower together at the center of each filter and tie it off tightly, using your yarn, string, or floral wire. Make sure you leave long enough ends on your fastening material so you can tie them onto the stems you’ve chosen.

Try putting two or three coffee filters together to make beautiful, multicolored flowers.

Now, give your pretty filter flowers to a friend, to brighten his or her day!

*PARENT PRO-TIP! Go to a store that carries food service supplies (like Smart & Final, Cash & Carry, etc.), to get big bottles of food coloring for about the same price you’d pay for the four-pack of tiny squeeze bottles at a normal grocery store. I got 16 oz. bottles of red, yellow, blue, and green, for about $2.75/each, a quantity that will last roughly three human lifetimes.  

Warning: The food coloring WILL stain your clothes, work surfaces, fingers, etc. Make sure you plan and work accordingly.

 

Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

 

Yoga for Kids with Anxiety

girl smiling on yoga mat

During a 900-hour yoga therapy training, I learned many techniques to help adults and kids with anxiety. Over and over again, I would realize that specific yoga tools presented were actually YogaKids poses or techniques. YogaKids founder Marsha Wenig had incredible vision and insight into how to help children, and her program has helped thousands of children and families since she first began teaching over thirty years ago. Marsha once shared with me that she met with a gifted intuitive who told her she would have thousands of children.  his prediction came to fruition as Marsha has helped so many children and families with her life-changing techniques and tools to move through life with not only ease, but abundant joy.

“I am so stressed” is a common phrase heard daily from kids grade school to college as children deal with demanding schedules, pressure to excel and are bombarded with social media and technology. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that over 30% of adolescents have experienced some kind of anxiety disorder and an estimated 8.3% have had severe impairment. Symptoms and signs of anxiety can include fatigue, muscle tension, sadness, restlessness, loss of interest, agitation, tiredness, feeling nervous, disturbance in sleep or appetite, increased breathing rate, excessive worry and restlessness. Causes of anxiety include: school demands and frustrations, negative thinking, changes in body, problems with friends, not enough sleep, taking on too many activities, unsafe living environment, and past trauma.

Anxiety is closely related to fear which is a response to a perceived or real immediate threat. Anxiety is linked to the fight or flight response which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Stimulation of the SNS can be constructive such as improving sports or test performance or public speaking. Problems arise when the SNS response is too strong, turned on too easily or not turned off when danger is absent.

 

Behaviors and Techniques to Decrease Stress

Move or exercise regularly. Exercise helps to release endorphins that reduce feelings of anxiety. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is highest in the morning – so scheduling movement first thing in the morning will help to decrease stress.

Eat regularly. “Hangry” is a new term used to describe what may happen when we are hungry. Children, when hungry, may get agitated or angry. A healthy diet should include fresh foods, warm foods, warm water and little or no stimulants like caffeine — especially in the AM.  Make eating healthy fun! Check out the YogaKids Bendy Blog for fun and easy recipes that your kids will love like snowman skewers. 

Decrease negative self-talk. Negative words have been found to release a stress response. Encourage kids to practice gratitude. A gratitude talk is a great way to end every day, having your kids share or write down experiences from their day that they are thankful for.

 

YogaKids AM Sequence for Anxiety

This morning sequence starts with energizing poses to discharge anxious energy, and includes a few poses that take a lot of focus to keep students in the present moment. It ends with nurturing calming poses to set them up for a peaceful day.

Volcano – From Mountain pose, bring the fingertips together at the chest. Jump feet apart. With palms together at the heart, breathe in. Watch your hands as you raise them over head. Breathe out as you explode arms outward. Lower arms to your sides and return hands to heart. Erupt and release again and again and make loud volcano sounds.  Repeat at least 4 times.

Brave Warrior (Virabhadrasana II) – Stand with feet wide apart, arms parallel to the floor, and front foot at 90 degrees with knee bent over the ankle. Keep the back foot turned slightly in.  Say, “I am brave!”

Bold Warrior (Virabhadrasana I) – From Brave Warrior, turn your hips toward the front leg, keeping the leg bent. Raise arms straight above the head and say, “I am bold!”

Powerful Warrior (Virabhadrasana III) – From Bold Warrior, shift weight onto the front leg, pick up the back foot and leg and stretch it behind you. Keep both legs as straight and strong as possible. Stretch arms forward and say, “My own power I can hold!” Repeat the Warrior series the opposite side.

Shake Like Jelly – Shake like jelly. Shake all over. Go crazy. Jiggle, wiggle, and giggle.

Ragdoll Ann and Ragdoll Andy – Hang out in a forward bend. Breathe in and feel your whole body lighten. Breathe out and fold yourself in half, bending from the hips. Loosen your neck and let your head and arms hang down. To come up, place your hands on your tailbone and inch your fingers up your spine, feeling the bumpy vertebrae as you slowly straighten back up to standing. Repeat at least 4 times.

Eyes Around the Clock – Imagine a clock hanging in front of your eyes. Move your eyes from 12 to 6 and back to again. Look right to left from 3 to 9 and back. Look diagonally from 1 to 7 and back, then 11 to 5. Now start at twelve o’clock and look at each number around the face of the clock. Then start again at twelve o’clock and move in the opposite direction. Try to keep your head still and move only your eyes.

Child’s Pose – From heel-sitting pose, open knees a little, so the belly relaxes between the thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting the shoulders drop down and the arms lie back along the sides of the legs with open palms facing upward. Place forehead on the floor.  Rock back and forth. Take at least 5 breaths.

Peace Breath – Close your eyes. Relax your face muscles. Let your skin drape over your bones like a soft blanket. Breathe in. Breathe out and whisper the word “peace.” Do this 3 to 6 times. As you say the word, feel the peace inside you. Send peace to the animals, trees and plants. Send peace to your family and friends. Send peace to countries in the world that are at war. Send peace to all the people you love.

O is for OM – Sing the sound “Ommm.” Feel the Om dance throughout your body and throat, bringing a sense of happiness and peace. Repeat at least 3 times.

 

YogaKids Bedtime Sequence for Anxiety

This evening sequence releases tension in the spine, calms the nervous system and ends with a gentle technique to leave children feeling focused but very calm.

Sunrise Sunset – From kneeling, interlace the fingers above the head and stretch the palms up.  Exhale and drop your hips to the right as the arms drop left like the sun setting. Inhale and arc the arms overhead like the rising sun and drop them to the right as the hips sit left like the sun setting. Repeat 4 times.

Moo and Meow – From all 4’s, arch the spine to the sky and inhale, exhale and round the back as you meow.  Repeat at least 4 times.

Child’s Pose – From heel Sitting pose, open knees a little, so the belly relaxes between the thighs. Bend at the hips and fold forward, letting the shoulders drop down and the arms lie back along the sides of the legs with open palms facing upward. Place forehead on the floor. Rock back and forth. Take at least 5 breaths.

Swim Ducky Swim – Lie down on your back. Place a rubber ducky on your belly. Breathe gently in (your belly button rises) and out (your belly button sinks down.) Give your ducky a slow and gentle ride with your breathing. Keep the focus on the exhale breath, and try to lengthen it gently. Continue for 2-5 minutes.

 

Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

Balloon Squeeze Balls

balloon squeeze craft

About Stress

The word “stress” has many meanings. It can be a noun — emotional and physical pressure you experience. (“Homework is such a major stress!”) It can also be a verb — emotional and physical reactions in your body as a result of the pressure. (“Homework is totally stressing me out!”) Stress can also be subjective, meaning it can be good or bad depending on the person experiencing it. (Maybe you love doing homework!)

Nevertheless, when people talk about stress, they’re usually talking about negative stress. This is the bad kind — and it’s important to know how to recognize and deal with it. When you feel negative stress, you also often feel anxious, frustrated or angry. It can also show up in your body — with a stomachache or headache.

So what can you do when you’re feeling negative stress? One GREAT thing is… (surprise!) yoga. Another great thing to do is to use a stress ball — a squishy toy you can squeeze when life gets challenging.


Balloon Squeeze Balls

Create these super-cute Balloon Squeeze Balls for yourself — or for someone special!

Supplies:

  • Balloons
  • Flour
  • Funnel
  • Permanent Markers

Instructions:

  1. Blow up the balloons, then release them — to stretch them out.
  2. Use the funnel to fill the balloons with flour.
  3. Tie the ends of the balloons. (Get a grown-up for help!)
  4. Draw faces on the balloons with a permanent marker.

 

Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

“Sugar-free” Crustless Apple Pie

basket of apples

No sugar, no crust…is this even pie?

I guess it’s not technically pie, but it has all the right flavors and it’s delicious!

Apples have lots and lots of natural sugars, like most fruits. Along with bananas, apples have some of the highest natural sugar content of any fruit. Sometimes apples and apple juice are even used as sweeteners, instead of processed sugar, for organic and natural desserts.

What does processed mean when we’re talking about sugar? The white granular sugar you may see in your home is usually made from these two plants:

Sugar cane is a type of grass that is packed full of natural sugar. Sugar beets are beet plants with very sugary roots. When they are processed, the cloudy brown, sugary juices are squeezed out of the plants by machines. The water from the juice evaporates, and brownish sugar crystals are left over. Sometimes these brown sugar crystals are sold as sweeteners. Sometimes, they are cleaned even more, pulling out all the minerals and vitamins and leftover microscopic bits of plant matter, until it is sparkling and white, leaving only the sugar behind. This is what we call table sugar. It is as pure as sugar gets.

It’s OK to have this type of sugar in moderation, meaning sometimes, and in small quantities. But it’s better for your body if you can enjoy sweets in their natural form, like eating a whole apple or banana.

We’re going to make a delicious apple-pie-like dessert, with only the sweetness of the apples themselves for sugar!

Ingredients:

  • Four large sweet apples, cored, skinned (optional), and sliced thinly. (Try Pink Lady, Gala, Fuji, Jonagold type apples)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon flour or gluten-free flour
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 Tablespoons of slightly melted butter or margarine (don’t get it too hot, or it will burn you!) *

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and combine well. Melt the butter in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Add the apples and toss them into the mixture to lightly cover them with the spices and flour. Now add the water and melted butter, and smoosh it all around with your fingers until all the apples are covered with the spices and flour mixture. Spread everything out evenly in an 8×8″ baking pan and bake for about 40 minutes, stirring the apples every 10-15 minutes.

What you will end up with is an ooey-gooey apple pie filling that you can eat just like it is for a healthy snack or dessert, put on top of ice cream, or add to a bowl of granola. Yum!

* Vegan Option: Replace butter with coconut oil.


Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

 

Animal Hand-tlers

Animal Hand-tlers Craft

An easy craft for the season! Create Animal Hand-tlers to wear while you celebrate the holidays!

Supplies:

  • Two pieces of card stock or construction paper per pair
  • Scissors
  • Writing utensil
  • Stapler and/or glue
  • Optional: coloring tools, paints, sequins, and other “flair” for decorating

Instructions:

  • Fold construction paper in half (short way) and trace hand on one half. Cut out both at the same time.
  • Fold other piece of construction paper in half, longways, and then each half in half. Cut along the lines. This will make one (with a left over paper strip) big head band or two small headbands.
  • Staple or glue the ends of the strips together to make them longer and measure the band around your head. If it’s not long enough, add a third strip to extend and cut to fit. Do not staple or glue them together to make the band yet.
  • The antlers will be laid out with the thumbs facing inward. Decorate or color them if you want to. Decorate or color the band if you want to.
  • Find the center of the band, and staple or glue the hand shapes to the inside, so the bottom of the palm is under the band.
  • Finally, close the band where it fits your head by stapling it together in the back, and then cutting off any parts that are too long.
  • Wear and make animal noises! What does a reindeer sound like? How about a moose?

Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Pita Holiday Trees

Pita Trees

The holidays are filled with sugary-sweet snacks… from Christmas cookies to candy canes to delicious homemade pies. That’s one reason we LOVE this healthy kid-friendly snack… that’s simple enough for kids to put together without help!

Total time: 30m or less

Ingredients:

  • Package of pita bread
  • Green Garden Dip* or other green and white dip – like tzatziki, spinach dip
  • Brightly colored veggies (tiny cherry tomatoes, red, yellow, and green peppers, black olive slices, etc.)
  • Optional: fresh dill

Instructions:

  • Cut each pita round like a pie, into eight triangles, and place on a serving platter, points up.
  • Spoon green dip onto each pita
  • Put little bits of fresh dill on top to look like pine branches
  • Chop the vegetables and decorate the “trees.”
  • Serve and eat! YUM!

GREEN GARDEN DIP RECIPE

Ingredients:

  • Large or mid-size container of Greek yogurt (not single serve)
  • Bundles of fresh leafy green herbs, like: dill, parsley, mint, basil, and tarragon.
  • 2-4 green onions. Use the whole thing, just cut off roots and any brown leaves
  • One clove fresh garlic, or a ½ Tablespoon of powdered garlic
  • ½ Tablespoon sea salt
  • ½ Tablespoon ground black pepper
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • *optional – 2-3 Persian cucumbers, 1/2lb of spinach, water chestnuts, etc.

Instructions:

I use the two-pound size of Greek yogurt, because this green dip is SO delicious, you’ll want lots left over for veggie dip, sandwiches, dressing…you’ll be evaluating everything in the fridge as a possible vehicle for this yummy green goodness. If you want to make a smaller batch, just scale down until you get the herb-to-yogurt density you like. Drain the extra fluid/whey from the container of yogurt before you start. If you want to make a vegan version of this dressing, you can use coconut yogurt, but you might want to add some chickpeas, soft tofu, white beans, or pureed cashews to thicken the mixture.

Clean and leaf the herbs. Discard the stems or save them for flavoring stock. Chop the cucumbers into slices. Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until herbs are ground small and dip is uniform. The more herbs you add, the thicker the dip will be. If you want to add a little more mass to the dip, throw in a Persian cucumber or two, or perhaps some spinach. If you use water chestnuts, drain well and dice small, and add them after the rest of the mixture is pureed.

The dip may be a little runny when you make it, but will thicken a little once it’s been refrigerated overnight. It’s fine to use right away for the pita trees, though.


Create and teach your own Great Ideas as a Certified YogaKids Teacher!

Holiday Stress Busters for Parents

Woman with Head in Hands

The holidays are upon us and as rich, wonderful and filled with love as the holidays might be we sometimes find ourselves surrounded by stress. But why choose that when you can choose something much more fun instead?

Use The Energy of Asking to make your YogaKids holidays the most stress free ever.

“Ask and you shall receive.” The great thing about the energy of asking is that you’re not looking for an answer. In fact, the point is simply to ask a question and then let it go. Easy! Not getting attached to the results of our actions is a core idea of yoga. Sit back and let the universe provide and dazzle you.

Here are 3 tools any parent can use in just seconds to stay cool as a breeze through the holidays

Question #1: Have you noticed how many people around you appear stressed out? Friends, family and even people on the street you don’t even know, right? What if the stress you’re experiencing is just picking up on everybody else’s stuff? What if that stress isn’t even yours?

So if you start feeling a little stressed, try asking the question, “Who does this belong to? Wait, is it really even mine?” Maybe just asking the question will help you feel a little lighter, a little more peaceful and relaxed. If asking the question brings even a twinge of a smile to your face, then you can say, “Return to sender.”  Whatever ‘it’ is —  just return it to sender, back to wherever it might have come from. You don’t have to know or try to figure it out! That part is not your job! Just pack it up and let it go.

Question #2: Having a holiday multitasking overload? Is rushing around making you crazy (see tool #1)? What if you can get everything you’d love to get done in a fun, centered, grounded way?

Your kids have learned to Take Five, how about you?

Take a moment, ground your feet to connect with the earth and and bring your awareness out of your head and into your heart. You can close your eyes if you like. Put one hand on your belly and use the other to take in a slow, five count inhalation. Exhale just as long or longer. Try doing this five times, although even once will work wonders.

You can do this anywhere and anytime. Sitting, standing or even laying down. If you’re in the middle of a store or at an auction you might want to keep your hand down!

Question #3: If you are shuddering at the thought of an upcoming holiday, gathering this simple question might just make all the difference in the world.

Simply ask, “How can this turn out far greater and more amazing than anything I could possibly imagine?” Remember you’re not looking for an answer, or a way to figure it out. Just ask the question and let it go. If your brain had the answer, you would have figured it out already! Ask the universe to show you something amazing and have fun seeing what happens!

Being in The Asking Energy allows the universe to do her stuff and show up for you in unpredictable and unexpected ways. Ask and let go of your expectations. One of the great lessons shared in YogaKids is that more joy and laughter serves us in the most magical of ways. Would you like to have some more of that? Just ask and and see what shows up!

 

Snowman Glitter Shaker

Snowman Glitter Shaker craft

GLITTER! What a great addition to a snow shaker! Your YogaKids will love this winter craft idea of a Snowman Glitter Shaker.

Supplies

  • One jar with a screw on lid (like a pasta sauce jar)
  • One 12”x12” piece of felt for the hat
  • Hot glue
  • Glycerin
  • A ribbon or other piece of fabric for the scarf
  • A pipe cleaner for the hat
  • A small piece of orange paper, cut into a triangle, for the carrot nose
  • A black sharpie for eyes and buttons
  • Other decorations, like jingle bells and pom-poms for the hat, or buttons for the eyes, mouth
  • Water
  • Plastic glitter in large and small sizes.

Instructions:

You may adjust the glycerin-to-water ratio for the size of your jar – I am using a 24 oz. jar in the example.

  • Remove the label and scrape off any leftover glue. Make sure the jar is completely dry.
  • Begin by tying the scarf onto the jar and adding a dot of hot glue to the front and back, between the ribbon or fabric and jar, to hold the scarf in place.
  • Glue on button eyes or draw on black circles for eyes, mouth, and buttons. Glue on the nose.
  • Trace a circle onto the felt using a bowl, and cut it out. Note: Using the lid of your jar as a guide, you should have no less than 1” extra fabric all around. I have about 1.5” margins on mine.
  • The larger the circle, the floppier the hat.
  • Add ¼ cup of glycerin and about 1 cup water. Put the lid on the jar and shake until mixture is homogeneous.
  • Put a maximum of 2 Tablespoons of plastic glitter into the jar, then fill until about 1” from the top of the jar. Put the lid on and make sure you like the consistency of the water and glitter. If you want to add more glycerin to make the glitter move more slowly, add it now and mix well.
  • Once you’re happy with the water viscosity, fill the last remaining space up to the brim and put the lid on. Dry any water spots that may have leaked out, and hot glue around the base of the lid.
  • Center the circle of felt on the lid and hot glue it in place.
  • Crimp the felt as needed to get the shape of hat you want, and wrap the pipe cleaner tightly under the base of the lid, twisting the ends to hold it together. You will probably need more than one set of hands for this step! Add decorations, like pom-poms, silk flowers, or a bow) over the place where you twist the pipe cleaner closed.
  • Let it snow!

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Handprint Menorah

Handprint Menorah craft

The Festival of Lights has begun! Celebrate with this easy Handprint Menorah craft… perfect for your YogaKids class or an at-home arts & crafts activity!

Supplies:

  • Patterned or brightly colored paper to use for candle flames
  • A piece of card stock
  • Tempera or other water based paint in the color you want your menorah
  • Scissors
  • Glue or glue stick
  • Metallic sharpies, paints, sequins, etc. optional – for decorating the menorah

Instructions:

  • Fold the card stock in half, and then unfold it. Lay it flat.
  • Placing your left hand on the left side of the paper, with your thumb straight up, across the center fold line.
  • Trace your hand, then repeat on the right side, with your thumb in the same place as the left thumb.
  • Paint inside the lines you just traced.
  • Allow paint to dry and then decorate over the top of the menorah.
  • Fold the piece of paper you’re using for flames in half. Draw five flame shapes and cut them out of the folded paper to make ten flames. (That’s one left over)
  • Glue a flame in the center, then “light” one finger of the menorah for each night of Chanukah.
  • Keep the extra flames in an envelope nearby so they don’t get lost, and enjoy the Festival of Lights!

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