7 Year Old Teaches Yoga and Meditation
The Kundalini Kid!
Check out this News Story from Fox News: Seven Year Old Sensation
The seven year old boy in this news story has grown up around yoga. Obviously he’s watched many a yoga class over the years from his birth to “almost eight years old.” But the story also reveals what yoga has done for him. First, he’s creative enough to make up his own celestial communication meditation. Second, he accepted the invitation to lead the meditation at Peace Prayer Day in front of thousands of people. What confidence! Not bad given that public speaking is one of the biggest fears of many ADULTS.
This news story fits in beautifully with the topic in my Kids Yoga Teacher Training course – Teaching Yoga to kids 6 – 12 Years Old.
Seven, almost eight years old, is a wonderful age for kids yoga! These kids usually still like to imagine and play but they have to be encouraged not to shut this down. They love yoga games. And they’re NOT the age yet where they are totally absorbed in whispering to their friends throughout the class, they just do it occasionally.
The Meditations Kids Love
You may be surprised to hear that meditation with kids of this age is very popular. I include meditation at the end of EVERY class. When the kids are getting tired they’ll start asking if it’s time for the meditation yet. This Yogic “Are we there yet?” begins about three quarters of the way through the class.
I’ve even had kids come in and request different meditations at times when they have a big test or when their parents are having trouble getting along.
Give the Kids a Choice with Meditation
The way I do it is at the end of the yoga class I give kids the choice of either resting quietly or doing a meditation. One of the favorite forms of meditation is Movement Meditations, known in Kundalini Yoga as Celestial Communication. They are well liked by all ages (even adults) and kids can often do 6 minutes easily:
“Yogi Bhajan spoke often about the very powerful
transformation technology of Celestial Communication.
Everyone can practice this very simple meditation.
You can even make up your own Celestial Communication movements.
What is important is to choose music with uplifting words.”
3HO.org
The news story about this Kundalini Kid making up movements to Jack Johnson’s My Own Two Hands is Celestial Communication. I encourage you to try it if you haven’t before. Just pick a positive song and ask the kids to help you make up some movements. You can do it sitting with legs crossed or standing. See if you can find some moves that you all like to do together – but it’s also fine for everyone to do their own movements. Everyone is encouraged to sing along to the song too.
It is a very relaxing and creative form of expression. Plus, kids have helped me discover moves I never would have thought of on my own. Here’s an example of a Celestial Communication meditation:
I’d love to hear your comments: Have you ever tried Celestial Communication with your kids? What songs do you like? What meditations do you like to do with kids?
Aruna Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com
P.S. Please join me for my next weekend intensive Kids Yoga Teacher Training to for an intensive weekend to prepare you to bring the joy of yoga to kids. All the details are here.
Yes! It is good thing is that yoga will be done by kids if yoga related thing creates the interest among the kids, else it will be useless..nice awareness blog..
Yes! it can be admitted if kids doing yoga so it is really amazing things..fantastic blog
It is good thing that you have make a post related to children yoga and promoting it but one think I want to tell you peoples that yoga never restricted to some one special it can be done by all age group human being so don’t become late just start to doing it..
Hi everyone. I am this young man’s mom. I’m delighted to see how far his message has traveled on the internet. He wanted to spread peace and inspire other children to do the same. Thank you so much for posting this and assisting him in his effort. I have heard from others around the world that they are encouraging the kids they teach to create more celestial meditation. They plan to video them and send them to Jackson…. I can see a documentary in the making… thanks again for all your beauty and grace as we shine the light together. Sat Nam and Many, many blessings Tarisa/Angad Kaur of YogaSoul in Minnesota.
Tarisa – Thanks for leaving a comment! Your son is real inspiration. I would love to see more videos of Celestial Communication!
omg its you your sons famuas
I love this post – especially the suggestions regarding Celestial Communication. Often it’s difficult for us to allow the kids to lead, as we are used to being the teachers, the parents, etc. This seems to be a wonderful exercise in letting go and allowing imagination and creativity to take over. And I just love “My Own Two Hands.” Thanks!
oh wow, aruna great find, great post! thanks for sharing this, so uplifting.
this little boy’s light has awakened, it can happen at all ages! glad to see him in an environment where he can shine.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
@Donna – thanks for that idea of using music clips to reflect the different moods.
Its so important to allow our children to express their emotions with their bodies. Sometimes we focus so much on verbal communication (“Use your words”) that we neglect how expressive the body can be. I often use music as a mood setting tool – upbeat, soothing, marches, hiphop, balads, country. The emotion communicated is quickly evident and the children love to play an emotions game where their body language changes according to the music clip I play.
Thank you for posting this! The depth of children is truly amazing.
Thanks for sharing .. I posted this on my blog as well 🙂
@ Lisa – thanks for sharing these tips. I love the My Favorite Song too where we look at the lyrics and why they’re meaningful to us. Songs have a great way of expressing what we’re feeling inside but don’t always know how to express.
@ Gisele – I like that beginning and ending too. Kids seem to remember their meaning for a long time. Some daycares I go to, just for the summer program, they’ll remember these from year to year.
Wonderful stuff! He is amazing. As children’s yoga teachers, our intention is to encourage an early introduction to yoga. This little boy ‘gets it’ and with encouragement, all children can and do.
Yes, we use music all of the time in our classes. It’s quite engaging for the kids. For my older kids classes, I encourage them to really listen to the lyrics of songs and then bring in anything they’d like to share. We discuss the meaning of the words and how it ties into yoga philosophies.
It’s always fun to play a soothing, peaceful instrumental and let the children create a ‘yoga dance.’ The one rule I have is that it be silent and that they stay on their own mat. Eyes closed takes the pressure off for those that are shy. Then partnering up (older kids) adds another element. For extra fun, partners or groups can share/perform their yoga dance creation.
Greetings Aruna,
Yes in my class we begin all my practices with the Ade Mantra and close with the Sunshine Song. This is very effective to centre the children and to end with relaxation meditation.
Sincerely,
Gisele Arlt