Classroom Management

Teaching Yoga to Boys

What happens when you are used to teaching one age group, then get a class with a whole new demographic?

I got a letter about this from Jeri Cresson, a Graduate of our 95 Hour Training. In it, she shares what happened when she taught her first group of boys.

Dear Young Yoga Masters,

Over the past few years, since my training at Young Yoga Masters, I have been working exclusively with the preschool age group. I’ve used your methods, frog yoga cards, themes, and games to develop an effective and engaging program at our Dojo.

We’ve created structure and focus to the practice of our littlest ones, helping them become quiet and still. They learned to alternate, at will, between wild playful abandon to quiet stillness, cooperation, focus, and attention. They began recognizing cues for when each was most appropriate.

It is sacred, glorious PLAY!

Learning to Teach Kids Yoga to a New Age Demographic

the cover of the inclusive yoga module of the kids yoga teacher training shows a superhero male yogi on a rocketship doing the cobra ygoa pose — The Inclusive Yoga manual cover.

However, I found myself with the opportunity to use my training with a new group of boys, in the 7-9 age group. I was afraid that I might not be able to transition from the younger age group to this one. I didn’t need to worry, as it turned out.

I cracked open the Inclusive Yoga manual and tried the Yoga Man vs. The Stressor activities. The Universal truths contained within them just flowed naturally – and suddenly, the sun salutation that started as rote memorization turned into a meaningful sequence.

The “why” dawned on me, as I was (with trepidation and anxiety) pouring over the what and how.

It was triggered when I reviewed how to introduce the breath – breathing in the Big Me, breathing out the Little Me. And I mentally added to help me realize: Breathing out the little ol’ me.

Deepening My Understanding of the Breath

I realized these 4 parts of breath:

Observing Stillness, in intentional solitude and contemplation, is a normal, still, but a conscious breath,
The Breathing in of Prana -the secret power of everything – that which is infinite and Universal,
The breathing out of the little me – is what I can personally choose to do to take action with the energy and power that I have been given,
and finally, a silent contemplative suspension of breath, feeling, experiencing gratitude, and taking inventory during rest before beginning the entire cycle over again.

a kids yoga teacher uses her whole body to demonstrate yoga breathing, with her fingers beside her nose to give kids a visual cue to breathe through the nose — Breathe in the Big Me, Breathe out the Little Me: Use your fingers beside your nose to help the visual learners remember to breathe through the nose.

From an Ordinary Person to a Hero!

“I realized that Yoga Man was once, just an ordinary person, just like me. But he learned how to harness the power of breath…”

I realized that Yoga Man was once, just an ordinary person, just like me. But he learned how to harness the power of breath, intention, focus, action, rest and reflection to outwit and outmaneuver The Stressor at every turn!

Each day he trained with this secret weapon so his powers grew. He became so strong he could leap over obstacles, dodge danger, and even rescue others – almost effortlessly.

In class we reviewed the yoga sequence, practiced with breath, and used the Yoga Man stories about the secret powers he can use when confronted with problems and challenges. Then we played a game of throwing stars.

Taking an Intentional Breath for Focus

a yoga superhero doing yoga cobra pose to help boys like yoga using images they enjoy — Yoga Man – the Yoga Super Hero doing cobra pose

Without any cues or prompting I noticed students stopping to take aim, taking an intentional breath, and then exhaling automatically with the exertion of their throw. When they did this, they were more accurate and more powerful.

Then they realized how much the breath helped.

It was magical. They were genuinely filled with glee, realizing that they, like Yoga Man, could harness the secret weapon of Breath.

Class ended with an age-appropriate, short savasana, then they joked around, touselling each other, as boys will do, each talking excitedly about how they were going to try out some “Breath Power” on something or another.

And their moms, clad in their own yoga clothing smiled, knowingly, checking that one task, “Get my boy to settle down and breathe” off the list.

Best,

Jeri Creson

Program Director – The Dojo Covington
Covington, LA, USA

New Orleans Kids Yoga Teacher Graduating Class of 2017 — Jerri (2nd from right) graduated from the 95 Hour Training in 2017

Try the Sun Salutation for Boys

Yoga Man uses breath to stay calm when facing The Stressor. I created The Yoga Man Training download and added it to the Inclusive Yoga Module because too many boys, including my three nephews, thought yoga was something their mom’s do.

Getting boys involved took some thought to get boys to participate. I even got two of my nephews to be my models in this video. The other nephew did the original drawings that eventually got digitized in Yoga Man!

Yoga Man does the Sun Salutation.

We are at Kilbear Provincial Park, in Ontario, Canada.

Check your volume and press play to bring yoga to your children!

How to Become A Kids Yoga Teacher Free Video Training Webinar

We had wonderful participation in the free webinar video training over the weekend.

I want to thank everyone for your great questions and feedback. We met, we talked, we learned a lot about becoming a kids yoga teacher. I appreciate all the questions sent in to make the webinar so informative and interesting.

Here are just a few questions that were answered:

What does it take to become a kids yoga teacher?
What is different about the 95 Hour Training compared to the 25 hour training I took?
How do you make the kids pay attention?
If you could have only 3 props in your kids class, what would they be?

We covered so many subjects for those new to kids yoga and for teachers looking for fresh ideas.

In addition to these questions, we answered a whole bunch of important questions by participants. For all those who want to know the ins and outs of getting trained as a kids yoga teacher, this is an excellent resource. If you weren’t able to attend the webinar live, the recording is below along with all the links mentioned in the webinar.

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Kids Yoga Teacher Training Resources Links

During the webinar I talked about some wonderful resources so here is a list of them:

July 14 – 26, 2019

Summer Certification in Burlington, Ontario
Come get your 95 Hour Certificate (or as many modules as you want to attend) by the shores of Lake Ontario this summer.
Summer Certification Details and Registration Costs Here

March 29-31
Toronto Yoga Show – Free Tickets to Show
Visit A Children’s Yoga Network Booth 526 at The Toronto Yoga Show
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Get Free Tickets to the Show on our Facebook Page

April 14-16
Kundalini Yoga Spring Getaway – An Amazing Yoga Weekend for Adults
Immerse yourself in a weekend to enhance your personal practice and see what a difference it makes in your teaching!
Register for the Spring Getaway Here

4 Keys to Teaching Literacy and Language with the Yoga Alphabet

When I introduce the Frog Yoga Alphabet resources to participants Yoga Literacy Certificate of the kids yoga teacher training, I emphasize that the alphabet letters make words, words make sentences and sentences make stories. It’s good thing to remember because it reveals the importance of letter learning but also reminds us that the yoga alphabet can be used in so many more ways than just learning letters.

Since the Yoga Literacy Certificate is coming up this weekend, I decided to look into the latest research around teaching literacy. With that in mind here are some interesting findings which speak to the idea that letters make words and words make stories. Here are 4 keys to teaching literacy to young learners:

1. A Letter a Day is Better than a Letter a Week

When introducing the alphabet, rather than presenting a letter a week, Ray Reutzel in his paper Early Literacy Research: Findings Primary‐Grade Teachers Will Want to Know points out it is more effective to introduce a letter every day and then cycle through the alphabet after that. When cycling back, give more attention to more difficult letters:

…this protocol calls for teachers to introduce a new letter or set of letters each day in multiple cycles of repeated practice. Over time, as the easier letters are mastered, teachers adjust the instruction through pacing and frequency of exposure. All letters are taught explicitly at least once. However, those letters that are harder for children to learn receive more attention and practice.

2. Six Ways Kids Learn Letters More Easily and Quickly

In the same paper above, Reutzel also identified six learning orders in which children learn the alphabet letters and sounds:

Own-name effect – Young children most easily and quickly learn the letters found in their given or first names.
Alphabetic-order effect– Letters at the beginning or end of the alphabet are learned more quickly and easily than those letters ordered in the middle of the alphabet
Letter-frequency effect – The more frequently exposed letters are in printed materials, the more quickly and easily they are learned
Letter-name pronunciation effect – Occurs when a letter’s sound is heard as the letter’s name is pronounced.
Consonant phoneme acquisition order effect – That young children learn consonant letters’ names and sounds easier when they are mastered earlier in children’s oral language development
Distinctive visual features letter-writing effect – The letters of the alphabet are recognized through detection of a smaller set of distinctive visual features. Teaching students to fluently produce this smaller set of distinctive visual features before teaching them how to write all of the alphabet letters has been found to lead to quicker mastery of letter transcription.

3. Self Regulation Helps Literacy

We know that one of the aims of yoga and meditation is improving self-regulation. A recent study from Michigan State University found that literacy learning improves when combined with activities that improve self regulation. Lead researcher Lori Skibbe says :

Parents need to be aware of how their children can regulate their own behavior based on what’s going on around them. Parents can structure their home environment and routines in ways that support children,” Skibbe said. A full night of sleep, playing games with children and having time without distractions in the background are things you might not think help language and literacy development, but they do.”

4. Kindergarten Language Skills Are Good Predictors of Future Proficiency in Other Subjects

We know that teaching literacy is the foundation of building language skills in children but research from University of Washington found that a child’s language skills in kindergarten predict his or her performance in other areas, including math, reading and social and emotional learning later into their education. Amy Pace, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and member of the team that conducting the study found:

Researchers found that of the skills and milestones evaluated – social/emotional, attention, health, reading, math and language – only language skills, when a child entered school, predicted his or her performance both within that subject area and most others (math, reading and social skills) from first through fifth grade. Reading ability in kindergarten predicted reading, math and language skills later on; and math proficiency correlated with math and reading performance over time.

Yoga Literacy Certificate

If you’re interested in yoga tools that help teach literacy and language to kids, the Yoga Literacy Certificate is for you. It includes a lot more than just teaching kids yoga how to use the letters of the alphabet. It also includes partner poses, games and activities for early readers to teens and we take a look at ways of doing yoga with kids while having fun and staying safe. Plus, participants of the kids yoga training learn effective relaxation techniques that help calm kids.

How to Promote Mindfulness as Teachers and Parents

Mindfulness for Teachers and Parents – How Not to Explode

Have you ever had one of those times when everything feels loud? There’s so much to do and no one is listening and all you really want is to hide in the bathroom, also because you haven’t had a chance to go to the bathroom after that big morning cup. What saves me (most of the time) from losing it in these moments is my mindfulness practice.

When I was invited to contribute to Mindfulness Month: Yoga for Kids and Families with a 5 minute video called How Not To Explode: 3 Mindful Tips to Help You When Your Fuse is Running Short (shared below), I got excited to talk about this wonderful practice because it has had such a positive impact on the way I teach and so many other parts of my life. This stuff makes a difference!

Make a Difference with Mindfulness

Parents and teachers, like you, make a difference in the lives of children every single day.

The harsh truth is that there are times when the difference we make is not the one we intended. Situations can get difficult and we lose patience and lash out at those we love. Instead of feeling better, we’re left feeling full of regret.

Those who embark on a mindfulness practice more easily identify the triggers that cause us to explode. With less explosions we become happier people. The added benefit is we also have more success teaching mindfulness to children because we will be teaching from a place of experience. Its hard to teach something you don’t actually practice yourself.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness can be practiced in many ways but always includes these two important aspects:

Mental Focus: paying attention,
Heartfelt Intention: kindness/openness/curiosity.

The founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) describes it this way in a Time Magazine article:

You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.”

John Kabat-Zinn, Time Magazine, 2012

Evidence also shows that even a few weeks of a Mindful practice produces positive benefits.

Mindfulness Month with Young Yoga Masters Oct 7 — Mindfulness Month: Yoga for

How to Practice Mindfulness in Everyday Chores

So how do we “do” mindfulness? I started practicing Mindfulness with my everyday chores, beginning with a chore I really don’t like: washing the dishes.

This was inspired by a teaching story I heard about a seeker who wanted make a change so he went to serve in a Mindful community. He was told by the manager that he wasn’t yet ready to serve. “Well can’t I even wash the dishes?” the seeker protested. With kindness the manager asked him why he would wash the dishes. “Why? To get them clean of course.” The manager replied, “In our mindful community we don’t wash the dishes to get them clean. We wash the dishes to wash the dishes.”

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains this subtle difference this way:

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.”

What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink.

If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future -and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness, 1975

Practicing mindfulness when washing dishes is a simple way to learn to find joy in a potentially not-so-joyful task. It prepares us to stay kind and curious in much harder times and avoid losing our cool.

Kids Yoga at a Community Centre where a Kids Yoga Teacher leads Meditaiton for Children — During the Practicum of our Kids Yoga Teacher Certification we introduce a Meditation to Children using a Mantra and Hand Movements to help Children Maintain Focus

How Not to Explode: 3 Mindful Tools to Help When Your Fuse is Running Short

Here are 3 Mindful tools that you can try, in any combination and order, to help put things in perspective when you are heading towards an explosion.

(1) Acknowledge that You Don’t Want to Explode:

There comes a point when losing your cool starts to feel very ineffective. It doesn’t fix the situation, and most times it makes things worse. When I loose my cool and raise my voice at someone, I don’t feel better, I still feel upset and now I feel guilty too. Then I’m enticed into distraction by thinking how I was justified in blowing up at the person.

If instead I choose to stay present with the feeling of upset and guilt after losing my cool, it helps me recognize that I don’t want to explode like that because it does not work to bring the relief I sought. Acknowledging a true desire to change can bring relief. It helps me be kind to myself and find a better way to be kind to others as well.

So when you have lost your cool, try sitting with the negative effects. They could become the turning point towards a new response.

(2) Get Curious About What You Are Feeling: Which is Often Anger

When I focus on what I am feeling before I explode I often find anger there. Anger happens when you are not getting what you want. Your desire has been obstructed and you’re tempted to bring in some dynamite to clear the path.

If my class is noisy and children are not listening no matter what I try, anger starts building in me. If I get curious about the actual cause, I may discover the problem is its so loud the kids cannot hear my instructions, or I realize I have a headache which causes the noise to be especially irritating. Getting curious about how you are feeling helps stop anger. You can’t be curious and angry at the same time.

When you acknowledge your own feelings you can respond in an appropriate way. Plus you model the proper way to handle anger for the little ones around you.

(3) Practice a Mindful Moment:

Another mindful tool is the reality check, also known as bringing yourself into the present moment. Rather than flying off thinking this always happens or I’m never going to get a break, look around you and see if you are okay right now. It will be easier if you have already practiced, perhaps while washing the dishes. When I wash the dishes I feel the warm water and the dish in my hands, I see the colour of the bubbles and the sink, the plate, the wall, the counter. I smell the soap and breath easily.

In the classroom I bring myself into the present by looking at the room, what colour are the walls? What colour is the carpet? What else is going on with other children? Who is quiet? What sounds do I hear? What other sounds do I hear? Then I take a few deep breaths.

Usually by the end of this time my anger has subsided and an idea will come to me. Maybe I turn on music or stand up to turn off the lights or get myself a drink of water and take everyone for a water break. There is not one solution that will work in every moment because every moment is unique, but through Mindfulness, I have a better chance of finding what will work in THIS moment.

Mindfulness Month Video: How Not to Explode

Here’s me at a place I love for mindful walks, the waterfront near my house. I’m talking about these mindfulness techniques, edited down to the 5 minute time frame, which was not easy to do. But it did provide a good topic for the longer article you are reading here.

When we teach children it is not always big things that cause us to explode. It can be the little things that build up and start getting to us. These little things draw us away from what is happening in the moment and we start thinking of the past or making calculations for the future.

Practicing mindfulness is practicing living in the moment, unloading all those small things, and seeing that there is actually only one moment, which is right now. Mindfulness is not a big ordeal with candles and incense, it can be practiced in little moments, like when washing the dishes or serving lunch to children.

I appreciate it is easy to describe these things and much more difficult to live them.

However it is also difficult not to practice Mindfulness. It is very difficult to keep exploding, to keep alienating people we care about, and to carry the burden of regret.

Mindfulness is a tested tool that gives us a much better chance to connect with the miracles of life that are all around us.

Upcoming Events

Want to learn more about mindfulness and other meditation techniques for yourself and to pass on to the children you teach? We have many tools in every module of our Yoga Alliance Registered Childrens’ Yoga School Training:

Save with Early Registration

What my Mother did that time I was 15 and got in a Motorcycle Accident

Aruna Kathy Humphrys and her mom. — That’s a happy baby me, Aruna Kathy Humphrys with my mom.

Once when I was fifteen, I was lying flat on my back on the hot asphalt of a road not far from my house, staring up at a blue summer sky, willing myself to not move a single muscle because I was afraid I might be paralyzed. I had no idea this moment would lead me to a powerful lesson taught to me by my mother.

It all began a few months before this event when I met my first boyfriend, who was eighteen and owned a motorcycle. I was excited to explore my new romance on the back of a Honda, free from public transit, free from parental chauffeuring, a couple of carefree teenagers on the road.

Of course, my parents had made it completely clear I was never to get on the motorcycle and I had promised I wouldn’t. So whenever my boyfriend came to pick me up he would park the bike a couple blocks away from my house and then walk to my front door.

“Okay, we’re off to the mall,” we would tell my parents as we left, “we’re taking the bus!”

We would walk two blocks, get on the bike and zoom off to wherever our hearts desired, which was usually the mall.

One day we were on the motorcycle and a car unexpectedly pulled out of a driveway and hit us. We were both thrown off the motorcycle.

I still remember the sound of my helmet hitting the road as I landed flat on my back on that hot asphalt that fine summer day.

By the time the ambulance arrived and the paramedics were putting me on a stretcher I had started to regain movement. “Okay, I’m not paralyzed,” I thought, “I’ll be fine and my parents will never have to know.”

The only problem was that at fifteen I was still a minor and the hospital wouldn’t admit me without adult consent. “I really, really don’t want to tell my parents,” I thought, “I need a way out of this.”

As crazy as it sounds, the universe gave me a way out of it. My boyfriend, who had been looked at by the doctors and cleared with only a sprained ankle, had left me with his mother and was outside the hospital waiting to be picked up by his buddy. They were going to go check on the state of the motorcycle. At that same time my older sister, who was eighteen, was waiting across the street from the hospital at a bus stop. My boyfriend hobbled over to my sister and told her what happened. She was old enough to sign for me and then arranged to get me home.

“Go have a soothing warm bath,” the nurse told me as we left the emergency room, “It’ll relax your muscles.”

A few weeks later at work, I got a phone call from my mother. “Kathy I just got off the phone with the hospital billing department. They sent us a bill for use of an ambulance. I made it absolutely clear to them if my daughter was ever in an accident and needed an ambulance, I would know about it. I let them know they made some big mistake somewhere.”

Reluctantly I ‘fessed up to my mother and she told me in her stern “you’re in deep trouble” voice to come straight home after work. The time between my mom’s call at work and the time I got home was as nerve wracking as the motorcycle accident itself.

My parents sat me down at the kitchen table and told me they were very disappointed but having had time to think about it, what concerned them most was that I didn’t call them when I was in trouble.

“There’s nothing you can can do that you should be afraid to tell us about,” they said. “There’s nothing you can do that will make us stop loving you, so it’s better we know so we can help you. That’s our job.”

Their message of genuine caring went deeper into my heart than any punishment they could have given me that day. And I’m grateful my parents took the time to reflect on what message they really wanted to give to me.

Of course, I got grounded that day too, for sure, but I don’t remember for how long or if that grounding affected my life in any big way. I also don’t know what happened to that boyfriend after we broke up at the end of the summer. What I remember most from all of it was the message my mom and dad gave me about unconditional love, I knew that when bad things happened to me, they would be there for me. That message has stayed with me my whole life long.

There is a quote I heard from Yogi Bhajan that says, “Mother is the first teacher.”

This week when I reflected on the theme of Mother’s Day for my kids yoga classes, I thought of what my mother has taught me. I created a lesson plan exploring the idea of Mother as first teacher, what a teacher does, loving unconditionally, right or wrong, naughty or nice.

Mother is the first of many teachers in our lives, she sets the stage for all the others. My mother’s lesson has informed my own quest to love unconditionally, a journey I take with myself.

The yogis also tell of the teacher within that is called Intuition. Your inner teacher conveys the lesson of unconditional love by telling you, “There’s nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you. That’s my job!”

May you enjoy the gift of Mother’s Day, the gift of the first teacher, and the gift of unconditional love.

Yours truly,

Aruna

YoungYogaMasters.com

Give Kids Hope on Earth Day

While planning my kids yoga classes for the daycare’s theme “Earth Day” I set to work looking for a book or some kind of visual for supporting material.

First I remembered a children’s book I bought a while ago but never used called, 100 Facts – Saving the Earth by Miles Kelly. Great, a lesson plan ready to go!

But when I flipped to the first page, there sat a message of doom and gloom: the earth in danger, the planet a mess, temperatures rising, extinction probable!

I quickly closed the book as if trying to put Pandora back into her box. The idea of the end of human existence simply wouldn’t do as a theme for Earth Day. I needed plan B – to share the message of hope and mindfulness about our big blue planet.

Now I’m curious if this negativity pervades kids attitudes about the Earth.

Getting to Know the Mind in Kids Yoga Class

The negative mind, as it’s called in Kundalini Yoga, is akin to the part of the mind that sees danger and helps you avoid getting into trouble. The negative mind is the first and fastest function of the minds, so it’s no surprise we are bombarded by information that feeds into our fears and insecurities. Marketing all around us tries to connect to that negative mind to get your attention.

The solution to counteract this way of thinking is to use the Positive Mind to cut through the negative. Then the Neutral Mind can weigh the negative and positive to make a decision.

In the Yoga Sutras it is called Pratipaksa Bhavana.

“34. When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones
should be thought of. This is pratipaksa bhavana.”
Book 2.34, The Sutras of Patanjali, Translation and Commentary
by Sri Swami Satchidananda p. 120 -122

Use Your Curiosity to Teach Children about Mindfulness and the Mind

I’m curious about the level of negativity children experience when they think about the Earth. I’m going to start my kids classes by asking them what Earth Day means to them. I wonder if it will be negative or positive? The rest of the yoga class will flow from their answers.

We may become Earth Warriors to cut through the negative and find a positive.

Or maybe we’ll do yoga poses for all the earthly elements and animals that are happily named.

Whichever way it goes, we will to finish with hope and gratitude for all the Earth provides for the plants and animals on the planet (including humans). We can practice Pratipaksa Bhavana to combat the negative thoughts. Then Earth Day will be a reason to celebrate the hope the planet offers.

Kids Yoga for Earth Day, April 22, 2019

Earth Day parnter yoga coloring page for kids yoga — Earth Day Printable Colouring Page

Download the printable Earth Day colouring pages here:

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And if you’re looking for some Earth Day activity ideas for your kids yoga classes, you check out the links below.

Earth Day Warrior Printable Colouring Page for Kids Yoga — Earth Day Warrior Printable Colouring Page

More Earth Day Activities for your Kids Yoga Classes:

Kids Yoga makes a World of Difference!