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Co-Operation

A Valentine Day Surprise In Kids Yoga Class

Show You Care on Valentine’s Day.

yoga for children on Valentine's DayLast week I got a nice surprise from one of the kids at the end of yoga class that would be a great surprise for your kids for Valentine’s Day to truly show you care.

First, a bit about last week’s surprise, which came on a day that should have been a snow day. 30 centimeters (about 12″) of snow kept falling and falling, making the roads and sidewalks super slippery.  Half the kids were absent.  But school was on so I braved the storm and went to teach yoga.

Second, you have to know that in my toddler yoga class we finish with the toddlers coming up for a hug, it’s a little routine we all love.  This study shows how Depriving Babies of Cuddles Does Long Term Harm.  Hugging is an acceptable practice with this age group.

Family Yoga with parnter yoga.
Try Bicycle Legs for Valentine’s Yoga Class

Also know, two weeks ago, 7 kids moved from the toddler room (walking – 36 months) to the preschool room (3 – 5 yrs).  In the preschool room  hugs are not part of the routine, teachers reduce hugging as the kids get older.

The Spontaneous Hug

However, the day of the storm, with so many children away,  and so many new toddlers there, spontaneous hugging broke out at the end of the preschool yoga class.

Now, here’s where I got surprised. It was something a 4 year old boy said.  He kept coming back for more hugs. Every time a space opened up in front of me, there he was with a big smile and his arms out.  This continued until all the kids who wanted a hug got a hug.  The boy probably had five hugs and remained alone with a big smile. He said, “Can you stay all day and give me hugs?”

The reason I was surprised was because that type of big statement is usually the kind I make.  He had taken my line!

A Fun Classroom Management Tip

Whenever the kids ask for something, if I can’t give them what they want for real, I give them what they ask for in a wish or a fantasy.  It’s a trick I learned in this this wonderful classroom management book.

So if the kids say something like:

Kids: “No, don’t end class. Can we do one more song?”

I’ll respond:  “Wouldn’t  it be great if I could stay all day and we could do yoga and songs all day!”

To which they all cheer, YES!

I agree that it would be awesome and once that feeling is acknowledged by all of us, it is much easier to say, “Alas, there are other kids waiting for their yoga class.”

Granting Wishes as Classroom Management

Giving kids what they want in a Wish is an effective strategy for classroom management.  Without it I don’t know how I’d deal with all the kids’ requests I receive. Here’s another common example:

Child:  “Miss Yoga, can we do (kids suggestion of a pose or activity) now!”

Wish Granting Yoga Teacher:  “Would you like to have a class where you got to pick all the poses?”

Child:  “Yes!”

Wish Granting Yoga Teacher:  “That would be fun.  I’ll plan a class like that another time.  Now lets do (the lesson plan).”

It’s much easier to move on when the feeling has been acknowledged.  So I was surprised when the boy went straight to the big wish.

Acknowledging Feelings as Classroom Management

Try mini pyramids for Valentine’s Day, either kneeling or standing. Make sure you have mats or a spotter.

Usually I’m the one taking it up a notch, now here stands this 4 year old with his big wish: “Can you stay all day and give me hugs?”

Do you know what I said?

“I wish I could because I really like being with you.”

I got one more hug, and then the boy joined the line-up leaving for playtime in the gym. I didn’t need to say anything else.

On days like this, even with a miserable snow storm going on, it feels like teaching kids yoga is the greatest job on earth.

For Valentine Day this week consider surprising your kids by granting them a wish or a fantasy. Just like in yoga, acknowledging feelings helps release resistance and everyone feels good.

Announcing: Upcoming Teacher Training Specials

Kids Yoga Teacher Training Yoga Alliance Registered Childrens Yoga School
Click Here for Upcoming Dates

 

Be Clear on What You Want in Kids Yoga Training

This guest post is by Bekah Starr of Sproutin’ Yoga.  She explains why she registered for our training this weekend even though she’s been teaching kids for five years.  She also gives you two new classroom management tips and shares the challenges she still experiences as a teacher (and she’s not alone!).

It’s not as easy as it seems to get kids on their yoga mats.

Be Clear on What You Want in Kids Yoga Training

by Bekah Starr, Kids Yoga Teacher

Even though I’m trained as a Hatha/ Vinyasa yoga teacher for adults, I’ve been teaching kids yoga for about 5 years now instead.  Why? I find it to be lighter, less serious, more fun!

The joy and excitement that kids bring to everything lights me up everyday and I feel truly blessed to offer the teachings of yoga to kids in “kid sized” portions.

I also have to admit; I understand yoga and the philosophies of yoga much more since I’ve been teaching kids. Somehow breaking down the concepts for kids makes it easier for me to understand too. Maybe it doesn’t have to be so complicated after all…

Challenge: Kids Off their Mats and Running Around

Don’t get me wrong; teaching kids also has its challenges. Children can be much less forgiving than adults.  If I don’t plan well and keep them interested they get bored VERY easily.  And once they’re gone, they’re gone. They’re off running around the studio, playing tag and such, even though there is a rule to “stay on your mat.”

While it is nice to keep it simple, less complicated, and less serious then you might with adults, the rules can get lost with all the innovation and creativity.

So this weekend I’m excited to be traveling from Buffalo, USA to Toronto, Canada for the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training.

I want Training for New Games and Classroom Management Tips

I’m making the weekend investment because I gotta find lots of creative ways to impart new ideas and concepts.  My hope is that at the Young Yoga Masters weekend I’ll learn some new ways to share yoga with kids, new games and fun ways to teach. And to discover how to keep the children on their mats!  Is that possible? J

One thing I use now that works well is breath.  Doesn’t that work for you too? Take a deep breath.  It’s universal, it really is.  I use breathing a lot in my classes and it seem to work well, especially when I have the kids make wind with their breath.  Sometimes I use books to illustrate a theme in class and I have them stay focused by making wind with their breath and blowing the next page open.

A Handy Tool I Use Now for Classroom Management

Let’s take for example my 3-4 year old classes, I teach 3 of these a week.  This past week particularly has been a hard week to follow the “stay on your mat” rule.  It’s warm and sunny out, I get it, they want to run outside, like little wild animals.  Which can be really cute, if they would just stay on their mats for a few minutes so I can teach a few poses.

I have one little boy in particular who likes to lead the others around.  He happens to be the oldest, so the others follow quite readily.  He also happens to be the most rambunctious.

Responsible Kids Make a Calm Kids Yoga Class

In the beginning, these two qualities added up to a lot of frustration for me.  Now, I’ve given him an important job.  I’ve made him responsible for leading us in a deep breath between each pose.

We learn a new pose, move around in it and feel how our bodies can make lots of shapes.  Then when it’s time to focus again I ask this little boy to lead us in a deep breath.

It’s hard to move around and lead a deep focused breath at the same time for a 4 1/2 year old. He’s got to stand still to do it, so the other children follow him and stand still as well.  It’s centering and calming for everyone and I can teach whatever I need to.

I invite you to try this too.  When your feeling a bit out of sorts refocus yourself with a deep breath.  Teach it to others too, it’ll change your world!

Watch for my follow-up blog, coming after the training where I share my experience of the course and how the tools worked with my rambunctious kids.

Bekah Starr
Sproutin’ Yoga
.
P.S.  What do you look for in professional development or training that you take?  Please leave a comment.

Teach Yoga Kids Love

A teacher is like a forklift, Yogi Bhajan said, you have to meet the students where they are at, and only then can you lift them up. This is the first point in these videos to Teach Yoga Kids Love.

Teach Yoga Kids Love is the name of the 30 minute presentation we did for over a hundred people at they Yoga Show in Toronto. Join Janet Williams of Children’sYogaBooks.com and Aruna Kathy Humphrys (me) in these videos, for three tips for teaching yoga kids love.

Teach Yoga Kids Love

Warning:  I’m no Stephen Spielberg, I edited these myself.  But I think they will be helpful for anyone who wants to see what it is like to teach kids.  There are kids and parents in the audience. You’ll see:

  • A classroom management activity,
  • yoga poses for kids,
  • a yoga game for kids and how to turn that games into a teaching opportunity,
  • much of teaching kids is having the right tone as a teacher, a tone that tells kids that you are in charge of the class (but you’re a loving and kind leader).  take a look at the tone of two experienced kids yoga teachers.

The first video is cut down to just a few highlights.

After this class, I tried out the new Volcano move I learned from Janet and it was a hit in my kids classes!

This second video is the longer version for people who really want to see how kids classes are taught. It has more poses and activities.  We had some technical difficulties during the recording so we didn’t get the whole presentation.  But you’ll definitely get the idea.

There’s a sweet girl at around the 2:20 minute mark of this video that shows what real kids are like.

Did you see it?

Let me know how you liked the videos, do you give them a thumbs up? I’d love to know your tip to Teach Yoga Kids Love.

Upcoming Events:  Please Join Us!

People are registering for the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training from all over the world.  Summer is a great time to visit Toronto, Canada and upgrade your skills.  Please contact me for information on accommodations and options for shadowing me at a kids class while you are here.  Upcoming courses:

Or bring Yoga Yoga Masters to your area – This training is like no other!   Contact [email protected]masters.com to help bring the Young Yoga Masters training to you.

Classroom Management: Do you ask kids questions like these?

Seeing Eye to Eye with Kids in Your Class
Seeing Eye to Eye with Kids in Your Class

When teachers or parents start getting frustrated with children they often resort to asking questions to get back control of the situation.  The problem is when these questions aren’t really questions but are criticisms disguised as questions.

Questions like these don’t help with classroom management and don’t help the child correct their behavior either.

For example:

  1. A pre-school teacher assisting in yoga class who pulls an overactive 3 year old out of the room, stands over her asking:  “Are you a baby? Do you want to go to the baby room?  Why are you acting like a baby?”
  2. A parent overheard in the grocery store saying (loudly) to a little 3 or 4 year old girl:  “If I’m right beside you, why are you yelling?”

If these children answered it would probably go something like:

  1. “I guess I am a baby because you’re talking to me like I’m a big loser and an idiot.”
  2. “I’m yelling because that’s what you do when you want my attention.”

These types of questions just don’t work.  I’ve NEVER  heard a child give what I suppose is the desired answer:

  1. “No I’m not a baby, so I will stop my goofing around and start acting like a three year old.”
  2. “Mommy, you’ve pointed out my error so well, I better use a softer voice.”

In my experience, children never actually answer these types questions. They just stand there frozen, not sure what to do or say, feeling bad about themselves.  In terms of classroom management, it may stop the behavior for a while, but in the long term it doesn’t provide the leadership required to help children become the leaders of the future.  It lowers their self esteem by making them feel incompetent.

Instead of Questions, Be a Role Model…

A great teacher doesn’t let unwanted behavior go unnoticed either.  We don’t serve children if they can’t sit still or aren’t aware of how loud they are talking.  Instead try some other approaches.  Like:

  1. the teacher assisting can calmly walk over to an overactive three year old and sit beside them and with one or two words, remind them of what everyone is doing (“cobra pose, everyone is doing cobra pose”), and modeling the behavior they want,
  2. A tired mom in the grocery can drop down, look her daughter in the eye and say, “Please speak softer” in the same tone she wants her daughter to use.
kids yoga camp picture of Aruna and Charlotte
Aruna and Charlotte (selfie) at Kids Yoga Camp

Both Yoga and Classroom Management require Sadhana, a consistent practice that helps us succeed at our goal.  Sadhana is done with devotion, not with criticism or questioning.  Consistency brings us to the state we desire through practice, reflection on our actions, and observation of what we are doing and how it is working.

Teachers and parents are role models  for children in ALL we do.  These children will become the role models of the future. We need to commit to consciously creating the kind of class we want the same way a true yogi commit to their Sadhana.

This week bring awareness to your use of questions.  Are they real questions waiting for real answers or criticisms disguised as questions.  If you are not sure, what answer are you looking for when you ask?  If you want the child to answer with a specific response,  it’s probably not a real question.

If you realize it’s a criticism, and you don’t know what else to do, start by simply stating your frustration, “You’re moving around too much.”  or “You’re too loud.”   It’s an honest starting place and a move away from those other questions.

Then re-direct with a precise description of what you.   And do it like the yogis – with consistency, with love, and make it like a mantra – short, sweet, and elevating!

Please feel free to share your classroom management stories and how you re-direct children.  It will help all of us to get new ideas and tools.

Aruna Kathy Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com

P.S.  Thanks to everyone who entered the Eoin Finn DVD Giveaway for Pure and Simple Yoga.  The random winner is Betherann – who blogs over at ww.kitchencourage.com.  Congratulations.

Kids Yoga for Disabilities

First off, take a look at this fun video of two Canadians, Rick Mercer (comedian/host) and Rick Hanson (Man in Motion hero/educator) blowing away all ideas of what one can and cannot do when one has a disability:

Pretty Amazing, Eh!

This Friday marks the beginning of the Paralympic Games  in Vancouver.   It’s another event that shows how ABLE all people are.  The first Paralympics Games were held in 1976 in Sweden and this Paralympics has  five sports:

  • alpine skiing
  • biathlon
  • cross-country skiing
  • ice sledge hockey
  • wheelchair curling

Here’s a link to a whole page of activities from Official Website of the Paralympic Movement. I’m looking forward to reading this worksheet in my kids classes:  A Fairytale:  A Class Discussion of Inclusion it’s a great story with discussion questions included.

I also want to try the Sitting Volleyball Skills Sheet with a soft volley ball for younger kids.

When it comes to yoga, are there any limitations that could prevent a child from joining a class?  Considering that kids yoga is already so imaginative I think kids yoga can be done by all.

The best tip for teaching yoga to someone with a disability:  talk to the person to  find out what works and what won’t work for their particular situation.  They’ll be able to tell you what they need to make it possible, what they want to try and what they can’t.  Don’t make assumptions!

If you’re stuck for ideas – a simple Google search of “wheelchair yoga” produces over 400,000 results!

Finally, this book  Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross is recommended for discussing disabilities with young kids.  It looks like a great book that I’ve just added to my wish list.  Let me know if you’ve seen this book or if you have any other ideas for including all kids in yoga classes.

Kids Meditation – 7 Year Old Yoga Sensation on Fox News

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.