Kids Yoga

Halloween Scares: Social and Emotional Learning in Yoga for Children

Watch this Video on Kids Yoga Teacher Training for Halloween Yoga Ideas

Halloween is full of spooks and scares and gives kids yoga teachers a great opportunity for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

Here’s a short video where I show you how you can play with SEL in your kids yoga classes.

Social and Emotional Learning for Preschool Children

One of my favourite activities in preschool yoga is play-acting emotions. It’s so much fun to act out fear, sadness, excitement, greed, happiness, suspicion, and more with children in a yoga story. With this age the story doesn’t have to be complicated, its simply exploring emotions in a playful way and helping children discover many ways to deal with the emotions.

One of the keys is letting kids connect to the concepts they already know from yoga class.

Instead of telling them to take a deep breath, ask them, “I’m scared! What can I do?”

Let them tell you to take a deep breath. The lesson will sink in deeply when they make these connections for themselves over and over.

Kids Yoga Teacher Training

I use both SEL and stories in our kids yoga teacher training modules. Not because kids are supposed to learn them, but because they are fun. The learning is the added bonus that comes with a yoga and mindfulness practice.

a boy doing yoga on a pumpkin orange yoga mat — More Halloween Yoga Poses for Kids

Have a Happy Halloween filled with Kids Yoga!

Aruna

Lead Trainer of Young Yoga Masters
Yoga Alliance Registered Children’s Yoga Shool,

3 Olympic Themed Kids Yoga Ideas

The weather today in Canada is cold and snowy, perfect for getting cozy in front of the TV to watch the Olympic Games. This morning I was up early to watch the women’s moguls competition. One Canadian athlete made it to the podium and one lost control on her run and went out of bounds and did not finish the race.

In post-event interviews, the medalist described persevering through challenges with sickness in her family and her sister getting cut from the Olympic team.When she got to her last run she said she let all that go and claimed the moment as her moment to shine. She got the silver medal.

The other athlete was in contention for a gold medal but experienced an agonizing defeat. She fought back tears as she shared how difficult it was to lose her standing, but she had to accept there is nothing she can do to change it now, she will hold her head high and move forward.

I like watching these athlete’s courage, the strength it takes to put yourself on the world stage. The victory is euphoric, but most athletes at the Olympics compete for a personal best, knowing they will likely never land on the podium. There is always the risk that you will experience a “personal worst” moment, and you must be willing to take that risk.

While I’ve certainly never participated in the Olympics, I know the courage, dedication, and commitment it takes to put yourself out there. Just teaching a yoga class was difficult at first, then moving to part-tine business, and eventually to a full-time career in yoga. As a trainer, I see new teaches work through their nervousness in their first kids yoga classes too.

We all “go to the Olympics” in our own way, which is why it makes a great theme for kids yoga classes.

Consider sharing the sports ideas and also the difficult parts of competing and dealing with winning and losing. Here are three ideas ways the Olympics theme can be used in your kids yoga classes this week.

3 Olympic Themed Kids Yoga Ideas

1. How the Olympics Can Help Sore Losers

What if kids don’t want to even risk playing a game because they don’t want to lose?

Helping Sore Losers by Using the Olympics and Yoga — Click the image to read the full article.

2. Olympic Yoga and Valentine’s Day

Building a pyramid to talk about the foundation of doing your best as an athlete or whatever you strive to do. Lots of winter Olympic pose ideas here!

three kids make a pyramid like the podium of the Olympics and discuss the founations of success — Try mini pyramids like a Podium for an Olympic Valentine’s Day theme, the top can be either kneeling or standing. Make sure you have mats or a spotter.

3. Olympic Games that Build Concentration and Focus

More yoga poses for the Olympics and how your lesson plan can be adjusted to suit for different age groups.

family yoga, families doing a rowing arms pose that can be used in an Olympic themed lesson plan — Rowing Arms in a Family Yoga Class. Rowing can be adapted for different settings and age groups.

Sometimes when you start teaching kids in September, it can be difficult to find new ideas and lesson plans for the end of the year. Let’s get inspired by the spirit of the Games and the universal drive to reach for our own personal best, and give kids a gold medal yoga class.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Dates in Toronto at this link — Our next Kids Yoga Teacher Training starts soon!

Be sure to sign up early to save!

What Great Kids Yoga Plans Do You Have This Summer?

I’m away from home and I’ve been thinking about a family of swans I stumbled across a couple of weeks ago while I was out for a walk.

I just finished teaching a full week of the 95 hour kids yoga teacher certification in New Orleans and I’ve got one more week left. Then I’ll be back home preparing to deliver the 95 hour summer certification in Burlington, Ontario.

yoga swan building nest — Hard at work preparing family home!

Before I left for New Orleans I went for a walk along the lake shore of my hometown and to my utter delight, right smack in the middle of the marina along the pedestrian path, was a swan family building a giant nest!

Mama and Papa swan were hard at work piling branch upon branch making a home for three big eggs. The swans barely noticed us nosey human beings gathering around them (at a distance) pointing and giggling and taking photos. The majestic birds just focused on their nest building preparing to incubate their eggs and expand their family.

The swan is one of the most important symbolic creatures in all of yoga. It represents the breath and the connection of the finite to the Infinite. The symbolic swan can take us from our tiny individual self to our expansive higher Self.

In Sanskrit, a swan is called a hamsa and an accomplished yogi is called a paramahamsa (meaning transcendent swan). A yogi is one who gracefully glides across the ocean of life to liberation from time and space.

In other words, just like the swans I came across along the city lakeshore, being a yogic swan means living in the world with homes and traffic and humans side by side (all that stuff that can sometimes rub us the wrong way) while remaining cheerful and energized and focused on expanding ourselves.

yoga swan incubating eggs — The nest is built and the incubating has begun!

Since swans incubate their eggs for about forty days I’m hoping I’ll get to witness those swan eggs hatch into baby cygnets when I return to Canada to begin the kids yoga teacher training in Burlington. That would be a great summer treat!

That got me wondering, what yoga plans do you have hatching this summer?

If you’ve been incubating the idea of becoming a kids yoga teacher then the Burlington 95 hour, 12 day certification which starts July 23 is a great way to get certified within two weeks. You still have time to take advantage of the early registration discount. The early registration deadline is approaching fast on June 30, 2017.

If you’re already a kids yoga teacher then I’ve got some links below to some earlier posts with ideas for the summer.

I hope you hatch something wonderful this summer!

Already a kids yoga teacher? Here 5 yoga ideas for the end of the school year.
Here are 8 Helpful Hints things kids yoga teachers can do in the summer.
Summer can bring all kinds of volunteer opportunities for kids yoga teachers. I recently received a question from a past grad asking about when to volunteer and when to charge. Here is a blog post I wrote about that very topic.
Some kids yoga teachers might still question their legitimacy. Here’s an article about risks and rewards of kids yoga teaching and using a mandala meditation to get clarity around that.
And finally if you’re new to kids yoga teacher training here is an article explaining the different levels of certification.

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!

Avoid this Common Mistake with the Hoberman Sphere (Breathing Ball) in Kids Yoga

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, in kids yoga you could say the same about a good prop. A good prop becomes your classroom management as it silences conversations and draws kids into your circle. It’s the difference between asking kids to be quiet and quieting them without having to ask.

The breathing ball (also known as the Hoberman Sphere) is a favourite prop of many teachers. When introduced as a tool for calming and connecting to the breath, rather than just a nifty toy, the breathing ball captivates kids attention.

pictures of the Breathing ball, and expanding ball that is also known as a Hoberman sphere — The Breathing Ball, also known as a Hoberman Sphere

3 Breathing Ball Activities

Here are 3 ways to use the Breathing Ball:

Demonstrate Lungs: explain how the lungs expand and contract with the inhale and exhale
Self-Regulation: Leave the breathing ball in the quiet area of your class, on a child’s desk, or on a bedside table for children to use on their own. It’s an engaging tool for self-regulation once children know how to use it.
Children Follow the Ball: The teacher opens and closes the ball, the class breathes to match the pace of the movement.

a kids yoga teacher demonstrates the breath by opening and closing a breathing ball. — Using the breathing ball for the whole class to see.

The Common Mistake

A common mistake teachers make happens in the 3^rd activity above. When you open and close the ball and ask children to breathe along with the movement, make sure you are breathing at a pace suited to the age and lung capacity of the group you’re teaching.

Kids won’t be able to follow a breathing ball that is opened and closed too slowly. It’s not physically possible for little lungs to keep up with adult lungs, especially the lungs of a yoga practitioner.

Consider these Ventilation/Respiration Rates for Children and Adults

Average resting respiratory rates by age are cited on Wikipedia:

birth to 6 weeks: 30–40 breaths per minute
6 months: 25–40 breaths per minute
3 years: 20–30 breaths per minute
6 years: 18–25 breaths per minute
10 years: 17–23 breaths per minute
Adults: 12-18-breaths per minute
Elderly ≥ 65 years old: 12-28 breaths per minute.
Elderly ≥ 80 years old: 10-30 breaths per minute.

Children breath faster because their lungs are smaller.

The Breathing Ball is a great attention getter, but you risk creating frustration in children if you don’t choose an age appropriate pace.

children use a breathing ball, opening and closing it wiht their breath to demonstrate the pace of their breathing. — Children set the pace with the Breathing Ball in a Yoga Class

4^th Breathing Ball Activity – Ball follows Child’s Breath:

Breathing Ball Follows the Child’s Breath: Instead of starting with #3, try this activity. Invite a child to sit with you and take a few deep breaths moving their arms and emphasizing their breath. Then the teacher opens and closes the breathing ball to follow the breath of the student, instead of the child following the breathing ball. When you follow the breath for a few cycles, it can start to change on its own. Try this exercise for a minute with different children and kids soon see the different breathing rates and how awareness can change the breath.

The breathing ball is a favourite yoga prop for many. When you learn the various ways to use the Breathing Ball, it becomes imbued with the power to bring calm and peace. And laughter too since kids will find silly ways to use the breathing ball on their own!

3 kids put the breathing ball over their heads and look at ehe camera laughing — Of course, kids will also find new ways to use the breathing ball.

Upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher Training

Each person registered in the Themes and Dreams Kids Yoga Teacher Training Module receives a Breathing Ball and more Breathing Ball activities too!

Kids Yoga Teacher Training and Certification with Young Yoga Masters — Find out about becoming a Certified Kids Yoga Teacher – click the image above

Olympic-Themed Kids Yoga

Olympics as a Theme for Kids Yoga Lessons

With the Rio Summer Olympics well underway, we’ve updated old blog posts to help you incorporate the games as a theme in your classes. We hope you find these resources helpful when considering lesson plans, poses, and intentions for kids yoga.

Halloween Scares: Social and Emotional Learning in Yoga for Children

Watch this Video on Kids Yoga Teacher Training for Halloween Yoga Ideas

Social and Emotional Learning for Preschool Children