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You are here: Home / Archives for worry

worry

Fantastic 15 Minute Bedtime Routine for Children or Adults

A chlld resting at the end of yoga class and yoga bedtime tips to help children relax and sleep.

 

Let’s face it, no matter what your age, there are times when it’s hard to fall asleep.

Anxiety can cause disruption to our sleep patterns, like worry about the first day of school for instance. For students, parents, or teachers having an effective bedtime routine can  can make the difference between a bright and chipper morning or feeling like cranky old so-and-so.  So what do the yogis recommend for a serene slumber?

First of all, it is always helpful to do a few yoga poses before beds and you can check out my favorite pose for sleep here.

But if you want a quick routine try incorporating these yogic tidbits that shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to get you relaxed and ready to doze off.

Bedtime Routine for Children or Adults

  • Wash Your Feet in Cold Water (5 minutes): Stand in the tub, turn on the cold water and stick one foot under the water and then the other.  Do this at least 3 times per foot. Better yet, sit on the side of the tub and rub both feet under the frigid flow.  Let the worries of the day wash away and bring your attention to the present moment – namely your feet.  When the cold cascade is finished, rub your feet vigorously with a towel to stimulate all the 72,000 nerve endings in your tootsies.  It should feel like a wonderful foot massage.  If you’re helping someone else have a good night sleep, giving them a foot massage while they lie in bed is a sure fire way to show how much you care AND get them ready for sleep.
Yoga bedtime routine for children
Don’t Forget Your Feet for a Good Night’s Sleep!
  • Vision the Perfect Day (5 minutes):  One of the purposes of learning yoga is to help you think about what you want to think about, instead of thinking about what you don’t want to think about.  Once you are in bed and feeling relaxed from your foot massage, spend some time thinking about what kind of day you WANT to have. Vision that you wake up feeling refreshed, put on your favorite clothes (laying your clothes out in advance can also save time), have a great breakfast.  Imagine all the details you can in a positive way, like getting up a few minutes early (often doing this will help you wake up a couple minutes before your alarm goes off).  See yourself getting to school smoothly, a few minutes early so you are not rushed and frazzled.  Imagine greeting people you see with a smile.  If a worry crops up, then transform the worry into a wish of what you want and how you can handle problems that arise.  Many yogis find that when your vision of the future is clear, it is easier to achieve.
    The Yogis Suggest you Breathe through your Left Nostril to Relax

     

  • Turn on Your Right Side and Breathe (Left Nostril Breathing – 5 minutes):  Now you’re ready to fall to sleep.  Lie on your stomach and turn your head to the right so that your right cheek and nostril are smushed into the pillow.  Closing your right nostril will mean you are breathing through your left nostril, you can even put your hand under your cheek and use a finger to block the right nostril completely. Breathing through the left nostril is the cooling, relaxing, calming side.  See if you can slow your breath down so it is nice and slow. Try to reach 4 or less breaths per minute. This also helps the mind slow down and get into a relaxed state. Continue this long deep breathing listening to your breath or silently saying a mantra as you breathe in an out, like inhaling “Sat” (truth) , exhaling “Nam” (name/identity) or inhaling “Calm” and exhaling “Happy” or simply inhale and think “inhaling” and exhale and think “exhaling.”

These yogic steps can help you get really sleepy and when you are about to drift off you are welcome to change positions and fall asleep as you wish.

A little yogic wisdom can go a long way especially when it comes to a good night sleep.

Wishing you all a great night’s sleep and a great day ahead!  You’re invited to leave your Sleep Stories in the comments.

 

Upcoming Events:

Back to School means time for learning and development both professionally and personally.   Consider the upcoming training events with out Registered Children’s Yoga School (Yoga Alliance approved training) for your own back to school experience.

 

Upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Dates in Toronto at this link

Share Yoga with Children and Uplift Yourself at the Same Time
You’ll be glad you did!

 

Filed Under: Kids Yoga, Meditation with Children Tagged With: bedtime yoga, stress management, worry

What Kids Silently Worry About

This drawing is by a young student who took yoga with me about eight years ago. She’s probably well into high school by now.  It’s a picture of her “Worry Tree.”

The Worry Tree

What Kids Silently Worry About

During relaxation we imagined a big tree where we put all our worries before we enter into our relaxation garden.  It may surprise you to see the kind of things she wrote down.  This girl was pretty quiet and seemed to be happy.  I had no idea what was going on beneath the surface until we did this guided relaxation and the drawing time that followed.

Here are her worries (I erased the names of the other kids she mentioned from her class):

  • I was called the B word,
  • B___ said she wishes that I was dead,
  • K____ said I suck at jump rope,
  • J____ said I suck and put her hand in my face,
  • I lose all my friends,
  • The teacher blames everything on me.

Modern Independence Day

Many people celebrated independence day last weekend.  I think Yoga helps us celebrate a modern independence.  In today’s world we need ways to free ourselves from our worries and fears.  We know stress is a silent killer.  The tools we teach children give them a way to voice that stress and find relief.  A freedom that they may not be able to find anywhere else.  And it’s something to celebrate.

So if you have times when you think teaching yoga to kids doesn’t really make a difference in their lives, think again.  Just because kids aren’t saying anything doesn’t mean they don’t have a tree full of worries.  You can make a difference.

Consider giving children some relaxation time with their heads on their desks and guide them through a session where they let go of their worries.  Examples include:

  • Imagine a big tree that they can pin their worries on and leave them there, then guide them to a safe place in their imagination like a garden or beach where they can relax,
  • Put their worry in a box and put the box up on the shelf,
  • Blow out your worry in a bubble and let the bubbles float away and disappear.

Are you surprised by this young girls list of worries?  Why or why not?

Do you use meditation and visualization tools to help kids deal with worry?

You’re invited to share your experience in the comments below.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Meditation with Children Tagged With: freedom, relaxation, worry

How Yoga Can Help if Your Kids Drop Out of School and Join the Circus – A Yoga Game for Worry

Worry is imagining all the things that CAN go wrong. Its like creating a personalized haunted house in your head.  Worry is illusions, smoke and mirrors, things that haven’t actually happened for real. Like our kids flunking out in school and having to join the circus!

Handstands on the 80 ft Poles

Back to school time is a popular time for worrying.  We help ourselves and our kids by looking worry straight in the eye and seeing it for what it really is – a trick of the mind.  The Yogis say the mind is like a wild stallion that must be reigned in.  We’ve got to tame that stallion so that it can preform the tricks we want, not put us in danger!

So if you or your kids are worrying this week about back to school stuff, take off the pressure with a little fun by asking, “How bad would it really be?”

The “How bad would it really be?” game helps us learn to laugh at the tricks of the mind and put the mind in it’s rightful place.  For instance, if school does go horribly wrong a yogi could get many jobs that a regular education does not prepare them for.

How bad would it really be?  If school doesn’t work out, kids can always join the circus!  They could do a balancing act on the 80 ft. poles.

How bad would it really be? Since there’s so may animal yoga poses don’t forget the petting zoo fast track.

Animal Yoga as a career defining path.

How bad would it really be? A child who likes meditation may choose Sand Sculpture for their livelihood.

Obstacles Removed with Ganesha Sand Sculpture!

How bad would it really be? Bendy Em seems to be fitting in fine with her yoga background:

When thinking out of the box puts you in a box!

How bad would it really be? Look what a calm and steady state of mind can help you with:

Build them up, then knock them down at the end of the show.

How bad would it really be? If none of these work out, this shack may be the dream job of a lot of children:

The Deep Fried Butter always had a line-up!

By facing worry with a light heart we can better transform it and think about what we like instead of what we don’t like.  When worry takes the reigns – try playing this game to take the reigns back. Soon you’ll find there is really not that much to worry about after all!

Tame that stallion and go for a pleasure ride.

What games do you play that help adults and kids with worry?

More News

The Fall Schedule is here! Don’t miss out on the Young Yoga Masters Kids Yoga Teacher Training course. Its like no other! Pass on the wisdom of yoga to the future generations! Too see the upcoming courses click here. To bring the Young Yoga Masters training to your area contact: [email protected] Registration is now open. I’d love to meet you in-person for this inspiring and practical training.

Contest: Thanks to everyone who filled out the Survey and entered to win the prize Romancing the Stove, A Practical Guide to a Lifelong Celebration of Eating for Health by Samahria Ramsen.  I will be contacting the winner from Alfred, ME, USA!   Everyone’s input was so valuable to guide the direction of Young Yoga Masters for the coming months.

Filed Under: Attitude, Kids Yoga, Yoga Games Tagged With: worry, Yoga Games

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