News — kids yoga

Here are five great poses to do at 5 o'clock.  Nope, it doesn't matter if it's 5 o'clock in the morning or evening.  It's 5 o'clock somewhere, right? We like to call this sequence of poses the Dogsled races.  They're fun, a bit challenging, and get our heart and body ready for the day.  Do them alone and pretend you are practicing for the races, or do them with your pals, or imaginary pack of dogs.  Ready, set, go.

Downward Dog: Strengthens and stretches shoulders, back, and legs.  This pose also strengthens the wrists and arms.  If you lift each leg up for a count of 4 to 5 breaths, you will get an extra core workout.

Upward Dog:  This pose strengthens the abs, back, legs, arms, and wrists.  This pose also gives you energy.  Try doing a few Downward Dog and Upward Dog poses (going back and forth) and then move into Runner's pose after downward dog.

Runner's Pose: From Downward Dog, lift a leg and bring it under your belly and place it between your hands so that your hands and foot are aligned with the foot sandwiched between the hands.  In the photo below, the right leg is not completely in position, as you will notice. Remember to do both sides.

Half Moon:  This pose is great for indigestion, anxiety, and releasing stress.  Make sure that you do it on both sides and spend some time in the pose breathing...deep breaths.  Though the photo isn't exact, it's a good photo to show the expectations when doing these poses with young children.  The idea is to get children to love yoga, not to spend so much time on the correct posture and position. Try lifting the hand closest to the big toe up to the sky (twist). 

Mountain Pose: Whether you stand with your hands by your side or your hands in the air, the idea is to spend a few moments in mountain pose breathing.  Try standing on your tippy toes for a challenge.  Or even more challenging-look up into the sky while standing still on your tippy toes.  Mountain pose is great for posture, core strength, and confidence.  You are ready to take on the day!

Yoga VS. Obesity

Yoga is helping children out when it comes to health and preventing obesity. It seems like the two things that people are talking about in the United States today are yoga and obesity. Actually, it shouldn’t surprise us that even people in other countries are talking about our obesity epidemic. That’s right, when I was living in a rural part of Taiwan, people were talking about how fat Americans are. Well, I’m here to say that yoga is here to stay and pretty soon, that’s what people will be talking about all over the world pretty soon. So, why is yoga the perfect opponent to childhood obesity? Here are 8 healthy reasons why yoga is a winner for obesity prevention:

1. Stress-Management: When children participate in yoga, they not only learn about yoga poses, but they learn various breathing exercises and meditation. These skills can be coping skills when children are hurt, upset, or stressed. As we are learning, stress can be harmful to the body in many ways, and children need outlets besides going to food or the television to de-stress.

2. Healthy Eating Habits: Kids yoga incorporates the discussion of healthy eating habits in yoga. By talking about healthy eating, the children learn about which foods we should eat more of, which foods to avoid and little tips such as foods which can boost energy or help with digestion. Yoga provides a safe place to talk about eating habits.

3. T.V. Alternative: Sometimes children have a tough time finding something to do, and they often times turn to television or other technology. Yoga is a great alternative, especially because it can be done anywhere and at any time. Children learn that yoga feels great and they soon associate yoga with relaxation and fun.

4. Easy on the body: Unlike some sports and activities which are tough on joints and the body, yoga is a safe and effective activity. Yoga is a whole body and mind adventure. The slow movements are easy on joints, while strength and stability increases while doing the low impact poses. Obese children can participate in all of the poses, with a few slight variations when necessary.

5. Builds self-confidence: Who doesn’t need a confidence boost every now and then? Yoga does the trick in more ways than one. When children succeed in yoga poses, especially challenging ones, they feel great about themselves. Yoga also helps with posture which also increases self-esteem. People with more self-confidence tend to be happier and take care of themselves better.

6. Reduces high blood pressure: Yoga, along with deep breathing and meditation can help reduce high blood pressure. Blood pressure changes every minute and is related to stress, diet, body temperature, activity, rest, and posture. Inversion poses are said to help relieve or reduce blood pressure. Examples of inversion poses include downward dog, bridge pose, corpse pose (savasana), forward bend, and fish pose.

7. Focus and Coordination: Obesity affects cognitive development. Researchers have discovered that children who are obese have slower cognitive function. Yoga on the other hand, increases focus and coordination.

8. Sleep-Problems: Obesity often causes sleep problems for a variety of reasons. There are many yoga poses and deep breathing exercises that children learn which can have a calming effect on the body and mind, thus helping in going to sleep. We often sleep better when we have had enough exercise in the day, and yoga is a great low-impact exercise.

I discovered that yoga is alive and well in Taiwan.

Last year, my husband, daughter, and I spent a year in Taiwan. My husband and I were teaching English to Taiwanese students, while my daughter learned Mandarin at a small school up in the mountains. Now, when I say that we were teaching English, I mean that we were teaching English as a completely foreign language....not a second language. In other words, everything had to be translated and learned. Chinese characters had to be translated into letters, letter sounds had to be learned, and sometimes-actually a lot of times-things were lost in translation, because some things just couldn't be translated word for word.

Well, while I was teaching words such as lion and mouse, and sentences such as: "I can help you," I came up with this idea to teach the English words while doing yoga. Why hadn't I thought about this before? The children ages 8-12 really got into it. At first, they were a teensy bit shy, but when they realized that they could move around rather than all sit at their desks in rows, they were pumped up. They learned the word elephant, by getting into elephant pose, sucking up pretend water, and hosing down their friends with the water. When things got crazy, I had them get into mouse pose. They learned the phrase "quiet as a mouse" in a friendly, peaceful way.

Have you ever wondered what a kids yoga class looks like? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway.  A yoga class usually lasts anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Usually in the beginning, the instructor will start out with some sort of sharing activity, where everyone gets to introduce themselves and something special about themselves.  "What's your favorite animal?"  Then, there are a few breathing exercises that everyone does.  This may sound hokey, but the kids truly enjoy this moment. 

Some instructors revolve their yoga class around a story, using animal poses or poses that represent objects, such as rocks, boats, mountains, and stars.  A story is a great way to get the children involved and who doesn't like a good story?  Poses are both sitting poses, standing poses, poses on bellies, and poses on backs.  The idea is to get all of the muscles and body parts moving and stretching, always remembering to breath along the way. 

Songs, chants, and games are incorporated into the class to add variety.  We all know that kids get restless, and with all of the variety, there's no time to get bored or disengage for very long. 

All children enjoy routine or familiarity, as well as challenges.  So, along with some familiar poses, stories, and/or songs (such as row, row, row your boat), there are usually some new yoga moves added to each class. 

At the end of a kids yoga class, the instructor will have the kids take a yoga nap or shavasana.  Kids lie on their backs in relaxed manner, while the instructor either tells a relaxing, happy story or plays soft music.  This moment of "silence" is amazing, and usually the older the kids, the more they need it and love it. 

Whether you are a yoga master or someone who just thought yoga was another brand of fancy yogurt, you must check out a kids yoga class one day and see for yourself that it will bring out the kid in you.