We often get stuck on negative moments and enlarge their significance. This game teaches children and youth to pay attention to the events of each day and intentionally focus on the positives. It encourages paying close attention, living in the moment and appreciating all that life has to offer. Learning to pay attention to how different moments/events make us feel is an important skill leading to emotional intelligence, improved self understanding and greater compassion and empathy.

Five Good Moments

Suggest to your ‘Negative Nelly’ (my apologies to all the positive Nelly’s out there) that they pay attention today/this week to moments that make them feel good and try to find five different ones. The moment might be a thought that inspires, a view that is lovely and makes them pause, an interaction with someone, etc.  What it is doesn’t matter. What matters is that for at least a  moment it made them feel good. You do the same. When you get together at the end of the day/in class next week, share your five good things with one another.

We do this as a family each evening, each person saying one thing at a time in a circle, and call it “Thankful For.”  Often at the end of a full day the responses are, “I’m thankful for bed, pillows, sleep, etc.” When the offerings get generic and often repeated (my family, my friends, my home) we remind the kids to think of something specific from today (a trip to the park, the colours of the clouds at sunset, the taste of fresh picked berries, etc). We also occasionally switch it up by saying “If I were so-and-so (the family member to their right or left) I would be thankful for…” This is always an interesting exercise and prompts some insightful observations. It also helps teach children to think about others and what happened of importance in someone else’s life that day.

Over the next while YIMS will be providing numerous mindfulness and compassionate living exercises and games so be sure to subscribe (RSS or e-mail) in order to get them delivered directly to your reader or in-box.

photo by Hamed Saber

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Shark Pose/Dolphin Pose

Hello, this is Donna from Yogainmyschool and I’m here today with Alea to show you how to do Shark Pose, known in most adult yoga classes as Dolphin Pose.

Hi, my name is Alea and I’m eight years old.

• The first thing you need to do, to do Shark Pose is come onto your hands and knees. Do you see how her hands are below her shoulders and her knees are below her hips? That’s perfect.
• The second step is to lower yourself to the ground on your elbows, intertwining your fingers.
• The third step, curl your toes under and lift your hips high in the air. Let your head hang loose. You can shake it ‘yes.’ You can shake it ‘no.’ And do you see how her body forms a triangle. That is supposed to be the fin of the shark.

Shark Pose is a really good pose for strengthening the shoulders, the chest and building stamina. After a few breaths, you can come on down, and return to sitting.

Thanks Alea for showing us how to do Shark Pose.

Visit the Alphabetical List of Yoga Poses for a complete listing of yoga poses that kids love.

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We just got home from vacation. Each year we head to my parent’s cabin on a beautiful lake in British Columbia, Canada. There are so many memories of my childhood there. I especially love picking up the well worn books off the shelf in the corner to read to my children. These are the books I read as a child. Illustrations, rhymes, tattered covers take me back to the innocence, joy, and simplicity of that time.

This year my six year old loved reading the Dr Seuss books. As I read Put Me in the Zooby Robert Lopshire for the umpteenth time I was struck by the fundamental life lessons found within those pages.

Questioning Who You Are

First the leopard is rejected and tossed out of the zoo, then he is asked by the young girl and boy “What good are you? What can you do?”

Don’t we all ask ourselves those same questions? Again and again at various times in our lives we search to define who we are, our worth, our contributions.

Your Time to Shine

And so the leopard shows all he can do by turning his spots various colours, juggling them, changing their size, etc. He is one talented leopard!

You are too! It is vital to remember that we all have talents and abilities…divine worth. As we come to know ourselves, we can shine by being the genuine article: our best, truest self. Share it with the world. Do your thing!

Finding Your Place

However, the girl and boy regretfully inform a disappointed and discouraged leopard, “But you should not be in the zoo.” Only to show him his true calling, “…the circus is the place for you.”

We also need to find the place we truly belong, somewhere we can shine. We may need a guide, a teacher, a friend to show us the way. That place may also change as we grow and learn, progressing along life’s journey. However, once we are there, we, like the leopard, can bask in the joy of finding our place, of being our best selves.

So I thank Dr Seuss (and my sweet daughter) for making me reflect on these essential life questions.

• What is your mission?
• How can you fulfill it?
• Have you found your place?
• Are you sharing and giving joyfully from the heart?

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• happy: mouth open while rocking side to side
• sad: head faces down/hands wipe tears
• shy: look up slowly , then away slowly, repeatedly
• worried: glance quickly back and forth
• angry: head tilts to one side away from puppeteer  
• tired: make the puppet yawn or move slowly

Aruna Kathy Humphries, of Young Yoga Masters, has these suggestions on using a puppet in kids yoga class from her experiences with Mr. Moo Moo.

Mr. Moo Moo: In case you haven’t guessed Mr. Moo Moo is a cow. But he is a very special cow because he loves yoga. He’s a black and white puppet that I’ve had for about 10 years.

 When I introduce him he hides his face in my neck (he’s shy). He often whispers things in my ear and then I’ll ask the kids, “He wants to know if you are kind?” “He’s wondering if anyone will grab him, he doesn’t like that.” If people are sitting quietly he will come over and whisper in their ear. If they are doing a yoga pose he may sit on them, under them, or go through them. He likes to wake kids up from their relaxation too.

If they are not quiet or doing the pose he doesn’t come. Great incentive to get kids (even 11 year olds) to pay attention and do what we’re doing.

Aruna Kathy Humphries is a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor whose teachings and life has been influenced by Tulshi Sen. She can be found on her website Young Yoga Masters.

If you enjoyed this article be sure to join Yogainmyschool.com on Facebook and subscribe (RSS or e-mail options available) for more great articles on teaching yoga to kids and teens.

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Children live in a world of being told what to do: what time to wake up, what to eat, where and when they have various activities such as school, sports, music lessons, etc. This can lead to going through the motions of living without conscious awareness. For example, if you ask them what they ate for lunch they may not be able to tell you. This in not simply because of poor memory, but more likely because they were not paying attention at the time.

Children are often much closer to their experiences than adults. Watch an infant experience anything for the first time; they look at it, touch it, feel it on their face, taste it. Every experience is fresh and new. They live in the moment reacting emotionally and immediately to stimulus, then moving on to the next experience.

However, children also exists on auto-pilot, are easily distracted, are forgetful, lack concentration, have poor self-control and often do not understand themselves or the world. Mindfulness exercises address these concerns and can assist children in living with attention and awareness of themselves and their environment.

Keeping the needs and abilities of children in mind is key when adapting mindfulness exercises to various age groups. Children learn through concrete activities with clear, descriptive instructions. They also enjoy engaging their imaginations and creativity. And don’t forget the power of humour or the need for play.

Be sure to start with brief activities which will lead to success. Beginning with a five minute focus activity will be better than a 15 minute seated meditation.

Like all activities, mindfulness training improves with practice. As they learn mindful techniques, children can practice independently in everyday life: as they walk, as they eat, as they play. Purposefully engaging in their various activities will actively shape the mind helping children to live deeply each moment of daily life.

In the coming months we’ll be posting specific techniques and methods of teaching mindfulness to children and adolescents. Be sure to subscribe (RSS or e-mail) to receive these articles as they are published.

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eagle pose

bear walk

tree pose

dancer pose

camel pose

rock the baby pose

downward dog

lizard on a rock

double boat pose

Be inspired to do yoga wherever, whenever the mood strikes. The park, the playground, the botanic garden, on the beach, or at the cabin…get your yogi on and strike a pose, or two, or ten. Happy summer!

For more information on yoga for kids and teens be sure to subscribe (RSS or e-mail) and get updates directly to your reader or inbox. You can also find YIMS on Facebook and YouTube.

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Seated Yoga Twists for Kids

Today we’re going to be doing some twists with Alea.

“Hi, my name is Alea and I’m 7 years old.”

Alea’s going to show us how to do three different twists.

The first one is a simple seated twist. You can do this sitting criss-cross like Alea is or sitting in a chair at your desk at school. It’s really good to give you more energy, to massage your internal organs, and to increase your posture and give you nice, good, solid posture.

So, to do a seated twist you are going to sit with your sitz bones nice and grounded into the ground. Then inhale and take a deep breath in. As you exhale twist to one side. Put your hand on one knee…

The second pose that is a twist for kids is called washing machine pose. This one is lots of fun. You need to cross your arms across your chest. From there you need to start making a ’swish, swish, swish’ sound. There we go, that’s it, speed up that cycle…

The final twist we are going to do today is sometimes called deer pose because it looks like a deer bounding through the forest. To do this you are going to sit with both legs out in front to of you. Then you are going to bring one leg up. Reach your left arm behind you and your right arm reaches for the sky, twinkle those fingers…

Thanks Alea for doing some twists with us. How did those feel?

“Really good.”

Do you like twists?

“Yes.”

Thank you.

And that’s all for today from yogainmyschool.com. I hope you have enjoyed these twists and that you do them often with kids that you know. Namaste.

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Bringing out a bag of colorful soft feathers adds instant excitement to yoga class.   Feathers allow kids to see the breath, add a fun twist to bird poses of any kind, and make for some fun yoga games!  Feathers can even make savasana more special.

Pranayama Practice

Even the youngest of yogis can become more aware of breath and the connection between breath and emotions.  Simply holding a feather in front of your nose during kid-pranayama practice (which might consist of Bunny Breath to energize or Take Five Breath to calm down) makes breath visible.  Try blowing soft enough to move the fluffy part of the feather and then hard enough to move the stiff part of the feather.  Can you see your feather move, fast or slow, depending on how you’re breathing?  How does “fast” breath make you feel?  How does “slow” breath make you feel?  Practice Ujjayi breath by holding the feather under your nose and keeping your lips sealed like an envelope.

Floating Feather Game

Celebrate the power of breath by playing this game with yourself or a friend.  Using only your breath (no fingers or toes), keep your feather afloat.  Don’t let it touch the floor!  Try playing a little feather-volleyball with a friend.

Find the Feather Game

“Find the Feather,” is an intuition game.  Invite one yogi to be the “seeker”, and ask her to hide in the corner of the room, with no peeking.  Then, hide the feather under another yogi’s mat. Invite the seeker back and ask her to guess where the feather is hiding.  Talk about what it means to “go with your gut” and use your intuition.  You’d be amazed how many times the yogi will find the feather on the first or second try!

Bird Asanas

Feathers make learning our bird poses even more fun.  Hand out feathers when working on Eagle pose or Flamingo.  Let the kids be inspired to feel the source of their asanas even more fully given the feathers.  Decorate your pigeon with a feather or two or allow your swan to ruffle its feathers in movement.

Savasana

Feathers are great to use during savasana/ relaxation.  You can give your savasana-students “Feather Massages.”  As always, ask kids if they want to be touched.  (I have students put a thumb up in the air during savasana if they want an adjustment or massage.)  Lightly move the feather across the third-eye area.  Kids will lie really still in anticipation of a feather massage, so this helps in savasana management!  You can also gently place a feather on the belly or chest during savasana so there is an awareness of how breath effects the body when it enters and leaves.  You may even want to place several feathers around each relaxing yogi and lead the class through a “Bed of Feathers” guided visualization.  All of these techniques keep young yogis more still during savasana time.

Let your imagination soar as you and your students invent even more ways to use feathers in yoga class!  Even hanging some feathers in the yoga space can act as a constant reminder of this important, but invisible, part of the yoga practice.  Breathe deep, and let the feathers fly! 

Sarah Herrington is a full-time kids and Vinyasa yoga teacher in Manhattan.  For the past several years she’s taught 25 kids yoga classes a week in the public school and charter school system in NYC.  She has completed trainings through KarmaKids Yoga, MiniYogis and YogaEd, along with the training of teaching daily.  Her kids classes are infused with the joy and fun of yoga, and her Vinyasa classes with the power of intention, mindfulness, and breath.  She can be found online at: http://www.sarahherrington.com

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Today we’re here with Greer.

“Hi, I’m Greer. I’m 5 years old.”

She is going to show us how you can use stuffed animals to help you with your yoga poses. She has three stuffed animals beside her, so we are going to do three different poses.

The first pose we’re going to do is “Cat pose” and there is our cute little kitty cat. To do cat pose…

The next pose we’re going to do is “Downward Dog.” There’s our puppy dog. Lovely. Now, again we’re going to make a table with our body…

We have one last pose for today. What’s our pose Greer? “Lion Pose!” This is Greer’s favourite pose. To do lion pose you can start…

So that is how stuffed animals can help kids do yoga. I hope you have enjoyed our video today. And we’ll sign off with…”Namaste.”

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1. Have family members set summer goals. For example: list of books you want to read, things you want to do, places to visit, skills you need to learn.
2. Take your child to the library and sign up for a summer reading program.
3. Have your child help put together a first aid kit that can go with you on your many summer outings.
4. Give your child an inexpensive camera and let them take pictures of all the fun activities you do over the summer. Create a scrapbook of memories.
5. Practice pranayama by blowing bubbles or dandelion heads.
6. Pack a picnic and enjoy eating outdoors.
7. Watch a baseball/football/soccer/beach volleyball game together. Talk about the rules and how they are important.
8. See how many places in your home (not including books) where your child can find words to read.
9. Make paper airplanes and practice airplane pose (Warrior III with arms out to the side).
10. Plant a garden and enjoy tending it throughout the season.
11. Visit a local museum or art gallery.
12. Sketch or paint outdoors: clouds, night sky, trees, a favourite view, an interesting building…let your imagination and creativity soar.
13. Lie on the grass and look at the clouds. Make up stories about the shapes you see.
14. Colour mandalas. Go for a walk and find mandalas in your neighbourhood (flowers, signs, art, stepping stones, etc).
15. Learn geography while watching the World Cup. Find participating countries on a map.
16. Teach your child their personal information: phone number, address, etc. Practice each day.
17. Can your children tell time? Teach them how to read an analog clock with yoga eyes.
18. Check out a book of jokes or riddles. Share one over dinner each day.
19. Create an indoor or outdoor miniature golf course. Play a round or two.
20. Grab a broomstick and hold a limbo contest. Back-bends open the heart and invigorate the body.
21. Add food coloring to a dollop of shaving cream. Let your child use it as finger paint.
22. Make homemade ice-cream. Practice two scoops partner pose.
23. Help your child write a letter or card to a relative or friend telling about summer events.
24. Fly a kite. Practice triangle pose (sometimes called kite pose).
25. Have a pillow fight.
26. Enjoy face painting and then perform face yoga in the mirror and laugh at your funny faces.
27. Read under the stars. Take a blanket and book outside and read with your child by flashlight.
28. At dinner have each family member say something nice about every person at the table.
29. Make puppets out of a paper bag, an old sock or a stick. Put on a puppet show.
30. Cut out pictures from several magazines. Have your child write a story about them.
31. Give your child a bucket of water and some paint brushes. Let her “paint” the sidewalk, fence, house, etc.
32. Find out when the sun sets and rises in your area. Learn how to do Sun Salutations.
33. Look at the stars with your child. Make up new constellations together.
34. Find a local kiddie pool, beach or fountain and go wadding.
35. Play alphabet games with your child. List countries, animals, cars or yoga poses in alphabetical order.
36. Build a fort inside or out using blankets, sheets, boxes, tables, chairs and other items found around the house.
37. Meditate upon the breeze as it ruffles the leaves of your favourite tree.
38. Create a treasure/scavenger hunt and help your kids follow the clues for a fun reward.
39. Play hopscotch.
40. Choose a new recipe. Have fun cooking with your child.
41. Cut out pictures of healthy foods from weekly grocery ads.
42. Discuss the Food Pyramid. Have your child use the pictures from the above activity and make a chart of nutritious choices.
43. Look at family photos. Share stories and remember wonderful moments together.
44. Play with a hula hoop and discover hoop yoga.
45. Make musical instruments from things around your house. Have a concert.
46. Play a card game with your child; Crazy 8s, War, Rummy, Old Maid, Go Fish, Snap all build memory, hand-eye coordination & math skills.
47. Collect bugs and do insect poses such as locust, spider, inchworm, bumble bee lips, etc.
48. Fill water guns, buckets and water balloons and have a water fight.
49. Camp out in the back yard.
50. Create amazing sidewalk art with sidewalk chalk and a little water.
51. Help out at the local SPCA. Learn how to do downward dog pose, cat pose, rabbit pose and other poses for animals at the shelter.
52. Visit an orchard or u-pick farm.
53. Build sandcastles.
54. Feed the ducks at the local pond. Enjoy a great hip opening exercise by walking like a duck.

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