In this video we demonstrate how to teach three bug yoga poses: butterfly pose, dead bug pose and spider pose. This is a fun activity for children who are interested in the outdoors and the many creepy crawlies found there. It is also an ideal way to incorporate yoga into the science curriculum or a unit on insects and engage kinaesthetic learning.

Bug Yoga

Preschool children love bugs. So today we are going to learn how to do some Bug Yoga. I’ve got Garner and Marcus here to help me.

The first pose we are going to do is butterfly pose. This pose stimulates the heart and stretches the thighs. You can tell the differences between a butterfly and a moth by the directions that their wings stay when they are at rest.

The second pose that we are going to do is dead bug pose. This is a great activity to open the hips and build listening skills.

The third bug pose that we are going to do today is spider pose. Sitting in row like a train while in easy pose we are going to sing the song Itsy Bitsy Spider. Switch places and sing various versions of the song. For example: The Edmonton Spider.

The Edmonton spider went up the water spout

Down came the snow and froze the spider out

Out came the sun and it didn’t do a thing

So the Edmonton spider stayed frozen until spring.

I hope you have enjoyed Bug Yoga today. The next time that you are out walking and your kids are totally engrossed in the creepy crawlies across the sidewalk make sure you come home and do some bug yoga and get them into their bodies, into their minds, into their spirits. For more ideas on teaching kids and teens yoga please visit http://www.yogainmyschool.com. Namaste.

What other Bug Yoga poses can you think of?

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Discover how to energize your day with chair pose (utkatasana). This is a wonderful pose to build strength in the lower body and will vitalize your body and mind. This video includes breathing techniques and a twist that will quickly chase away fatigue and lethargy leaving you feeling invigorated and ready to meet new challenges.

Chair Pose – Utkatasana

Have you ever felt really sluggish and tired at school. Here’s a great way to energize your day. It’s called chair pose, utkatasana.

To do this pose you need to stand up nice and tall with your feet slightly apart. Then, bend your knees and stick your bum out as if you were sitting on a chair. From there, reach your arms up with your palms facing together. This is a fantastic pose to work the hips and the thighs and improve your lower body strength.

To really get a boost in your day we’re going to combine utkatasana with a breathing technique. As you inhale, reach up. Exhale, breathe out and bring your arms down with a ‘ha.’  Inhale reach out, exhale ‘ha’. Again. Up and out. Inhale up, exhale out. One more time. Inhale up and exhale out. And then return to standing.

Shake your legs out a bit before we go into the next part of this pose.

Chair Pose with a Twist

For the second part we are going to do utkatasana with a twist. So standing in mountain pose with your feet slightly apart. Come into chair pose, sitting your bum down, keeping your knees parallel to one another. Bring your hands to namaste in front of your heart. Inhale lengthen your spine. Exhale bring your elbow to your knee. Press your hands together. Press your knee against your upper arm. And keep breathing throughout the pose.

This kind of gets hard to do and you might feel your legs start to shake a little bit. That’s OK. Don’t worry about it.

Inhale come back to centre. Exhale and twist to the other side. Perfect. Very nicely done. Keep breathing. Remember you are working at increasing your energy and your strength. One more breath. Finally come back to centre and stand up.

And that’s utkatasana. It’ll help increase your energy whenever you are feeling tired.

For more kids yoga poses visit the alphabetical list of poses.

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Self massage of the ears helps to refresh your thinking, calm your body, energize your mind and improve focus for more efficient learning. This video teaches basic techniques for ear massage including acupressure points, lobe massage, ear rolling, cupping and more. Ear massage only takes a few minutes and will leave you feeling refreshed while improving your attention. Teaching children and teenagers how to perform self-massage techniques empowers them to take care of themselves whenever they feel stressed, anxious or simply need a lift in their day.

Ear Massage for Calm and Focus

Hi yogis, this is Donna of Yogainmyschool.com and today we are going to show you how to do ear massage for calm and focus. This is an essential skill for pretty much every student because it will energize the mind, relax the body and create an optimum situation for learning and attention.

The first thing you’ll want to do is to create a V in your hands. This side of the V is going to go in front of the ear, the index finger and thumb are going to go behind the ear. From there you want to rub up and down. Just gently. The lovely thing about self-massage is that you get to determine the type of pressure you want and what feels good today.

Once you’ve done that a little bit, you’ll take your middle finger and beginning at the base in the front start making little circles, work your way up. Once you reach the top you’ve got to get the ear out of the way so that you can work your way behind the ear, all the way to the bottom. If you find any tension spots or areas that are sore spend a little bit more time there. And then work your way back up to the top and down again in the front.

Now there are three principle acupressure points in front of the ear. The first is one is just above the ear. You’ll find a little indentation and you just want to do little circles. Then move down to right in front of where the ear attaches to the skull and again there is a little, tiny divot. Give that a bit of a rub. And then just in front of the cartilage flap of the ear, you’ll want to rub there gently.

In Ayurvedic medicine they say that all the energy points of the body are represented in the ear, so ear massage is really great for increasing energy and clarifying your thoughts.

The next thing we are going to do is some lobe massage. Take your earlobes between your index finger and your thumb. And just start to rub, little circles. Now what this does is the ear lobes connect with the brain. So the right ear lobe stimulates the left hemisphere and the pituitary gland. The left ear lobe stimulates the right hemisphere and the pineal gland. So as you massage the lobes you are getting a full brain workout and energetically linking both hemispheres of the brain.

From there, you can take your middle finger and do a little massage on the inside of the ear. Here we are getting into the internal organs of the body. Giving them a little bit of stimulus, a little bit of care and attention.

Next, we are going to do what is called ear rolling. So you begin at the top of the ear and you open up this flap of cartilage and work your way down. Repeat that three times. This is a fantastic exercise for increasing focus, for giving you more creativity, more attention. It’s almost as if you are opening up the brain and all that goodness there.

Once you’ve done the ear rolling, the next thing is to do friction cupping. Take your hands, energetically rub them together till you’ve created some heat. Once you feel your hands are warm cup them over your ears and close your eyes. Relax your shoulders down. Pull your senses in. Breathe deeply. Allow the warmth to soothe and calm. Then when you’re ready open your eyes. Give your ears just a bit of a rub with the palms of your hands.

The next thing we are going to do is ear pulls. So with ear pulls you just gentle grab your ears and you’ll gently pull them down while you reach the back of your neck up. Do this a few times. This helps release tension in the eyes, opens the ears so that you can hear well, your listening improves. And maybe one more time. That’s it. Really stretch up through the neck. Lovely.

And there you have it. Ear massage for focus and calm.

For more information on yoga for kids, for teens, for students of all ages please visit Yogainmyschool.com. Namaste.

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Downward Facing Dog pose is a fantastic yoga pose to increase health and vitality while building strength and flexibility. However, it is not always feasible in a classroom to move desks out of the way and get on the floor to do yoga. The solution is Chair Dog, Downward Facing Dog pose with a chair. This is an excellent way to benefit from this pose in a classroom or office setting while making it accessible for everyone including those with special needs, weight issues, carpal tunnel/wrist concerns or overly tight hamstrings/back body. If a chair isn’t handy feel free to use a desk, counter top or even the wall.

Chair Dog (Downdog with a Chair)

Laura is going to show us how to do Downward Facing Dog pose with a chair, otherwise known as Chair Dog. Using a chair place it in front of you. Now, grabbing onto the back of the chair with your hands, you want to place your feet a little bit further back so that eventually your head comes down in between your arms and you make an ‘L’ with your body. If it’s difficult to make an ‘L’ because of tightness in the hamstrings or lower back, bend your knees and then push your hips back as far as you can push them. Your back will gradually lengthen and flatten. From there, if it is comfortable, straighten your legs maintaining the length through your back.

Hold this pose for a few breaths feeling the energy from your fingertips through to your hips and from your hips down into the ground and your feet. When you are ready come back to standing. And that’s Chair Dog.

If you enjoyed this video be share it with a friend and visit our YouTube Channel for more great yoga poses for kids and teenagers.

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These two versions of Ragdoll Pose are fantastic poses to promote a calm and stress-free feeling in body and mind . This is a fantastic pose to release tension in the neck and shoulders and will help students focus on long, deep, slow breathing leaving them feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready to take on new challenges. Both are forward bends which help to calm the mind, reduce fatigue and anxiety, and sooth frayed nerves. Take a yoga break, do Ragdoll Pose, and enjoy!

Standing Ragdoll Pose

To do Ragdoll Pose you want to reach way up with your arms, and then slightly bend your legs as you fall forward reaching for the floor. Let your head hand down, your arms hang down. Let go. Shake your head yes, shake your head no and take some deep, long breaths, letting your body sink a little bit further to the floor with each exhale. After a little while press into the floor with your feet and slowly roll yourself back up to standing one vertebrae at at time. Bring your hands to prayer or leave them by your side for one last inhale and exhale.

Seated Ragdoll Pose

Sitting on a chair, widen your feet and your knees wider than hips distance apart making sure that your knees are over the ankles and the feet are facing forward. From here reach up on an inhale, exhale keeping the length through the body cascade your torso through your knees. Bring your hands toward the floor, bending the elbows. softening your throat, letting your head hand down. Release the tension. Take a deep inhale, and exhale with an open mouth, ‘haaaaaaa.’ This is a fantastic pose for opening the hips, releasing tension, lowering blood pressure and simply to de-stress. Stay here for 5-15 breaths and when you are ready, slowly roll yourself up, taking your time, and return to a seated position.

Enjoy the feeling of rest and relaxation throughout the remainder of your day.

For more kids yoga videos visit YIMS TV on YouTube.

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 Tricky Tree group yoga pose develops concentration and focus while improving balance and memory. This is an ideal pose to get students working together and is a lot of fun as our three yogis demonstrate. By employing this pose children are able to access kinaesthetic learning, engaging their minds and bodies to review a basic learning skill such as counting by twos, multiplication tables, spelling words or in this case repeating the days of the week in French. In addition, they develop their social skills by learning to work together communicating verbally and non-verbally with one another. 

Tricky Tree: Group Yoga Pose

In order to build focus and concentration a great pose is Tricky Tree. This is a partner or group pose.

Facing your partner or into the group, everyone needs to raise the same leg and give it to the person standing beside them. In this case we are going to raise the right leg, giving to the person at our right. This takes some teamwork and a lot of balance.

So once you are in the pose, you can then repeat something which requires rote memorization such as the days of the week in French.

dimanche, lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi

When you are finished its nice to either step out of the pose, or if you are in a safe environment with no sharp edges, you can gently fall to the floor.

And that’s Tricky Tree.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more great videos on teaching yoga to kids and teens.

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