Whenever I teach yoga to kids and teens I talk anatomy. What part of your body is working in this pose? Can you feel that in your abs? Which part of your body do you use when your breathe? are all standard questions even for Pre-School and Kindergarten aged students. I keep the questions and discussions age appropriate realizing that 5 year olds and 15 year olds have different frames of reference and comprehension levels.

I am a firm believer in being familiar with the body in order to understand how to best keep it healthy and happy. As individuals come to understand and appreciate the many functions their body performs, they are better prepared to take care of it. For example, understanding that a complete breath begins in the abdomen, permits the diaphragm and ribs to perform their functions, assists in getting adequate oxygen into the body, and helps reduce stress.

Knowledge of anatomy brings consciousness to yoga practice and helps individuals talk about their body without embarassement. In fact, recently I taught a group of 20 teenage girls about mula bandha or Root Lock. You should of seen them all blush. It was great! We’ve all got these parts, we’d better know what they do and how to take care of them in order to use them properly, avoid injury, and maintain good health.

Here are a couple on-line resources to help reinforce the topics and activities from yoga class which teach kids/teens anatomy.

Anatomy for Kids

A complete site with movies, word finds, online quizzes and activities is How the Body Works on KidsHealth.com. Kinetic.com also has a fun anatomy game called InnerG where body parts (ie: liver, heart, teeth, blood, etc) need to be placed into the body. As you do so, supporting information and recipes to keep that part strong and healthy are provided. My seven year old daughter thoroughly loved testing these sites out.

Anatomy for Teens

For Jr and Sr High School students more detailed anatomy learning games can be found at Anatomy Arcade with Whack-a-Bone and Poke-a-Muscle, among numerous others. The top level of these games are challenging and a great interactive way to learn anatomy. If you really want to get into anatomy including reviews of  iPod and iPhone apps, dissection videos, and learning inter-actives visit Think Anatomy.

During your next yoga class with kids/teens be sure to take the time to teach anatomy whether for basic understanding or more in depth comprehension of how the body works. Its quite a miraculous thing. How do you teach anatomy to your students?

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February is Teacher Convention Month in Alberta, Canada. This is a time for teachers to enrich themselves personally and professionally. I teach various workshops to help teachers bring yoga into their schools and lives. Each workshop lasts approximately 75 minutes at conventions, but are ideally suited for 2-3 hour in-service sessions. Here are a few workshops which can be used for in-service or PD Days. If you are interested in learning more or in booking a workshop for your group/school please contact donna@yogainmyschool.com

Once Upon a Pose

Yoga stories for children fulfill numerous curriculum requirements and are a fun, fully interactive teaching methodology. Learn how to use basic yoga poses in story format to enrich the classroom experience, improve physical fitness, reduce stress, increase attention span, and engage students on a totally different level. Stories in French also provided. A fun, high energy workshop with great ideas to use today. Come prepared to actively participate. K-6 applications in Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Art, Music and PE. Also meets the DPA Requirement.

Yoga for Teens

The ancient practise of yoga can have a tremendous positive impact on adolescents. Benefits include improved self-esteem, better academic performance, increased attention span, and greater stress management. This fully interactive workshop will progress through seven types of yoga poses (standing, balance, forward bends, back bends, inversions, twists and arm balancing) as well as include relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. Come prepared to actively participate and discover how to use yoga with your students. Applications to Physical Education, Fit for Life, CALM, Physics, Biology, Algebra, Social Studies, English, Foreign Languages, Drama, Counselling and school athletic teams.

Yoga with a Chair

Yoga with a Chair is a fun way to work yoga into your everyday routine. Reduce fatigue, prevent carpel tunnel, improve posture, strengthen your core, and open your hips all while using a standard chair. This workshop will surprise you as you discover the many adaptations to the poses and the incredible workout you can get while sitting down. Come prepared to participate and leave with numerous tips and techniques on how to use yoga at the office, in the classroom or while in a wheel chair.

These are just a few of the possible Professional Develoment workshops offered. For a complete listing of in-service workshops visit the In-service Page.

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Princesses are loved by little girls. Out of my three darling daughters, two of them have been princess aficionados. I have lost count of how many princess parties, princess costumes and princess cupcakes I have been responsible for organizing and creating. So if you are in a similar situation and have a special little princess in your life who is looking for something princess themed and fun to do, you are in luck because this article is all about how to create a princess themed yoga class. It is fun, easy, and will involve your princess and her court of closest friends and advisers.

First of all, you need to define what kind of princess is desired. I personally like my princesses to be friendly, adventuresome, creative, problem solvers, graceful, full of integrity, compassionate, and lovers of fine chocolate. I most often use Dancer Pose to represent the princess.

Read the rest at How to Create a Princess Themed Yoga Class – Perfect for Birthday Parties and Kids Yoga Classes

A shout out to Karmaspot’s Blog for sharing ideas.

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Creating thematic yoga classes can be a lot of fun, especially annual holiday themes such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Hope you enjoy this Valentine’s Day class with a focus on the heart.

First, provide some anatomy books from the library in order to examine the physical mechanism and attributes of the heart. Many kids don’t know what a heart actually looks like and this is a wonderful opportunity to introduce basic anatomy. If possible get your hands on a physical model of a heart, one that a Doctor would use, and let the kids handle it to engage the tactile learners as well.

From there move onto some breathing exercises.

1. Deep breathing/diaphragmatic breathing: emphasize a lifted and open heart.
2. Partner breathing, sitting back to back to feel one another’s breath move: talk about how we are all connected through the breath, life force, divine in one another. You could play the Namaste Song here.

Now that they are relaxed, try to find a pulse—a nice, quiet, slow pulse. To bring in some math concepts with older kids you can have them calculate their heart rate or beats per minute of a resting pulse.

For poses, lovely heart openers and heart healers such as those mentioned in The Yoga of a Softened Heart.

• warrior with shoulders back, leading with the heart
• cobra pose
• fish pose
• bridge pose
• child’s pose
• legs-up the wall pose

We’ll then play either Yoga Tag, Freeze Dance/Statues, or Sea Shells (with a Valentine’s theme = Cupid/Candy/Love). The goal here is to increase the heart rate so as to find the pulse again—this time a strong, fast pulse. You can also talk about heart health and the importance of vigorous physical activity in staying healthy.

To change the pace, you can then play Heart’s Hide ’n Seek to increase intuition, sensitivity and awareness. This will also help kids to calm down and prepare for a Loving Kindness Meditation.

For a group activity you can re-create the above photograph getting the kids to work together to create a heart shape with their bodies. If desired, you could take a digital photograph and have each child write a Valentine’s message to their parents which would be sent out via e-mail for Valentine’s Day with a photo attachment.

As always finish with Corpse pose. This time take them through a gratitude guided visualization where they imagine a TV screen upon which come up scenes (like a slide show) of things, people, places, etc. for which they are grateful. You can help them by providing suggestions such as: family, home, favourite toy, teachers, healthy body, nutritious food, safety, flowers, books, ability to walk or run, and so on.

A shout out to The Kids Yoga Resource and Young Yoga Masters for their suggestions. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Make sure that you are a Fan on Facebook to recieve all articles from Yoga In My School and much more.

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Many teachers want to bring yoga into their school. However, they are not sure what steps to take in order to make this desire a reality. Over the course of the next few months I will outline a step by step process which, when followed, will enable teachers to bring the benefits of yoga into their classrooms and schools. For Step 3 we are going to get creative in the possible ways yoga can be incorporated into the school setting. Step 1 – Know the Benefits can be found here. Step 2 – Find Examples can be found here.

Step 3 – Get Creative in How You Will Incorporate Yoga into Your School

Often when people think of practicing yoga with students they think of gym class. This is a wonderful place to begin. However, there are a number of ways to bring yoga into your school with gym class being only one possibility. Here are a few creative suggestions.

Sports Teams

Using yoga as a cross training tool is becoming mainstream. It helps develop core strength, improve pulmonary efficiency, prevent sports injuries, develop balance and focus, increase endurance and flexibility, and relieve stress. For more information visit How Yoga is Used as a Cross Training Tool For Teen Athletes. Encourage coaches throughout your school to access these benefits by incorporating yoga into their training routines. Starting with Sun Salutations and then moving into sport specific stretches is one of the most effective ways to accomplish this.

DPA

The Daily Physical Activity Requirement, standard in schools in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, is a perfect place to incorporate yoga into your school. This educational standard aims at increasing student health and fitness levels with 30 minutes of physical activity per day. Yoga is an easy, economical, non competitive way of meeting this requirement and best of all the kids LOVE it. One of the easiest ways to do this is to download THE PET STORE (see right side bar).

Yoga Club

Start a yoga club which can meet during recess or lunch break. This will require some expertise in yoga on your part or involving a yoga instructor willing to help get the club up and running. Having a standard meeting place and investing in school owned yoga mats simplifies physical requirements. Clubs can be hugely successful and provide an opportunity to work with kids who are keen to learn more than the basics.

Yoga Breaks

Yoga breaks are 5-10 minute stretching and relaxation intervals spaced throughout the school day. They are extremely effective at reducing stress, promoting concentration, and providing balance. I often encourage kids to perform simple twists in their seats if they are feeling sluggish or tired as it will increase their energy level and clear their minds creating a more receptive learning situation.

CALM

Career and Life Management class is a wonderful opportunity to teach healthy living and stress management skills. A Yoga Unit could be taught which employs a more yin style workout and focuses on breathing exercises, affirmations, and guided meditation. You may also want to include Yoga Journal Writing as a means of introspection and personal development.

Character Education

The philosophy behind a yogic life as explained in the yamas and niyamas correspond beautifully to character education initiatives. Bringing yoga into the classroom supports and reinforces these initiatives and teaches basic societal values and virtues. For a number of ways in which yoga teaches specific elements of character education visit the Character Education page.

Special Needs

Yoga is extremely useful as a therapy for special needs individuals. It has been proven successful with ADHD, autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome and in many other situations. In addition, yoga benefits children with asthma teaching them their triggers and how to breathing efficiently and effectively.

Gym Class

There are a few options when introducing yoga in gym, PE, or Fit for Life classes. Read Help! My High School PE Class Wants to Do Yoga. One of the most successful ways is to use a 3-5 class Yoga Unit which includes breathing exercises, a variety of poses (standing, balance, forward bend, back bend, twists, inversions, arm balancing), and relaxation techniques.

Yoga Class for Credit

The greatest commitment when bringing yoga to your school is to develop and get accreditation for yoga  in the program of studies. This would involve working with the school administration, school district and local governmental agencies responsible for education. I’m thrilled about this possibility as the students would truly benefit from a more in depth study of a yoga practice and lifestyle but realise it is a huge endeavor.

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