I’ve been playing with the play-list for the Hot Yoga for Teens class I teach once a week. It’s an abbreviated class, only one hour in duration, but involves as many of the 26 hot yoga poses as we can fit in, along with a lovely savasana at the end. The students spend the first few weeks learning the poses and then each week we add in a few new challenges and technique hints to bring up their level of yoga and deepen their experience.
I like to include a lot of current and pop tunes which are fun and have positive messages. I always keep in mind the teens and try to choose stuff they’ll enjoy. Also, I encourage my students to suggest tunes to add and they love to hear their favourites during class. This particular play list may be more energetic than most yoga play-lists, which are known for their relaxing, calming sound tracks. I wanted to empower the students and let them know anything is possible through hard work, dedication, focus, and love. So this is what it looks like currently. It’ll change before the next session starts, but for today we’ll enjoy this version.
Breathe – Sia
Amber – 311
Hey, Soul Sister – Train
This Too Shall Pass – OK Go
Uprising – Muse
Sober – Pink
Karma Police – Radiohead
Sewn – The Feeling
Love Is The Answer – Weezer
Hey World (Don’t Give Up) Michael Franti & Spearhead
Hungry Heart – Minnie Driver
Breathe – Anna Nalick
Claire de Lune – Claude Debussy
For suggestions on music for kids and teens yoga class visit The Magic of Music on The Kids Yoga Resource.
Happy Baby Pose (Ananda Balasana) is also called Dead Bug Pose and looks exactly like its name, whichever you want to use. It is a fantastic hip opener. Mobility in the hip joint is vital to healthy knee and back function. The freedom of movement classic in infants can be maintained throughout life with open hips. The hip joint is the meeting place of the upper and lower body. A healthy hip joint will be able to absorb the shock of walking or running and provide a steady base for the spine and internal organs. Hip openers also aid with digestion and circulation as you gently compress and massage the internal organs.
Happy Baby – Ananda Balasana
happy baby pose
Sit, grasping the inside of your feet with your hands
Roll onto your back, feet to the sky
Alternatively start lying on your back and bend your knees into your belly, then grasp the feet
You can stretch one leg straight keeping the thigh close to the floor while bending the other, alternating sides
Coo, giggle, and make happy baby noises, then roll back to sitting
If imitating a dead bug be sure to use appropriate facial expressions without the baby noises
Benefits: opens the hips, gently stretches the groins and lower back, calms the brain, relieves fatigue and stress
Here is a laughing baby video to bring a smile to your face and lighten your day.
Sesame Street revolutionized children’s television back in 1969 combining education with entertainment. Today it is the longest running children’s program on television and is well known for its lovable Muppets (Big Bird, Oscar, Kermit, Grover, Elmo, etc) and timeless songs (I Love Trash, Bein’ Green, Rubber Duckie, C is for Cookie, among others).
I love Sesame Street and so was thrilled when YogaDork posted this video and have been singing “Doing the (coo, coo) pigeon” all day. So press play and enjoy doing Pigeon pose with Bert. He now joins the ranks with Kermit as a true yogi. Can’t wait for Oscar the Grouch to find his bliss while doing Warrior pose.
I would love to have a pose-able Grover to take to classes. Already have a Babar which I have to wrestle away from my children, but I think Grover would be super flexible and lots of fun. Which childhood character would you like to see doing yoga and what would be their favourite pose?
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.
When teaching children yoga you always need a number of fun and engaging yoga games at your disposal. Here is a suggestion from yoga expert Aruna Humphrys of Young Yoga Masters. This game focuses on increasing intuition, awareness, and sensitivity to others and the environment. It also teaches about our senses and how heavily we rely upon the sense of sight. By playing Heart’s Hide ‘n Seek, children develop their sense of hearing and touch in order to navigate unharmed and locate their classmates.
Heart’s Hide ’n Seek
Ask everyone to close their eyes and have them raise their arms out in front of them, reaching with their finger tips. They will slowly walk around, eyes closed, and try to feel for the other kid’s finger tips. The game is to be quiet, if they meet someone keep their eyes closed and don’t talk, they only touch gently. Can they feel the person’s energy through their fingertips? Then they can whisper “Hello” or “Namaste” and then move on to find someone else.
The teacher needs to watch the kids because everyone has their eyes closed. But it is fun to see if the kids can feel their way around the room without using their eyes. They can use their heart and intuition. Feel instead of see.
Many kids will have trouble keeping their eyes closed and being quiet, but it is still a fun challenge to try it and they can build up to going longer times. And it also has to be an empty room so the kids don’t get hurt.
Visit the Yoga Games page for a complete listing of yoga games that will take your lessons from fun to fabulous.
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This game is always a hit and can be used as a warm up, to review poses, simply to fill a few minutes, or to change the pace of the lesson especially if kids are getting a little wiggly. This is a fun way to teach listening skills. Studies also show that this game improves self-control and restraint of impulsive behavior. Furthermore, playing Swami Says attunes children to the power of example as we automatically want to follow the leader but sometimes need to choose our own actions (in the game) and path (in life). Teach leadership skills by allowing children to take turns being the ‘Swami’ and calling out poses to perform. I usually review 4-7 poses that we will be using before beginning the game to make sure everyone knows what’s what.
Swami Says
This game is played like the playground favourite ‘Simon Says’, however this time the Swami is in charge. The ‘Swami’ calls out instructions such as, “Swami says Cat pose.” Everyone performs Cat pose. If the ‘Swami’ calls out instructions without “Swami says” then everyone should disregard the instruction.
I never play so that kids are ‘out,’ instead simply remind them to listen carefully and reward their great auditory and yoga skills. Usually we all have a good laugh and continue on. Speeding up the poses ‘Swami’ calls out will make this much more difficult as will simply using the suggestion “Swami says Do this” while performing the pose desired. The later also works really well with younger kids or those new to yoga who don’t know the names of the poses yet but do know how to do them. Another tricky suggestion, once your class is good at this, is to say one pose but perform a different pose. Ohhhh, I knew you’d like that.
Have fun and play a yoga game today!
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