Mindful Breathing Focuses Energy

Pranayama, yogic breathing, is a wonderful way to focus and balance energy. Being aware of one’s breath is a way of pulling in scattered energy and mindfully focusing it. This is a great game for teenagers to take advantage of this simple technique by playing it whenever they need to center themselves and regroup. This game helps to deliberately focus attention so that you become aware of being present in each moment. It also helps teens become aware of how easy it is to get distracted and how to get back on track.

Ten Breaths

In this game you pay attention to your breathing for the next ten breaths. This is not purposeful, controlled breathing, but an awareness exercise of simply observing the breath.

On the first inhale, say to yourself, “I’m breathing in one.” As the body exhales, mentally observe, “I’m breathing out one.” On the next inhale say, “I’m breathing in two,” followed by, “I’m breathing out two,” and so on.

You’ll probably notice that different breaths have different rhythms. Sometimes they will follow at regular intervals, sometimes there may be long gaps between breaths. Some are shallow, others deep. All you do is observe and name the number.

This is much easier said than done.You’ll probably go on mind trips, getting distracted by passing thoughts. That’s okay. Congratulate yourself on noticing the detour and get back on track starting at the beginning: “I’m breathing in one.”

The fun and challenging part is to see how far you can go before you mentally tune out. Some days it may be the fourth breath that you can’t get past before forgetting what you were doing. Other days it will be easy to focus and you may go for longer than “Ten Breaths.”

Variations

Sensory Awareness: While waiting for the body to breath in or out, use that moment to notice what your senses are experiencing. Hear the sounds. Feel the temperature. Notice the air movements. Become aware and part of the environment.

Counting Steps: If sitting won’t work for you try going on a walk and counting each step. Become aware of the sensation of your feet as they push off from the ground and then land again. How your body transfers weight from one side to the other. Feel your arms swing by your sides. Concentrating on your steps is calming and helps you to stay present with the walking experience.

Take Five is a fantastic breathing game/exercise for younger yogis. Be sure to visit the Yoga Games page for many more ideas to inspire you and your kids to play yoga today.

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Mindfulness means “the awareness that emerges through  paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally to the unfolding of experiences moment by moment.” (Joh Kabat-Zinn) It is an active process involving staying aware of the external environment and the internal bodily sensations in the present moment without judgement, positive or negative.

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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There are many more twists and variations, especially when you delve into arm balancing poses and inversions. However, a large number of these require strength, balance, technique and other essential skills in order to perform. They are definitely something to work toward and have fun with but, many teens may not be ready just yet to take on the challenge. The ones covered here are great for High School PE classes, athletic teams, and teen yoga classes.

Yoga Twists for Teens

Half Lord of the Fishes Pose (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

Sit on the floor with legs bent. Place your left foot on the outside of your right buttock, left knee facing forward along the ground. Step the right foot to the outside of the left knee with the knee pointing straight up. Hug the raised knee and sit up on your sitz bones. Inhale and circle the right arm behind you, placing the hand on the floor as you exhale and lengthening the spine. Inhale, raising the left arm. Exhale place the elbow on the outside of the right thigh. If this isn’t possible simply hug the knee. Inhale and exhale two more times as you continue to deepen the twist throughout the entire spine, pressing the elbow against the knee and looking behind you. Binding Variation:If your left shoulder can clear the right knee (be on the outside of the knee), you can try to bind the arms. Circle the left hand toward the right hip and thread it through the hole between the legs. The right arms reaches behind the back to clasp the left fingers. Voilà, you are a pretzel! This is the quintessential twisty yoga pose and always a class favourite.

Revolved Chair Pose (Parivrtta Utkatasana)

revolved chair pose

Stand in Mountain Pose. Inhale raise your arms overhead. Exhale bend your knees and hips as if you are sitting in an imaginary chair. Inhale extend through the upper body, exhale, twist to the right, bringing your hands into prayer position, and placing the left upper arm on the outside of the right thigh. Look down at your toes or to the right, whichever is comfortable. Hold for 3 to 5 breaths. Inhale and return to standing. Repeat on the other side.

Revolved Triangle Pose (Parivrtta Trikonasana)

Stand with feet wide apart. Inhale raise the arms to shoulder height in line with feet, ankles should be directly below hands. Turn your left foot in slightly (this is your brake). Turn your right foot out 90 degrees. On an exhale turn your torso to the right bringing the left arm to the front, right arm reaching behind you, and squaring your hip points to the front as much as possible. Inhale, lengthen the side body, actively reach the arms apart, and ground through your big toes. Exhale, reach your left hand down to the ground or onto a block while the right hand reaches high. Beginners can look down or to the side. More advanced students can gaze at their raised thumb. Hold this pose for a few breaths. Exhale to release the twist. Inhale to return to standing. Reverse the feet and repeat on the other side.

Revolved Side Angle Pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)

Stand with feet wide apart. Turn your left foot in slightly. Turn your right foot out 90 degrees. (So far the same as above) With hands on hips, turn your torso to the right and square you hips forward. As you do this lift the left heal off the mat, rotating on the ball of the foot. Exhale and bend the right knee to get your right thigh parallel to the ground. Keep the left leg active. On the next exhale, rotate the torso and lean it down with the left arm on the inside of the right foot, right thumb in the crease of the right hip, pressing the thigh down and back. If this is easy, inhale come up slightly place hands in prayer position, extend through the side ribs and then twist further by placing the upper left arm on the outside of the right knee. As with all twists, lengthen the body on the inhale, deepen the twist on the exhale. Hold for a few breaths. Inhale to come up. Exhale to release the twist. Reverse the feet and repeat on the other side.

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Benefits of Yoga Twists

Twists are some of my favourite yoga poses. Yoga twists require the work of the abdominal muscles, oblique muscles, spine, neck, shoulders and pelvis. They help to balance the body and improve posture. Twists exercise the spine from the coccyx all the way to C1, gently creating space between vertebrae, releasing tension in the muscles and lubricating the joints. In addition, twists massage the internal organs, increase energy, aid with digestion, and release fatty deposits in the abdomen. They invigorate the body and get the blood flowing. B.K.S Iyengar, yoga guru, describes this action as “squeeze and soak.” You compress all the internal organs during the twist, squeezing out the toxins. Then when you release, fresh blood flows in carrying with it oxygen and nutrients. Somewhat similar to an internal bath.

Most kids, however, don’t care about all these benefits. They like how twists feel. And they feel terrific!

One of the most effective uses of twists in the school setting is similar to wiping a black board clean after finishing one topic before moving onto the next. By taking five minutes to perform a simple seated twist in between subjects or activities, kids are able to erase previous tension, clear their minds, and prepare themselves physically and mentally to move on to other endeavours.

When teaching twists I use the image of a wet towel. To effectively wring out the towel you must twist from both sides. So when twisting, you must ground yourself in one direction while rotating in the opposite direction. For children who are tactile learners you can even use this as an object lesson.

Yoga Twists for Kids

Simple Seated Twist

Sitting on a chair or cross legged on the floor, ground the left hip by imagining it super-glued to your seat. to the right. Inhale and sit up tall, lengthening the side body. Exhale and begin to twist deep in your abdomen.  Inhale a second time, exhale twisting through the torso, trying to get your shoulders to line up parallel to the long side of the yoga mat. You can use your left arm to help pull your body to the right. Be sure to keep your shoulders away from your ears as you inhale a third time. Exhale and look behind you, taking the twist into the uppermost portion of the spine. If you want, you can even employ some Face Yoga and twist your mouth and eyes toward the right. Otherwise, gaze gently behind you. Inhale and return to centre. Remain here for one breath. Repeat the entire process on the other side.

washing machine pose

 Washing Machine Pose

Sitting cross-legged, cross your arms over your chest placing hands on opposite shoulders. Twist left and right while saying “swish, swish, swish.” Continue for one minute. An alternative name to this is Sprinkler Pose where the hands are placed on top of the same shoulder and while twisting say, “pssh, pssh, pssh” immitating water coming out of a sprinkler.

These two seated twists are easy to use anytime, anywhere and will really help clear the mind and refresh the body.

Standing Twist

Stand 6 inches to a foot away from a wall, with your back to the wall. Inhale and actively ground your left foot into the floor. Exhale as you twist to the right. Initiate your twist in the lower body. Inhale lengthen, exhale twist  through the chest, reaching your arms behind you to touch the wall. Inhale, keep your left leg actively working, exhale and complete the twist through to the crown of your head. Inhale and return to facing forward. Repeat on the other side.

This is a great twist to do while standing and waiting in line. It will help keep overactive kids engaged instead of allowing them opportunity to nudge, poke, kick, and otherwise bother their neighbours.

marichiyasana iii

Marichiyansana III

Sit with your legs straight in front of you. Bend the right knee, placing the foot along the left thigh a hand’s span distance from the leg. Activate your left leg, reaching the ball of the foot away from you, spreading the toes, and engaging the quad. Inhale, hug the right knee to your chest, exhale being certain that you’re sitting on your sitz bones by giving a little wiggle to feel them connect with the floor. Inhale, circle the right arm over head and reach it behind you onto the floor as you exhale. Inhale lengthen the body and reach the left arm up, exhale bend the arm and place the elbow on the outside of the right knee if possible. If not, continue to hug the knee. Inhale, sit tall maintaining the activity in the left leg. With the exhale twist to the right. Remember that you begin the twist deep in the belly. Imagine lifting each of your internal organs ( kidneys, pancreas, liver, stomach, intestines, etc) and placing them individually over to the right. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, twist the center chest to the right using the contact between the left arms and right knee to help push yourself into the twist. This feels really good. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, look behind you.

Now that you’ve perfected your twists, crack out the Twister game and get twisted.

Watch next week for Part II in this series on twists when we’ll take twists up a notch and discover Yoga Twists for Teens.

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Arriving in Montreal in the middle of a blizzard was not the way I anticipated meeting ‘la belle ville.’  Then, having the wrong directions (thank you Google Maps) from the airport to the hotel didn’t help matters. However, it did teach me an eternal truth which has helped to ground me in reality while encouraging me on my life long yoga journey.  The truth is “that you must know where you are coming from, in order to get where you want to go.”

Our map you see, for some reason, which shall forever remain a mystery,  located the airport, in Vieux Montreal, the old historic section of the city close to downtown. However, if you’ve ever been to Montreal you know that Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport is definitely NOT anywhere near Vieux Montreal. So as we set out from the airport we took the wrong freeway through a white out. Only after getting out the old fashioned AMA map and figuring out the exit numbering system were we able to turn ourselves around and make it slowly and carefully, top speeds of 60 km/h (35 mph) on the horrendous roads, back in the correct direction to find our hotel.

As I thought about how important it was to know where we were coming from, I related it to the debate on how old is yoga that has been raging. See YogaDork, elephant journal and Lynda’s Yoga Journey. True in some ways it is inconsequential to know the exact historical advent of the practice. However, a knowledge and understanding of the history and teachings  of yoga is essential to moving forward with a personal practice and being able to comprehend the direction yoga is moving in as it gains popularity.

I think yoga is approached by most people in the western world as a physical practice when they are first introduced to the art. Making some major assumptions here so bear with me. They want a longer, stronger, more flexible body. Heck, its why I first started doing yoga. I was pregnant and my doctor forbade me from continuing with running. Well, fine, I’d find something else. Luckily there was a yoga studio down the street from my flat in Cape Town, South Africa. After one class I was hooked! I remember always coming out of class with more energy than when I walked in, removed my shoes, and grabbed my blocks, blankets and mats (definitely an Iyengar class). I had no idea what Iyengar even meant, but my teacher was fantastic! She challenged, taught, modified poses for my ever increasing girth, and introduced me to yoga in ways which I still strive to pass on to my students almost 14 years later.

During the intervening years I’ve delved a lot deeper into what yoga is and what it means. And luckily for me my yoga practice has changed over time: opening like a precious flower, to bloom in my life and make it more beautiful and wondrous. I know some of the history and continue to learn more. That has helped me to find my way and figure out what yoga means to me on any given day. Sometimes it is a vigorous Ashtanga Primary Series workout, others it is mindfully meditating and practicing pranayama each evening as I walk my dog. Yes, I am a YogaDork and admit it freely and openly.

Regardless of why we first begin our yoga journey, knowing where we are coming from will only help each one of us actually make it to our final destination. So don’t let the blizzard and terrible roads get to you. Break out the map, get going in the ‘right’ direction (one only you can decide upon), and enjoy your lifelong yoga adventure.

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Some may wonder just what I mean by the title “Yoga In My School” and may mistakenly assume that I am only focusing on kids and teens from pre-school through high school and how to bring yoga into their lives. And, yes, that is my primary focus so you wouldn’t be completely wrong. However, there is more to it than that. But let me side track for a moment.

While cruising through my RSS reader I came across this list of 40 Rules to Lead a Happy Life by Study Grandmaster. As a teacher, I have all kinds of great educational feeds that I’ve found and this would be one of my faves. These were divided into four sections: health, personality, society and life with Rule #1 Drink plenty of water. Figured there had to be something worthwhile in these 40 Rules so continued on.

What caught my eye was Rule #22 Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appears and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

That’s it exactly!

That’s what I mean by Yoga In My School. It is in essence Yoga In My Life. That by using and apply yoga in my life I gain insights, take the time for meditation(pondering), strengthen and care for my body and mind, feel connected with the world, gain a greater sense of self, and come to understand, however infinitesimally, the universe. I realise that’s a lot of pressure to put on my yoga practice, the whole understanding the universe thing and all, but have found that when I faithfully practise I have a greater sense of peace, of harmony, of purpose. Whether that is because I’ve decreased the stress or increased my ability to deal with whatever life has to throw my way I don’t really know and don’t really care. What I do know is that I am better because of it. Far from perfect, as my friends and family would quickly attest, but continuing on my life journey that is my school, learning from the lessons (problems not unlike algebra) that come my way.

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