As a member of the Namate Book Club I’ve been reading a wonderful little book entitled Downward Dogs & Warriors: Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogisby Zo Newell . The premise of the book is to educate the reader about the powerful stories from which Indian culture and yoga has come. It is “about using asana and related images for reflection, self-examination, and healing” in order to deepen “your yoga practice through observation of your body, your mind, and your emotions.”

The first story in the book is that of Shiva as Destroyer: Warrior Poses. In a nutshell, Shiva’s wife, Sati, threw herself into a fire becoming the sacrifice her father refused to provide during a ritual party where he was simply flaunting his power and prestige. Upon hearing of his wife’s demise, Shiva, overcome with grief and fury, ripped his hair from his head and threw it on the ground where it became a Warrior, the  embodiment of his emotions.“This is Virabhadra, the personification of righteous anger and the noble impulse to defend the innocent.”

This pose and its story took on very personal meaning over the past week as an innocent child became the victim of molestation. Suddenly each time I do Warrior pose, I am Virabhadra filled with anger and anguish at the injustices of life. What was once a sometimes demanding physical pose now encompasses an entire range of strong emotions.

Newell encourages yogis to:

Reflect and journal on a time when you came to the defence of a righteous cause or an innocent person. Invite the emotional qualities of that experience into your practice of the warrior poses. Keep the experience in mind while practicing with softness in the eyes and openness in the heart.

It may be a too soon for me to practice “with softness in the eyes and openness in the heart” as I am still in protect and safety mode. However, knowing the story behind the pose has given me hope to work through the pain to the point where my heart is open and calm as I move into action.

There are far too many children who are victims of abuse. Please do everything within your power to protect and fight for their innocence. Be the Warriors for those who cannot protect themselves.

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Journaling has long been a tool for achieveing better emotional and mental health. It is a remarkable device for easing concerns, identifying hopes and fears, allowing the creative process to flourish, and connecting with your inner self. Journals help to identify your personal wisdom and realize that you are wiser than you once believed as ideas and solutions flow from deep inside. The process of uniting your conscious and sub-conscious mind through ink and paper, in black and white, empowers and enlightens, connecting us with our true selves and shining a light on who we truly are.

Adding journal writing to your yoga practice allows you to access these transformative benefits and takes the process from being simply a physical experience to becoming a window to the soul. 

You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed. – Anita Brookner

There are two way to use journalling: prompted or free flow. Both have their advantages and disadvantages as well as a place within the yoga journal experience.

Prompted Journaling & Yoga

Prompted journaling is when the teacher assigns a topic for students to journal. For example: “We’re going to do Pigeon pose and I want you to pay attention to what your hips are telling you. We’ll then spend a few minutes recording the thoughts and feelings this pose generates.” Journals also are a wonderful place to record personal affirmations, set goals, and recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Topics I’ve used include:

• Comfort is relative – how do backbends teach this idea?
• How does doing Fish pose help you look at life from a different perspective?
• What do you feel while doing Eagle pose? What do you feel after?
• What images come to mind while doing Warrior pose?
• Let’s write an affirmation for Mountain pose. Everytime you do Mountain Pose repeat this affirmation to yourself.
• Which is your favourite yoga pose and why?
• What do you want/need to get out of class today?

Free Flow Journaling & Yoga

Free flow journaling occurs as an organic result of the yoga experience. Allowing yourself to simply reflect upon the experience, identifying and putting into words your thoughts, feelings, insights, etc. while upon your personal yoga journal, is an enlightening endeavour. It is not uncommon for yoga asanas and breathing techniques to release strong emotions. We often hang onto negative emotions such as fear, anger and sorrow because we have not dealt with them adequately in the past. Our bodies remember and hold these feelings deep inside. A regular yoga practice will release this negativity and tension, allowing us to return to a state of happiness and relaxation. Journaling these experiences will hasten emotional recovery and is widely used as a self-discovery and therapy tool.

How to Use Yoga Journal Writing

In children’s classes I almost always provide a prompt. This helps the children get to the journaling without wasting time on wondering what to write about. Younger children can draw a picture of their feelings and insights while older ones can put these into words.

Teens and adults are more familiar with the journal writing process and can adapt it to the yoga classroom generally without difficulty. Since this is the case I will use both techniques while encouraging them to ponder and explore their yoga practice. Yoga classes that begin with setting an intention are a wonderful place to start if students seem stumped for a topic to journal.

Entries by my students have ranged from sketches and quick insights, to lists and pages and pages of emotional outpouring. The lovely thing about journal writing is you can’t get it wrong. It is a snapshot of who you are today. There are a number of fantastic yoga blogs which serve as journalling for the authors. Some of my favourites who share the more emotional/trans-formative side of their yoga practice include:

• Everyday Yogini – Nona’s life through yoga coloured glasses
• Grounding Thru the Sit Bones - Brenda shares her life & revelations from the mat
• It’s all yoga, baby – Roseanne probes into yoga culture and community
• Karmaspot’s Blog – Jen shares thoughts on yoga for kids and parents
• Lifebloom Yoga – Abby’s creative expression of yoga in her life
• Linda’s Yoga Journey - Linda explores the world and her personal yoga journey
• The PranaMama – Amy provides yoga from a Mom’s perspective
• The Queen of Bohemia Cleans Her Own House – Sydney connects yoga and emotional recovery
• YogaChickie- Lauren writes about her life and the insights gained from yoga
• Yoga Demystified – Bob entertains and educates through poetry and probing questions
• Yogic Muse – Brooks reveals her personal journey one yogic step at a time
• Yoga With Spirit - Amy applies yoga to her life

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• Establish a bedtime routine. We all function better with routines, but children especially appreciate knowing a pattern of behaviours will lead to a specific situation or response. A ‘getting ready for bed’ routine which includes tidying the toys, healthy snack, dental and physical hygiene, changing into PJ, reading a book with Mom or Dad, etc., will teach them that it is time to slow down mentally and physically, and prepare them for sleep. Some great books which focus on relaxation before bed can be found at Stress Free Kids- Relaxation and Stress Management books and CDs for children, teens and adults.
• Avoid sweets and anything with refined sugar as well as caffeine hidden in sodas or chocolate throughout the evening. Some children are especially sensitive to the stimulating nature of sugar and caffeine. Eliminate them well before you want your children to relax.
• Introduce soft lighting and calming music in the home or bedroom. This will help to ease the transition from activity to rest as you physically make the environment serene and peaceful.

Yoga to Help Kids Sleep

There are  a variety of poses which calm and relax the body and mind. Here are some of my favourites to use with my own children and at sleep-over parties. Hold each pose for a few breaths, breathing deeply and evenly through your nose.

Seated twists

Child’s pose – Balasana

Rag-doll

Cobbler’s Pose – Baddha konasana

Plow pose – Halasana

Pigeon – Eka Pada Rajakapotasaana

Turtle Pose – Kurmasana

Reclined Heroes Pose – Supta Virasana

Corpse Pose– Savasana

While in Corpse Pose be sure to use a guided visualization to complete the process of preparing for sleep. One example of this would be a progressive muscle relaxation such as: 

Tense and Release

Tighten the muscles in your feet. Really clench them, then let go. Feel your feet relax completely. Now tighten your feet, then your legs. Release and breathe. This time start with the feet, add the legs & buttocks. Squeeze, then let go. Once again, start with the feet, legs, buttocks and torso. Really contract those muscles. Then relax them completely. Now tighten the feet, legs, buttocks, torso, and arms. Squeeze those hands tight. Last time—start with your feet, next legs, buttocks, torso, arms, and face. Tense your entire body, hold it tight, and release. Enjoy the feeling of complete relaxation from head to toe.

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Recently I read a wonderful story about an Apple Snail in the post Life Lessons from a Fish Tank written by Grounding Thru the Sit Bones. In essense it spoke of our reactions to change–the welcome and unwelcome ones that come into our lives. It seems the fish were rather traumatized by changes to their tank, apprehensive and skittish, and slow to accept something new into their environment. The Apple Snail, however, cautiously but pragmatically explored, then embraced the changes.

Then, as I surfed the web, I ran across Developing Personal Practice -Changes a great blog post from Lifebloomyoga detailing how your personal yoga practice will and can change depending on your needs at any given time. Some of the factors which determine why your personal yoga practice changes include:

• life cycle
• climate/seasons
• physical fluctuations
• mental fluctuations

I think all yogis have felt these subtle differences, and know they impact the view we have from the mat, or even our desire to get the mat out of storage. I find some-days I can’t wait for my hour of solace through breath and movement and other days I can hardly care. (There is of course the guilt on those days which forces me to at least practise pranayama while walking the dog.)

Change is inevitable. Our reactions to change determine much of our happiness. Do we welcome the ebb of and flow of life? Are we fearful and slow to accept like the fish? Can we adapt and incorporate changes broadening our experiences and viewpoint? Do we allow ourselves to explore different aspects of our personality: the calm, the energetic, the strong, the weak, the hard, the soft? (You knew I had to mention sukha/sthira and were just waiting for it, right?)

Personally I feel that this is one of the beauties of yoga. It changes and adapts with us. It can give us what we need, when we need it. As we recognize within ourselves the constancy that is the individual, the inner self, and learn to be true to that voice, we can incorporate change into our lives with an open heart. So I propose that you open yourself to change and ponder the example of the Apple Snail. Not the mightiest of creatures, but one who shows great courage and gracious acceptance in the face of change.

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Simply put, a yoga adventure story takes a number of thematically linked poses or asanas and situates them in a setting while linking them together with a narrative.

Furthermore, stories allow for a fluid yoga experience, with poses leading naturally one to another, linked thematically, always with room for personal adaptation, addition, or deletion. This gives the teacher the latitude to adjust the story according to the participants ages, needs, interests, learning styles, energy levels, etc.

Some themes which I have developed into yoga adventure stories include:

the setting allows kids to visualize yoga

• African Safari
• Amazon Adventures
• Crawling & Flying
• Day at the Beach
• Family Time
• Farmyard Fun
• Garden Delights
• Man on the Moon
• Mountian Magic
• The Pet Store
• Sailing, Sailing
• Tour of India
• Trip Down the Nile

What themes can you think of?

Next time you are considering a yoga class for kids try to group your poses into a yoga adventure story and see where in the world it will lead you.

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