Kids yoga and mindfulness

This summer, we trialed some kids classes. They were 30 minutes long and was designed to get the kids moving in a focused way. The format was similar to adults class: Starting off with 5 long breaths to centre and then start moving into some fun sequences.

The kids liked the names of the poses, as the pose names are either animals (making animal sounds, of course) or strengthening names (bold warrior, strong warrior, etc.). The purpose of the bold and strong warrior poses is to remind the kids that they are indeed strong and bold. It is important that kids learn self empowering messages from an early age.

I integrated some mindfulness activities such as pretending to be a frog, sitting quietly and calmly, observing thoughts but being careful to jump too quickly. In order for a frog to catch a fly, it needs to sit still and concentrate in order to catch the fly. This is a good tool for daily life: Learn to fully concentrate on one thing at a time.

One thing I learned when teaching kids is that younger kids already have the skills to behave mindfully. They can focus on one object naturally. This is something that grown ups seem to lose with all the multi tasking and constant barrage of information. Grown ups need to retrain themselves to be more like children: Give one thing all your attention and you will feel calmer and happier. And have fun while you are doing it!

We aren't sure if we will regularly teach kids classes. Our specialty is sports yoga (or yoga for those who want to keep active/injury free). We had some requests to do some teaching for kids this summer and it was fun to try it out. We might do mini-camps during school breaks and will announce it in future.