Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Kid's Yoga Stories

Today I unexpectedly and last minute taught a preschool yoga class. I haven't taught kids yoga in a really, really long time and I have (not even) jokingly told everyone I don't want to teach kids classes anymore. Now that my kids are older I'm kind of over the whole little kid thing. And I'm totally not joking about that.

But, about 10 little kids were waiting on yoga and no teacher today. So, I grudgingly  willingly volunteered.

At first I didn't remember how I used to teach kids yoga. I did remember meowing in cats pose and mooing in cow pose. And since the little ones weren't sitting on their mats quietly in meditation waiting for class to start like my adult classes do, I had to think quick.

OK everyone, mountain pose.

Surprisingly they all quickly stopped running around and found mountain pose.

And on top of the mountain there was a... tree!

We all found tree pose.

Hey, this is working.

OK, so we are on a mountain. And on top of the mountain is a tree. Standing on the mountain I see a... star!

We all find star pose.

This is really working!

We are all standing on a mountain. On the mountain is a tree. And we can see a star. Also on the mountain is a .... dog!

Ten little butts are quickly sticking up in the air for downward dog pose.

Eventually we came up with quite an interesting yoga story full of yoga poses.

We are standing on top of a mountain. On top of the mountain is a tree. We can see a bright star. Also on the mountain is a dog. Sitting next to a big rock. On top of the rock is a cat. Looking at the cat is a cow. The cow starts mooing to warn us there is a snake nearby. But it's OK because a lion scares away the snake. Then a bee scares away the lion! The bee lands on a warrior. The warrior flies away on an airplane. The airplane lands on the sun. The dog, the cat, the cow, the snake, the bee and the warrior are all so tired they have to lay down and take a nap.

I ended up having as much fun as the kids did and it made me smile when I heard one little girl say she wanted to take yoga again with Miss Jennifer.

Although that was sweet, I am ready to return the kids yoga class back to the current teacher.  I won't hesitate to fill in again when needed, but there's a lot less meowing and mooing in my adult classes.


English/Kids Name to Sanskrit

Mountain - Tadasana
Tree - Vriksasana
Star - Utthita Tadasana
Dog - Adho Mukha Svanasana
Rock - Balasana
Cat -Marjaiasana
Cow -Bitilasana
Snake - Bhujangasana
Lion - Simhasana (pranayama)
Bee - Brahmari (pranayama)
Warrior -Virabhadrasana
Airplane - Virabhadrasana III
Sun - Utkata Konasana
Nap - Savasana


1 comment:

  1. I think that was nice of you. Children scare me. I can never get them to behave around me. But you made the yoga class fun. I like that. I myself, am looking for a yoga class where someone will take things slow, so I can learn all the poses. The yoga video's I have, the instructor does a whole routine without explaining anything, she just moves from one pose to another, like a dance.

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