It’s been a while since my last post, I come back now as a ghost.
Just in time for Halloween, in different costumes you have seen.
For a time I pondered why, I drew poses for kids to try.
Julia gave me the answer one day, yoga is just a great way to play.
Breathing, moving, and, having fun, It feels better than going for a run.
It can be done by any child, to center and calm the side that’s wild.
Differently abled, short or tall, we all win in yoga, big and small.
This February do some yoga for the good of your heart, and, criss cross applesauce is where this sequence will start!
With a few opening breathes and a some tuning in too, we’ll spend a few minutes here, before we move on to pose number two.
The second asana in our sequence, we move our head down into child’s pose, head on the mat, breathing in and out slowly, through our nose.
After some calming in child’s pose or mouse, we lie flat on our mat, we clasp our hands behind our back, and, raise our chest in shark, just like that!
Then we move up to all four paws for cat and cow, breathing slowly, we try a little cat balancing, lifting the opposite arm and leg, and, reaching them wholy.
From cat balance, move up to star, standing and stretching all five points, before bending the arms and legs to goddess, for a few breathes to exercise joints.
We tip over to make a triangle, reaching one arm up high and one arm to the floor, and, then we try star, goddess, and, triangle on the other side, doing this once more.
While standing we move to balances, starting with mountain pose. Taking a few long breathes in and out through the nose.
After mountain we move to tree, rooting one foot in the ground, we turn into an eagle after a few slow breathes, focused, with no sound.
We try mountain, then tree and eagle once more balancing on the other side, before we lie down on the mat to do candlestick pose safely with legs up, and, together, not wide. Continue reading
This December, I leave you with just a few, because during this time of year, there is so very much to do.
During the Winter solstice, and the holiday craze, life can often leave you feeling like you are in a haze.
Just take 5 simple minutes to practice these easy poses, use your heart, try your best, and, breathe in and out through your noses.
Start off in child’s pose or mouse, take a few breaths calmly, then move on for hero angels sweeping arms up, and, reaching as high as can be.
Leave your lower legs on the ground, feel the stretch as you reach high. You are like a snow angel, only sweeping your arms to the sky.
Here’s the latest and greatest, Snow Yoga, a 15 minute short video for kids who love to ski and snowboard, like my son Charlie. I’m having so much fun putting everything together in these videos.
Thank you for doing yoga, If you like this and feel like supporting this website, please purchase the Kids Yoga 100 on Amazon
Here’s a preview slide show for “Snow Yoga”, a soon to be released, short and sweet, 15 minutes animated sequence to help kids prepare for a winter of safe, and, fun snow play. The video/slide show, with sounds and voiceover, will be released in about a week. I am making this because my son Charlie LOVES skiing. Charlie really digs yoga too, but sometimes it’s tough when your parent is your yoga teacher, he enjoys the cartoons more than mom telling him what to do! As his parent, I am naturally concerned for his safety on the slopes, lets face it, skiing is dangerous. I’m realizing more and more that I can’t stop him doing things that he loves in life, because i’m afraid, what I can do is prepare him to do the activities he chooses safely and consciously. So here goes…. Continue reading
Yoga is a fun way to offer kids extra strength, flexibility, and, focus to complement their activities in the snow and on the mountain this winter. Below are this November 2013 full moon’s 15 coloring pages, with a focus on snow sport preparation. My son is now 7, and, skiing in freestyle competitions again this winter, my daughter is starting her second year of ski school this year. We are a mountain family, so this is very relevant yoga for us, I try to keep it fun and engaging for them (and me). Make some space, be safe and breathe. Quotes, where possible, are from the Kids Yoga 100. Thanks for your support.
Being on the mountain and engaging in snow sports obviously requires a lot of leg strength. Snow sports also benefit from good hip and knee flexibility, core and upper body strength, and, increased focus, that yoga offers the student. Providing a short,and, simple yoga warm up can help prepare the body, and, mind, for snow sport fun, and, safety.
This coloring sequence is in a specific order because it is important to warm up your core, for success in leg strength, and, balance poses. First, we tune in in Lotus pose, maybe do a few balloon breathes, and, washing machine twists. Then we move to the belly for toboggan (pictured above in color) followed by mouse, and down dog. We calm ourselves in forward fold, then take a seat in chair pose. We rise to strengthen the legs in goddess and warrior II poses before engaging our focus in mountain, tree and eagle poses. After the leg strength and balance exercises, we lie down for a gentle back and knee stretch in rock, bridge, and, seated forward twisting fold, before finishing with a nice rest in log . The cartoon short yoga video is due to be released just before thanksgiving (next week here in the US) This sequence will include a lot more movers and will be a great complement to the coloring sheets. Continue reading
This is the first fullmoonyoga.org cartoon yoga sequence, Halloween Yoga. We go through various possible Halloween costumes, yoga style, using imagination, breath and movement. In this fun, 15 minute sequence, we work on flexibility, coordination and relaxation. We go from grunting gorillas to howling dogs, and, moaning zombies, we move into different Halloween yoga costumes, finishing relaxed, as balls and chains, corpse’s, and, hero’s.
Be safe, breathe and have fun. Thank You for watching!
