Children's Yoga: Try Yoga Now!

Things you should know before beginning:

You may want to keep your eyes open to see how a yoga exercise is done. When you know what to do, close your eyes so you can feel yourself from the inside.
Pay attention to your breath, and breathe through your nose unless I tell you to breathe differently.
Before beginning yoga, sit down on a carpeted floor or a mat. Make sure you have enough room to move your arms and stretch out your legs.

If your child is too young to read for himself, read the instructions to him slowly. He may need you to be involved in order to keep focused.

Follow each exercise with at least a deep breath or two.
Lie down for a short relaxation of 10 seconds or so after more strenuous exercises.
Keep conversations to a minimum

child practicing balloon breath yoga (kids yoga) exercise balloons

Balloon Breath

Sit with your legs folded and crossed, and your back straight.

Put the palms of your hands together at the center of your chest. Close your eyes, and begin by taking three big balloon breaths. Here's how: When you breathe in deeply, raise your arms up above your head in the shape of a big balloon. Then breathe out and bring your arms back down so that your palms are together at the center of your chest. Do this at least three times.

When you have gotten really good at this, begin to imagine that you are breathing in and out through your forehead, right between your eyebrows.

Balloon Breath is a centering exercise. It attunes you to yourself and keeps you focused.

child doing bumpy camel yoga (kids yoga) pose

Ride your Bumpy Camel

Begin by sitting with your legs crossed. Take hold of your outside ankle. This is your saddle. We are going to ride our camel across the desert. Breathe in deeply as you stretch your body forward, chest and stomach out. Breathe out as you slump back, spine is curved, chest is caved in. Keep moving this way and get faster and faster. Remember it is very hot on the desert and we want to get across it quickly! (20-40 seconds)

Bumpy Camel gives you a flexible spine. Keeps your back muscles relaxed and strong. Helps you digest your food.

child doing sliding board yoga pose Sliding Board

Sit with your feet in front of you and your hands in back on the floor. Breathe in and push yourself up into a kind of backwards push-up. Make yourself into a perfectly straight sliding board by pushing your stomach up and point your toes away from you. Count to 10, 20, or 30--can you go for 50? (20-40 seconds)

Sliding Board makes your arms, legs, and stomach muscles strong.

child doing candle yoga (kids yoga) pose Candle Pose

This is also called shoulder stand. Lie down on your back. Lift your legs and lower back high into the air. Support your back by putting your hands on your back near your waist with your elbows on the floor. Push yourself up so that you are resting on your shoulders. Be a very straight candle. Breathe in and out and keep straightening by walking your hands further up your back. If you need help, ask someone to "spot" you.

Make sure when you come down that you roll out slowly. Inch your back down first, then your legs. Exhale as you come out. (Hold for 15-30 seconds)

Candle Pose relaxes your stomach, heart, lungs and all your inside organs because they get to "float" upside down for a while. Make sure to relax your shoulders and neck while in this pose.

child doing air walk yoga pose Air Walk

Lie down on your back. Begin to walk in the air. Keep your right leg straight and lift it up as you lift the left arm. Breathe in as you lift, breathe out as your arm and leg go down. Then inhale again and lift the left leg and the right arm together. Exhale down. Keep going. Stretch straight up toward the sky. If this is hard, remember: you tell your brain what you want it to do! (20 - 40 seconds)

Air Walk balances the two sides of your brain, and helps you think better.

To Be Is To Breathe

One thing that everyone does is breathe. You don’t even have to think about it--it just happens! But have you ever taken a deep breath on purpose, say, to smell a beautiful rose? That is called being aware of your breath. When you do it often, you feel happier and more relaxed. Here is a breathing exercise for you to try.

Birthday Candles

Sit with your legs crossed and your back straight. Breathe in deeply. Imagine seeing your birthday cake with all its bright candles, and blow them out, breathing out strongly through the mouth. As you inhale through your nose, stretch the arms up and out. As you blow out strongly through your mouth, bring them back together at the center of your chest.

child doing train yoga (kids yoga) pose train graphic

Train

Let’s take a train to a jungle far away from here. Sit with your legs crossed. Bring your arms to your sides with your elbows bent. Make fists of your hands. As you punch one arm out straight in front, breathe in. As you punch the other arm out, bring the first arm back to your side and breathe out powerfully through your nose. Keep switching arms and punching out. Listen to your breath--does it sound like train wheels? Now breathe in deeply, and breathe out, as our train arrives at it’s destination.

Jogging Through the Jungle

First we will jog through the jungle. Stand up and begin jogging. Lift your knees high and breathe deep. We are jogging through the thick green jungle. Let’s keep jogging for a minute.

cobra graphic Stop! What is that animal up high in the tree? It’s a COBRA SNAKE!

Come into Cobra pose. Lie on your stomach. Put your hands on the floor under your shoulders. Stretch your upper body up high, with your arms straight and your stomach resting on the ground. Stretch your head as far back as you can and HISS! You are a very fierce cobra snake! Keep stretching and hissing on the exhale for a minute. Then breathe in and lift your tail up. Try to bring your head and tail close together. Can they touch each other?

child doing elephant yoga pose Next in the jungle we see an ELEPHANT.

Stand up. Bend forward with your arms hanging down. Clasp your hands together, with fingers interlocked. Now walk around the room, bent over, and swinging your trunk. After a minute, stretch your trunk high up into the air, lean back and let out a big elephant sound like a horn!

child doing fish yoga pose fish Fish Pose

Now let’s relax like a lazy fish. Sit on or between your heels. Now gently lie back so that your back and head are flat on the ground. Let your arms be relaxed by your sides. Breathe and feel like a cozy fish in the water. Relax for a minute.

child doing you are great meditation You are Great!

Try putting an affirmation on your breath. "Affirmation" is a big word for saying something good to yourself. Like, try "I Am Happy". Think of it as you breathe in. Then breathe out and think, "I Am Good". Here’s another one: "I Am Brave, I Am Bold, My Own Spirit I Can Hold." (Hmm, sounds like it could be a great song too. Singing is a great way to use your breath!)

Deep Relaxation

child doing deep relaxation yoga (kids yoga) pose Now lie down onto your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides. The palms of your hands are facing up, and resting on the floor. Close your eyes and breathe gently.

Imagine you are lying on the beach. The warm sand feels so comfortable on your back. Feel the sun warming up your whole body.

As you breathe in, listen! It sounds like the waves coming up to the shore. As you breathe out, imagine the waves going back out to sea. Keep breathing with the waves for another moment or two.

Now, in your open hands, imagine you have some birdseed for the seagulls. Imagine the seagulls circling around you. They want to come down and take the birdseed, but they feel a little afraid. Make yourself very peaceful and quiet so they will know you are a friend. Breathe and relax for a minute, allowing the seagulls to come.

(The adult can count to 10-20 slowly as the child rests, or child can rest for longer.)

Deep relaxation after yoga helps to enhance the effects of the exercises. It also promotes rejuvenation right down to the cellular level.

Here’s a meditation from my book, Fly Like A Butterfly, that you can try with you child. Do it with them, at least for the first few times. It allows them to express all their negative and positive feelings. For the best effects and balance, at the end of the meditation, add in a few minutes of the SA TA NA MA meditation on page 104 of Fly Like A Butterfly.

NO/YES MEDITATION

Sit with your legs crossed or in lotus pose, and put your hands on your knees. Keep your spine straight and feel like a mountain, or pyramid. Close your eyes. Think of all the times you wanted to say "no", and say it now. Say it fast, slow, soft, loud--however you feel like it. Go on for a minute or two. Then inhale, exhale and do the same for "yes". Get out all your "NOs", then all your "YESes", and feel GOOD! Really let yourself feel each no and yes. Get into it and go! Inhale deeply to end, then exhale and relax. Feel refreshed!

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