Yoga for Kids

Yesterday was the first day of the 8-week kids yoga session. And, I must say, it was a unique experience, and a lot of fun!

I used to teach a kids yoga class about 3 years ago. However, the attendance in the class was very erratic and unpredictable. There were times when no one would show up. Part of the problem was that the class was in the afternoon on a weekday. The parents would invariably get held up at work and were unable to bring their child for the yoga class. As a result  I just had to cancel the class.

In recent months, some of my yoga students started expressing an interest in a yoga class for their kids. Based on my past experience, I was hesitant at first to offer such a class. The other problem was to find a suitable time during the week for the class – a time when I would expect reasonable participation. Again, based on past experience, I ruled out weekdays. Looking at my calendar I realized that the only time I could offer the class was in the morning on Saturdays. Knowing that kids don’t like to get up early on weekends I was not sure if this could work out. In any case, I decided to announce the 8-week program for a Saturday 8:15-9:15 AM class. I was very pleasantly surprised when I received a very positive response from several parents for the class.

So, now we have 13 students in the class in the age group of 5 to 10 years.  The first day’s experience was very encouraging and positive. It was great to see the parents and kids arriving on time. Some of the parents wanted to know if they could stay in the room as observers. Knowing that the kids behave very differently in the presence of the parents, I had to politely disallow their request. For the next one hour we just had a great time together.

I have decided to use the same basic routine for this kids class as the one I use for the level 1 adults class. However, there are some basic differences in the approach while practicing the various components of the routine – asana, pranayama and relaxation. For example, the kids enjoy making and listening to sounds while practicing asanas. There are many asanas which are named after different animals, birds and insects etc. So we imitate the sounds of these animals when practicing the corresponding poses. In the cat and cow stretch, we make the cat and cow sounds. When practicing the ‘bhujangasana’ (cobra) we make the hissing snake sound. In the ‘downward facing dog’, we make a dog’s barking sound. Another fun activity that they all enjoyed was practicing ‘wheel barrow’ with a partner. One partner holds the legs of the other partner who then tried to walk on the hands, both forward and backward. This routine is not only a lot of fun for the kids but also builds their upper body strength, including the wrists, arms, shoulders and the chest.

During pranayama also they enjoyed the ‘humming bee’ breath where with each exhalation they make a deep humming bee sound. I was very pleasantly surprised that they kids were able to hold their attention without any distraction when I asked them to just observe the flow of their breath focusing on the tip of the nose.

In future classes, I plan to add more variations and some new poses into the routine. I am quite certain that the kids will benefit greatly from these sessions at all levels – physical, mental and emotional.

I would love to hear any suggestions that you may have for the kind of yoga activities that we can include in the routine which will make these sessions even more enjoyable for the kids.