Our families / Kids and Teens Yoga classes are inclusive, interactive and fun for kids of all ages.
What happens in a class?
Kids learn through play, so the class is made up of a series of activities and Yoga games. By having fun, they learn yoga poses without even realising they are taking in new information. With younger children we relate a lot of the poses to animals and can move from jumping like frogs to slithering on the floor like a snake.
The classes are run in a circle where everyone can see and connect to everyone else. Mats are optional depending on what’s going on.
Many of the activities are led by the kids and this gives them the confidence to speak up and take the lead. In these activities, we are encouraging self-expression and fun so, over time, even the shyest of children become quite happily take over the reins.
What is the benefit of Kids doing Yoga?
We find kids who have played a lot of sport over many years can be quite inflexible. We aim to reverse that by taking the time to stretch the body. Sometimes our bodies become so tight that an injury is inevitable. Stretching helps keep the body balanced so we continue to do more of what we love.
Yoga also helps keep the body strong, we sometimes hold poses, with a countdown or a song, to help strengthen muscles, especially in the core which are fundamental to movement and balance. Regular yoga can help children perform in their chosen sport with more strength, agility and confidence and be less likely to injure themselves.
But Yoga is not just about physical strength. We also like to open our minds and use our imaginations. An activity the kids love is creating a Yoga story where each person starts where the previous person left off. Each story segment has to contain 2 yoga poses (or poses that the participant has made up). Sometime we can imagine ourselves as the wind or a storm, lightning bolt or candle. Our classes take many directions, all designed to open up the imagination and keep the mind body connection in everything we do.
We incorporate relaxation as part of every class, whether that’s lightly gazing at a candle or a body scan where we move our awareness to each part of our body and let that body part relax and let go. Training the mind is as important as training any other part of our body. When we train our mind to focus on one thing, we can over time, teach the mind to be more still and silent where it isn’t jumping from one thing to the next, out of control. By doing this regularly, our mind gets used to focusing, it helps kids concentrate in class, it helps them feel more relaxed.
Simple Relaxation for Children
Gently crunch your toes and then let them relax.
Gently crunch your feet and let them relax.
Tighten your calf muscles and let them relax.
Tighten your knees, and let them relax.
Tighten your whole thigh, the whole top of your legs and let them relax.
Tighten your lower back and let it relax and let go.
Notice if there is any tightness in your shoulders at the moment (pause). Tighten your shoulders, then see how much you can get them to relax.
Tighten your tummy and let it relax.
Tighten your chest and let it go.
Now the top of your arms, squeeze them and let them go.
Tighten the lower part of your arms and let them go.
Make your hands into fists, and let them go.
Now your neck, squeeze and release.
Imagine you have a lemon in your mouth which makes you squeeze your whole face and let all the muscles relax.
Finally, the whole head, tighten and relax.
Now, just notice how your body feels. Is every part relaxed? Enjoy this feeling of relaxation for a little while.
When you’re ready wriggle your fingers and toes.
Raise your hands above your head and stretch your whole body, fingertips to toes.
Come up to sitting in your own time.
