OM energy

Today we talked about yoga sequences. A yoga routine usually starts with an OM to vibrate the area around the heart and loosen things up. We talked about counting in our heads the same number during inhalation and then again during exhalation. One student dramatically demonstrated a proper OM for us including finger mudras that set the class giggling, but her face looked so happy I had to take a photo.
We then talked about the importance of the breath and did some balloon breathing. They asked to focus on balance today so we talked about balance, did some superhero poses and had to wrap up early for the storyteller that was coming.

Wheel breakthroughs

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Today was our shortest class, I had 20 minutes with them due to a storyteller coming to entertain them... We opened up the chest area (where we hold a lot of tension) with a long "om" session, then some forward bends, cobra, side twists and then we spent the majority of time working on wheels/bridges with some major breakthroughs. There was fresh powder snow outside and their energy was high which seemed to translate into higher bridges. One student loves to do the spider pose instead of the wheel.

The New Year starts with compassion

Our first class of the new year was a little rocky as people were excited about being back and were a little unfocused. We opened up our energy channels with balloon breathing, axial pretzel twists, forward and upward bends, hand and headstands. Handstands are the most requested pose.

During svasana I walked them through a small visualization, asking them to send positive thoughts to someone they knew was feeling sad. I asked them to imagine that persons face without the sadness. We'd had a restless start to svasana with people wanting to hold hands with other people on their mats and some rolling themselves up in the mats saying they were tacos and hot dogs. (This thanks to the "pretzel" pose earlier) When I added the "compassion" visualization, they quieted down and maintained the longest silence we'd ever had. I finally broke the silence and we rolled up our mats.

Surprise surprise

After illness yoga resumed December 9th but I didn't have my camera. We worked on part one of a secret project we resumed today. I can only reveal a few photos from today but soon our secret will be out! Stay tuned for more this week....

Sun salutation, warrior, windmills

Today we read and looked at a few pictures of Babar doing yoga, then we learned the sun salutation! We attempted to hop back into plank pose then transition to downward dog and the kids caught on really quick! We went into warrior, triangle and then windmills followed by making a V with our bodies. (also known as core strengthening...)
The kids were then shown two ways to get into a handstand, by kicking up to the wall or by walking up the wall. Most picked walking up the wall but Mireille kicked up with a little help and did great!

I tried something new today, when the kids were in svasana I tapped a student that had been well behaved and listened particularly well the class session and they were allowed to use the Tibetan bowl to waken the other children. Today Bennet was picked for his great effort today! Congratulations!

Boats on the water

Letters at large

This week after the usual opening of breathing and centering, we worked on creating letters with our bodies. We each took the first letter of our names and tried to make the letter. When we needed more body parts we paired people with the same letters together to come up with the letter together. We then went on a jungle adventure as requested by group and each person again got to pick their animal. The kids continue to delight in making animal sounds and noises and can get quite carried away sometimes! This is when I use the chime which means to return promptly to their mat. They like to run back to their mats and return to order as much as they like becoming wild animals and roaming the room. For our group pose they posed as cactus together.
I have witnessed them retaining information and finding pride in remembering how to do a pose when I say the name.