Family Yoga: Creating a Better Community Starts at Home

by Michelle Bergin Pallante
Aliso Viejo, California
Storytime Yoga® Teacher

Storytime Yoga® for Kids teacher Michelle Bergin Pallente makes a better world starting at home by practicing yoga with her two young daughters.

Every Saturday we found an hour to practice yoga as a family. Our schedules are varying and busy, so some days bedtime yoga would be appropriate and other days we would squeeze in a relaxation exercise to begin our hectic weekend.

My two daughters, ages 2 and 4, and I would start by sharing bits and pieces of our week and we would practice stories and asanas that would fit with our joys and struggles of the previous days. On Friday, I would get a step ahead by evaluating the struggles they had a school or home that we would talk about a dinnertime and I would find ways to incorporate stories that had parallel themes.

My daughters enjoyed the puppets so much, I truly think the younger one thought the puppet was real at times, and I would catch her asking the puppet questions when I wasn't supposed to be listening.

Storytime Yoga for Kids yoga at home family

Do we love children or what?!?!?! Cute, cute, CUTE!

We have two puppets, a peacock and a mouse and we decided to name our peacock, Penny and our mouse, Goliath. To begin class we start by introducing our puppets, Penny who helps with the background of our stories and Goliath, who is responsible for enforcing our rules throughout class. He may be small, but he is very important and has a deep booming voice.

We also begin by singing the Namaste song and the breathing song. The breathing song is my daughters’ favorite one and they love to do the breath along with the song. My older daughter loves to lead this song now and I find her singing it in her bedroom while she is playing. We then do a simple sun salutation and begin our story.

To begin, Penny explains exactly where on the map the story came from and paints the picture of what the story is going to be about. The girls now recognize Asia and Europe without a blink of an eye. I have told them many stories so far this training, ones that I have found at the library and also some that I have learned from this training.

So far their favorite story we practiced was, “Diamonds, Rubies and Pearls” from the Stoytime Yoga® book. We have an ongoing joke now that we use outside of practice where I ask them if they are going to be like the girl with the diamonds, rubies and pearls or the girls with the snake, toads and lizards when they make decisions throughout the day. With bad choices we also try to find solutions and resolutions to change the day to a diamond, ruby and pearl day.

It's all in the family when you practice yoga at home with your kids. You are your child's first teacher! Do it with stories and yoga!

The most beneficial part of this project was learning how my daughters exhibit stress and being able to help them by careful planning and storytelling. My oldest daughter really grasped the concept of relaxation and I now after 8 weeks, see her using her breathing when she gets upset. I also see now how she closes her eyes and asks to take a break rather than having a temper tantrum, which used to be the norm in our home.

Throughout the Storytime Yoga® for Kids course of these 8 weeks, I have become more mindful of the stress that I am putting on my daughters and have tried to slow down their schedules. My daughters have benefited immensely from this program and have developed more inner peace and confidence. My youngest daughter has requested we do yoga everyday and it is the first thing she asks to do when we have free time.

A better community starts by being a better, more educated parent. For me, that means slowing down and stopping to enjoy the little teachable moments in life with my children, as well as doing the research to find resources. Yoga has brought us so much peace and happiness that I can not wait to branch out into the world to share our experiences with other children.