Kids in my after school yoga class for lower elementary always bring some kind of  a stuffed animal. I have my Lalita the mariquita ladybug puppet who sets the ritual and space of the class at the beginning and end. So kids bring in their "buddies" and tell stories about them, share dreams and more at the first part of class. Then we re-enact the story or dream with our bodies and yoga.

I also used the chance to teach respect and non-harming, ahimsa, at the beginning of class when one girl was stepping all over the mats and making them dirty (we were outside in the school garden that day since it was so beautiful!) Instead of lecturing, I told Ganesha's Lesson from my first book. To bring awareness to our actions to do as little harm as possible. 

As the kids told the stories, I asked them to call out images, pictures in their head, that they saw when hearing the story: Gorilla, strawberry, banana, bird, fish. Those images anchor us in our bodies and help suspend time and space. They put us more into the transcendent and create magical participation with the world when we act them out with ritual of the yoga postures. Embodied stories! Moreover, their imaginations are connected TO their bodies, causing more self-awareness and self-regulation, something young kids, especially ADD/ADHD kids, lack and need. I've had kids imagine lotuses and anchors in their bodies, in their sacrum and pelvis, to ground them. It slows them down considerably, having them move with an image in their body.

I always remind the to breathe, and they had great fun making up poses to go with the images, whatever they may have been. They can get quite creative. I will be teaching a Storytime Yoga Dance and Creative Movement class at YoMama Yoga Studio in Boulder starting April 1. Because kids yoga doesn't just end with yoga, it's dancing, martial arts, creative expression and more. That's what it takes to have children integrate their senses, get their minds into their bodies, and their imagination to take hold and focus their intelligence. 

 A lot of kids have been saying how they are doing yoga when the wake up in the morning. Yay!

I also taught at Munroe Elementary in Denver last night as part of family health night. The majority were mono-lingual Spanish. So I enjoyed using my Spanish skills and serving this population. The great thing is that these kids will get to have yoga regularly in the classroom, thanks to the Wellness Initiative. 

Afterwards it's always great to answer questions that people have, who had a great experience with the yoga and want to pursue it more. You see it happen over and over again, people who have never had yoga get this glimpse of themselves and they are off and hungry for more yoga. I mean EVERYBODY. Yoga is for EVERYBODY. 
Love and Peace,

Sydney Solis

Storytime Yoga for Children