Stories + Kids + Yoga = Wellness, Literacy & Fun at Florida Storytelling Festival

The Queen of Bohemia telling the story of The Peddler's Dream at the Lighthouse Children's Museum in DeLand, Florida 2013.

There’s no doubt about it. Yoga is booming across the nation and showing up in thousands of elementary school and gym class as kids and parents alike reap the huge benefits that yoga provides, such as calm, focus and attention to name a few.

Combine the physical movements with oral storytelling and you get something even better, a body-centered education program called Storytime Yoga® that teaches kids to be fit and literate all through play!

The Queen of Bohemia will be teaching a family Storytime Yoga® class at the Florida Storytelling Festival in Mount Dora this Saturday April 2. 11 a.m. - noon. We will be celebrating the peace and wellness that comes from practicing yoga as well as the literacy and fun from hearing multicultural folktales!

These wisdom stories and yoga for kids ages 3 and up will be from songs featured from The Queen of Bohemia's new album Peace, for the Children. It's available on I-Tunes, Amazon, CD Baby and Amazon! So get moving and join us for some fun and joy in being together! And please spread the word! I am also presenting a Mythic Yoga workshop Friday April 1 and performing on main stage for the Sunday morning April 3 closing concert.

Storytime Yoga® Kids Yoga Story, Dance and Mantra Music great for finding inner peace so that we can have peace in the world! Do it for the children! OM SHANTI

How Stories and Yoga Help Kids Be
Fit And Literate

Since 2003 I have taught thousands of kids, parents, teachers and more in Storytime Yoga® classes around the world to enjoy hearing multicultural folktales told orally and then to re-enact that story with yoga poses and movement.

Something special happens when kids participate in active listening and then re-enact the story with their bodies using yoga postures - a child-centered participatory consciousness.

I’ve had parents ask, “How did my ADHD kid do?” I have to respond, “He’s ADHD? Had no idea. He did great!” For storytelling is a natural mindful activity that gravitates to the body as it listens and creates original images within. It is the original virtual reality, painting narrative that kids begin to associate with as they ground their bodies in the present moment, listen to their breathing and become aware of themselves.

I taught years of after school programs in my home state of Colorado. Here a Storytime Yoga® after-school class at Creekside Elementary School, Boulder, Colorado 2006.

Kings, queens, talking armadillos, demons and dragons, princesses and other characters pitch kids out of ordinary reality and into the fantastic, opening up possibilities for creative and original thinking as well as self-awareness through the third-person narrative, offering glimpses into their own lives and actions. Storytime Yoga® is excellent for kids to develop emotional intelligence and guides for living in the world from listening to folktales, fairytales and more.

The combination of storytelling and yoga also assists kids with special needs, from autism to ADHD to trauma. It provides learning skills for self-soothing by calming the nervous system via movement and breathwork, and kids learn social skills and life lessons from the stories.

Kids see themselves in the stories and this provide opportunities for self-reflection, bringing awareness to kids and their problems. Hearing stories also brings about peace-making skills, helping kids become aware of emotions and actions via the trials and errors of protagonists and villains. The stories’ outcomes provide kids an ability to imagine alternatives to violence and use problem-solving skills instead as they have filed away resources in their heads from hearing stories.  

Storytime Yoga® warm ups with story! The Seashore warm up! Storytime Yoga® Family Class at Breathe Yoga Center, Norfolk, Virginia 2015.

Storytime Yoga® is based on Montessori education principles, which I learned working in my kids classrooms for 7 years. It integrates many parts of the curriculum, from literature to social studies to music and physical education. It’s seamless and fluid, and most of all it’s fun! All types of learners benefit from hearing the stories orally and using their bodies to tell stories, and for kids who need more visuals to learn,

In the Storytime Yoga® Kids Yoga Story Kits, I use traditional Kamishibai storytelling cards during the re-enactment to repeat the story as we do the yoga. After the fun re-enactment of the story in which kids learn narrative structure and embody the characters and “become” the hero, relaxation and meditation with soothing imagery integrates the experience of learning through play. Afterwards, games and fun follow-up activities of art, story-making and creative writing allows kids of any age and ability a literary education as well as use expressive arts for wellness and self-esteem.

I use lots of fun props and puppets in kids yoga classes!

Overall, it’s the power of play found in the power of the spoken word combined with yoga that can boost a sense of security and build stronger relationships because of the ritual  experienced in a Storytime Yoga® class.

These connections can be integrated into the home environment, as kids and parents are encouraged to tell stories at home and develop a family yoga and storytelling hour to improve literacy and communication.

Even at-risk kids who experience a poverty of words coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds and may not have parents read to them regularly can experience the benefits of story and yoga at home, because even illiterate parents can still listen to and tell stories to their children - stories of family, folklore, fun stuff -and love.

So try it out! Come to the Storytime Yoga® class for kids at the Florida Storytelling Festival April 2! Don’t forget Mythic Yoga for teens and adults too! 

Namaste and have a magical day!

OM SHANTI

SYDNEY SOLIS