Transition and snack time - is there anything sweeter?

Is there anything sweeter than a dozen toddlers sitting around chatting over their snacks of edamame and fruit? I think not. 

After we get up from savasana we sing one more om and our namaste song, and then sometimes we'll sing a song or two in Spanish if the kids aren't too squirmy yet. Then, as with all things in toddler land, we make 'la transición' to snack time. Transitions are a huge part of our day, as I'm sure parents can relate to! Just picture twelve hungry toddlers, some of whom are still working on the concept of taking turns...we practice sitting up cross-legged to show they're ready to go get their snack, and as they do this I set up our mats into a pretend snack table. We talk a lot about not walking on the 'table' and treating our new mat arrangement as a real table. So that means we eat sitting up, keeping all snacks and drinks on the table, using our table manners (please, thank you, no grabbing from other kids' food, etc). 


This is followed by lots of amazing conversations, about dreams, superheroes, swimming, Mom, Dad, baby siblings, birthdays, favorite foods, play dough...you name it! And you can't rush little ones with their food, so snack goes on for a while. As kids finish, they clean up their place and put their lunch boxes away and they can choose to hang out with us at the table or read a book on their own until story time      officially starts. That happens when everyone (or almost everyone is done eating and has cleaned up). 


Story time starts and so does the Potty Parade...everyone goes to the bathroom and washes their hands and any snack off their face. This is sometimes a really fun time to interact with the kids one on one, and sometimes more of a time trial, depending on how many of them decide to tell me about summer vacation while they sit on the pot! Good times :)

Poses We Do (To Varying Degrees)

I've been dreading this post a little bit, because it's the hardest part of camp to explain. So I made a deal-i-o with myself that I can do it, but not in crazy detail. If you know me, you know how much I can talk, and you know how much I love details! But I am going to give a more readable, breathable version of my self here this time. Here goes:

Butterfly

Boat (yes, the seated boat)

Roly Poly (rolling front to back hugging our knees - awesomely fun to do together!)

Candlestick (shoulder stand) - this obviously runs the gamut from lying down with legs sticking up in the air all the way to some pretty amazing full shoulder stands by the older kids. I help them a lot on this one.

Fish (starting with Fish Faces to make it more fun, because this one is challenging for small bodies!)

Cat/Cow - complete with lots of noise :)

Dog

3-Legged Dog - can also be hopping 3-Legged Dog

Baby Donkey Hops

Big Donkey Kicks

Dog Walk (walking around in Dog pose)

Handstands at the wall - endless variations!

Seed pose - we often need a rest after all the handstands :)

Dancer's Pose with one hand on the wall for balance (or not)

Star pose - this is what Half Moon pose is called in kids yoga - we do it leaning on the wall, mostly.

Snake - now I do this differently than a lot of people - we get down and slither around the room pretending to be snakes and hissing and making up things like snake names. There's a lot to be said for kids pretending to actually be animals and just going the whole 9 yards, as you well know :)

After Snake we grow our legs back and stand up for Tree pose

Airplane - kids yoga version of Warrior III

Bridge pose

Savasana with eye pillows

Now just a couple of details I think are so essential that if they're left out we may as well be playing T-ball:

Yoga breath (also called Flower Power breath in some kids classes) - gentle breathing through the nose. Our skulls make something like 28 movements/adjustments for every nostril breath, and zero for mouth breathing. Super important for the health of the skull and hence for the health of the whole being. But it should be gentle, natural breath - yogic breathing is not a good idea for kids at all. There are many reasons for this, and in many ways it's not all that great for adults, either, unless they find their natural breath first. So when you're doing yoga with little ones, just touch your nose every so often to remind them to breathe, and make sure they understand it's easy, gentle breathing in yoga.

Also that alignment, for kids, is irrelevant - the best thing is to model something (if they don't already know what shape to make with their body for a particular pose) and let them do it completely on their own. Physically putting them in positions is less than ideal because at the age I'm working with (and my own age, as well!) a huge part of the learning experience is actually seeing something and just giving it a shot. Whether they do it backwards, halfway, or totally 'wrong'  it's fine - it's great, even! They're figuring out so many relationships between body/gravity/up/down/forwards/backwards, etc...they'll get it all eventually if they keep playing around with it :)

No pressure :) I sort of started to talk about this with breathing and letting them figure things out on their own...please remember that 'yoga' really is an imaginary concept. There is no 'canon' of poses - there are no definitive yoga movements - almost nothing is known about what yoga was, originally, and it's changed so much over the years that none of us are doing 'real' poses. We're doing 'stuff' and we call it yoga because of the conditions we create in which to practice this 'stuff'. Right and wrong, etc don't apply very well in yoga. If you run out of things to do or feel at a loss, just start making things up, or have them invent some new poses :)

Love to all, and see you in the morning at camp!

Once the half pints are in the yoga room...

The last post covered getting from the studio front door into the yoga room...the next step in our morning is a little transition play time. This is pretty straight forward, as play times go...we talk about sharing, playing well together, walking instead of running, using our words instead of our hands (i.e. grabbing, pushing, etc.) to communicate what we want and need, and helping (putting everything away together). It's a nice time, and we also play catch with balloons or just look at books together.

After putting away the toys, books, and balloons, everyone chooses where they will sit that morning for yoga. I set up a big rectangle of mats every morning before the kids arrive, so after play time we migrate to the yoga mats. The kids choose their own spot, which often results in some photo-worthy clumps of tots with huge gaps in between. They rearrange themselves once we get to the poses that require more personal space. We all sit cross-legged (to the best of our ability) and tune in with an Om, with a daily reminder about using our yoga breath (breathing through the nose).

The next paragraph may just break your heart open, so take a breath yourself if you haven't seen this part of class before.

The bell ceremony:
We have a couple of types of bells at the studio - one Tibetan bell on a string, and one on a little post with a piece of wood to strike it. I start off, modeling how to handle the bell and how to ring it. The kids are enthralled by the bell - there is a hush in the room as they watch me ring it, wait until the sound dies away, and then ceremoniously pass it to the child to my left. They then recieve the enchanted attention of the whole group as they ring the bell and pass it along to the next child. One of these days I'm going to get this on video for the parents - seeing these little ones in hushed silence as they wait for a dozen of their friends to ring the bell is pretty stunning. Just yesterday, a little one who was too scared to ring it the first day took what seemed like an eternity and almost rang the bell at least 3 times before deciding to tap it ever so gently to produce a faint tone. The respectful, encouraging silence and subsequent elation on the part of the group as this tot meandered through this experience was very moving. This sort of thing happens all the time in toddler yoga, and is one of the big reasons for this blog : class is not chaotic most of the time - we actually get a lot done, and in fine style. Some of the more experienced half pints are so good with the bell that they have certain sound they can reproduce every time by striking it with their own personal technique. Death by cuteness is something I worry about sometimes, but I figure it'd be a pretty nice way to go if comes to that.

Thanks again for reading this installment about the half pints and their yoga practice with me and my great helpers (without them, we'd never get to this level of harmony and I appreciate them infinitely!).

Summer camps begin tomorrow!

I'm so excited to start camp tomorrow with the half pints! I figured this is a good time to start my series of posts on how camp runs, and why, step by step. First, I'd like to talk about getting to camp and coming into the yoga room. The way they come in can positively affect how their morning starts off, so it's worth a short post. It's wonderful if the kids can do this independently (of course this isn't always smooth sailing, and we can definitely roll with whatever does actually transpire). This is what we're working toward, and some days it happens, some days...not so much :)

Kid walk in to the studio lobby (on their own if possible).

They take off their shoes and store them in one of the cubbies.

They bring their bag with their snack, refillable cup, diapers, etc over to the area by the door of the yoga room and put that down with the other bags.

They walk into the room for a little transition time playing with toys, balloons and/or reading with their camp mates and me and  my assistant. We're so lucky to have assistants this year who have been with camp for at least one summer and who truly enjoy working with the kids. I start getting emails in the winter inquiring about summer camp - needless to say, it's a delight to work with these fun, creative, caring young women, and the kids adore them.

All of this may seem like detail mania, but it does help the kids feel like they have some ownership in the process and ultimately it leads to smoother drop-offs and it also helps at pick-up time that they know where their things are and can gather them up "all by themselves" (the toddler mantra!).

Much love to all the folks who bring their children in to do yoga with us - can't wait to see you, whether it's for camp or a drop-in class!

-Amy

This looks like too much fun not to do this summer in toddler camp!

http://www.annathered.com/2011/04/29/stuffed-stuff-glove-dolls/

If anyone has a bag of spare gloves they'd like to see used for some fun tot projects, bring them on into Kula! You know you haven't throw away all those cute little single gloves and mittens...but can you remember where you stashed them?

Toddler Yoga and the "No Plan Plan""

Wow, it's May 1st! Toddler yoga camps are right around the corner and I'm reflecting on some of the kind and encouraging feedback I've gotten about camps in the past and how to make camp even better this year. This blog is one of the things I've been wanting to do, to share what we're doing and a little about how my classes are 'structured' - always need air quotes for that word with the little ones.

A friend of mine uses a great expression - she's on the "no plan plan". I wrote a whole stuffy blog post about Montessori, and my background and goals in toddler class, and then realized I could save everyone a lot of reading simply by quoting her. The 'no plan plan' is not the lack of a plan, rather it's starting with a plan and constantly adjusting it to meet the needs of the students as we move through our class or morning of camp. That's how we roll in toddler yoga :)

Yes, I did work in a Montessori-style preschool for a year and a half, under a great mentor (Carrie Schonaerts-Ferrucci of La Petite Ecole, Austin). I also went back to school and completed one year at U.T.Austin in kinesiology and education (dropped it when I realized the public schools are not where I belong). I speak French and Spanish fluently and also teach those to kids and adults. I've been teaching in various capacities for eons. But that's probably all anyone needs to know about my training - I'll keep the yawn-inducing details to myself.

What I really want to share on this blog is information about toddler yoga - why it's important, why they love it, and what folks at home can do to incorporate some of our class' vibe in their home life, should they want to. In the spirit of Montessori, the yoga room has lots of open space, and several activity-specific areas that we use throughout our classes and camps. I'm lucky to have a wonderfully simple, big, open space to work in - no furniture, no places in the room where the kids are out of view, etc. There's a toy trunk to explore for the first 10-15 minutes of class. This is helpful in leaving the tots some time to socialize (or not) and get to know the room. We also have a big rectangle of yoga mats, so we can do our yoga postures, and for camp we also have a story corner and we make a pretend snack 'table' every day so we can eat together as if we were sitting at a big table.

We have a few rules/guidelines in the yoga room: to use walking feet, not running feet, to use our inside voices, to give everyone personal space around their body, and to use our words to communicate (vs. hitting or grabbing, etc). And of course we talk things over as they come up. For conflict resolution an adult (me or my assistant) helps the kids involved in a scuffle or argument to resolve the problem themselves, mainly by asking them what happened and giving each child a chance to say what happened and then find a solution (sharing a toy, taking turns in a game, finding ways to do something together, etc).

For now I'll say a bit about why I think toddler yoga is so important, and save other topics for later posts. Yoga for toddlers is important for many reasons.

1. It's a group activity that can still be self-paced. We do things in a group, but timing and skill level are totally individual - for example, all the kids can do downward dog, but each child's version is different and it's great to learn by watching others. Group activities are great for toddlers so they get used to following verbal cues, etc, and for learning about personal space - and self pacing is essential for them. It's incredible to watch them teach each other and observe each other. There's no pressure to perform any particular thing - they sometimes sit out for a pose and get back into the activity again for the next one. Yoga is generally easy and fun for kids, so there's no need to push to get them interested.

2. Yoga gets kids to explore moving in many different ways, at every angle to gravity. When I was little, we climbed trees, built things, went upside down, carried each other, etc all in a day's play. These days more than ever, kids need activities that include varied movements (standing, balancing, handstanding, sitting, lying down, on all fours, etc). It's empowering for tots to figure out how to balance on one leg, or how to aim their feet so they can do a double downward dog with a classmate - and it's important for them to develop these skills as early as possible (in a non-competitive environment).

3. We relate to each other in a unique way in yoga. Yoga emphasizes openness, peacefulness, breathing, and serenity. Sure, we laugh a ton in yoga and there are plenty of times we're all slithering around the floor like snakes pretending to bite, but for the most part, the vibe is very calm. It's a great atmosphere for learning.

4. Yoga includes relaxation. It may be surprising to people, but little kids love savasana! At the end of our active yoga time we enjoy a few minutes of quiet relaxation. Each child is invited to use an eye pillow if they want, and they lie down and relax, while staying awake. Waking relaxation is a wonderful thing - savasana is many kids' favorite time in yoga :)

5. I breathe, the kids breathe. Adult bodies can regulate the pace of breathing in smaller bodies (children). Because my breath is conscious, easy and relaxed, the kids' breathing will tend to become more like that.

6. Children love ceremony. In my experience, kids love being ceremonious. We can see this in their play - imitating solemn characters, etc. We start each yoga time by passing around a Tibetan bell, each child getting a turn to ring the bell. It's moving to see how respectful they are and how serious, as they pass the special bell from one child to the next, listening to the unique quality of each child's ring and often nodding in appreciation of especially nice tones or if a very little child is able to ring it on their own for the first time.

Thanks for reading, and please comment, ask questions, or share stories as you wish!

-Amy

Welcome to Kula Half Pints! Come on in!

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for reading the blog for the toddler yoga program at Kula Yoga! This is an idea that was suggested ages ago, by a wonderful grandmother of one of the Half Pints, wanting to know more about what they do in class, and wanting to know more about how to integrate what the kids learn in class with what they are doing at home. I'm a little slow to start big projects, but it's finally happening. I hope this will be a forum for communication between me and parents and caregivers, so we can share articles and personal insights. I'll be writing about toddler yoga and why it's so beneficial for kids, and what we do in class. Much love to you, and I'll be posting an article very soon!

Love,

Amy