The Kids Yoga Resource

Yoga for Children: 200+ Yoga Poses, Breathing Exercises and Meditations for Healthier, Happier, More Resilient Children

Help your kids de-stress and get healthy with  Yoga for Children: 200+ Yoga Poses, Breathing Exercises and Meditations for Healthier, Happier, More Resilient Children, by Lisa Flynn (Adams Media, an F+W Media Co.)

Description:

Yoga for Children will encourage your child to learn about yoga with an attentive, at-home instructor—you! Even if you are new to the practice, author, mom, and children’s yoga expert Lisa Flynn will guide you and your child through more than 200 yoga poses, meditations, and activities that are suitable for children between the ages of two and twelve. Complete with full-color photographs, instructional scripts, and pose modifications, Yoga for Children will help build your child’s confidence, self-awareness, and focus while strengthening your connection—one yoga session at a time.

Endorsements:

“Yoga for Children is holistic: encouraging the skills of focus, mindful reflection, and mind/body awareness, inspiring confidence, self-regulation, and self-efficacy while teaching gratitude and optimism.”

Sat Bir S. Khalsa, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Yoga Researcher; Author of Your Brain on Yoga

“Lisa Flynn has mastered the art of bringing yoga to children . . . . [This book] is absolutely packed with clear and practical guidance for any of us who want to bring the healing grace of yoga to the kids in our lives.”
Stephen Cope, Director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living; Author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

“In this practical how-to guide, Lisa Flynn shares the secrets of empowering kids and families to connect with one another while learning positive, productive skills for managing the stresses of everyday life.”
Amy McCready, Founder of Positive Parenting Solutions; Author of If I Have to Tell You One More Time . .
.

Read more endorsements for Yoga for Children.


About the Author:
Lisa Flynn, E-RYT, RCYT, Founder of ChildLight Yoga® and Yoga 4 Classrooms® has an award-winning kids’ yoga studio in Dover, New Hampshire. Certified in several schools of yoga for children and adults, Lisa shares her knowledge with hundreds of parents, educators, and yoga teachers every year through her trainings and workshops. She is also the author of the Yoga 4 Classrooms Card Deck.

ORDER NOW at the ChildLight Yoga Boutique for a SIGNED COPY!

ORDER at Amazon.com.

 ORDER at Barnes & Noble.com.


Upcoming Book Signings:
Friday, May 10, 6-10pm, Angels for Amy Fundraiser, The Red Barn, South Berwick, ME
Saturday, June 1, 10am-2pm, Dover Main Street Children's Festival, Dover, NH
Sunday, June 2, 11am-12pm, Barnes & Noble, Newington, NH
Tuesday June 25, 10:30-11:30am, River Run Books, Portsmouth, NH. Followed by Prescott Park Annual Yoga in the Park Family Class.

WHOLESALE ORDER INQUIRIES: Contact stacey@childlightyoga.com. 

 

Practicing Peace Breath to help children cope with tragic news and ease emotional distress

This may be a tough week for schools and students around the US. The news of the shooting tragedy in Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT is horrifying to anyone, and although the feelings of sadness, empathy and compassion are prevalent and natural responses, so are the feelings of anger, helplessness and fear.

To help empower children (and ourselves) to ease feelings of helplessness, we would like to recommend starting each school day this week with PEACE BREATH: sending peace and love to the children and families of Newtown, CT, and to the world. This exercise could be done in the classroom or over announcements with your entire school. Of course, this can be done at home as well!

Peace Breath activity is one of 67 from the Yoga 4 Classrooms Card Deck. The instructions on the card are simple and easy to follow - we hope you will use this wonderful tool and share it with anyone in need of a helpful guide to managing the myriad of emotions associated with such tragedy. Peace Breath inspires self-regulation while generating immense compassion, connectedness and community with the power to help heal ourselves and the world.

Many blessings to the Sandy Hook and Newtown, CT community, to the beautiful children they have lost and to the many heroes who tried to protect them. Our thoughts of peace and compassion are with you.



We would like to also share other useful resources on how to help children cope with frightening news:

CASEL: Explaining and Coping with School Violence

PBS Parents: Talking with Kids About News [ages 6-8]

National Association of School Psychologists:

Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers K-12

Helping Children Cope with a Crisis

Helping Children with Disabilities Cope with a Crisis

BAM Radio Network: Coping with School Tragedies: What do we do now?

Yoga Activist blogs about Yoga 4 Classrooms and benefits of yoga in schools

We are excited to share the latest blog post from the Yoga Activist's Yoga & Our Health column .

The outreach work of the Yoga Activist is centered around building connections between qualified yoga instructors, social service providers, government agencies and communities that have little or no access to the science of yoga and its use as a self-empowerment tool. We encourage you to take a closer look at the work they do in this organization and resources they offer for yoga community, and get as inspired as we are!

Read the full story, contributed by Licensed Yoga 4 Classrooms Trainer Jennifer Mueller, here... Below are the excerpts from her post.

"Among the most often mentioned benefits of yoga for children by their teachers are that yoga:

 - relieves tension and stress, something teachers are very concerned about as standardized testing requirements continue to grow,
 - increases concentration, focus, and attention span,
 - expands imagination and creativity,
 - improves ability to be less reactive, more mindful of thoughts, words, and actions,
 - builds confidence and self-esteem,
 - enhances team skills and social interaction,
 - encourages a fit and healthy lifestyle.
 
 (Read Yoga 4 Classrooms’ full list of Benefits of Yoga for Children)

"Teachers who implement Yoga 4 Classrooms usually report that taking as little as 30 seconds to 5 minutes to practice these simple tools throughout the day helps their class community learn to self-regulate, leading to a more positive, peaceful, productive school day…not to mention happier, more resilient students".

Join Jennifer Mueller on October 27th from 2-8pm at Christ Church on Capitol Hill for the first Yoga 4 Classrooms workshop in Washington, DC.

For a full schedule of the Yoga 4 Classrooms Professional Development Workshops in multiple locations across the US click here.

Yoga 4 Classrooms is an affiliate of the ChildLight Yoga, with a mission to empower students and educators to create positive, peaceful, productive classrooms that support exceptional learning and a lifetime of health and wellness.

To follow the continuing story of Yoga 4 Classrooms, we encourage you to subscribe to the Y4C E-newsletter and to follow our blog.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Story yoga for kids stretches the body AND encourages literacy and imagination

Guest Post by Judie Hurtado.

If you have children, have met a child or been around children in any capacity, then you know that they love hearing a good story. Most children thoroughly enjoy being read to.  As a kids (and adult) yoga teacher and a mom to two girls, I’m all too familiar with being asked to read them a book.

When I teach kids yoga classes, I often read a book and incorporate yoga poses that go along with the book.  They love it!

Below is recent story I created and shared.  I highlighted all the words that are yoga poses.

A Beautiful Sunny Day

I took a walk on a beautiful sunny day. Hello Sun! (Wave hello to the sun with both arms).  I saw a tree with big green leaves.  Then I saw an Apple tree. I reached up high to pick an apple.

I cleaned the apple with my shirt. I looked at it, smelled it and took a bite. I chewed and chewed.

A bird came over and took a bite. Another bird came over.  (The children shared what kind of bird was eating their apple). I liked sharing my apple.

A butterfly flew on my shoulder! Then it flew off to a flower.  I decided to smell the flower. (Again, the children shared what type of flower they saw).

A bumblebee was also next to the flower. It buzzed and buzzed. (Children make buzzing sounds).

I was tired so I decided to take a short nap.  Breathe in and breath out.  Ahhhh…..

I woke up and stretched. When I looked around, I wasn’t at the park. I was in my own bed. It was all a dream!

The children especially enjoyed the ending.  One little girl asked me to read the story again without the yoga poses.  The class was a great success. 

Whenever I read a story, I am sure to engage the children and invite them to use their imagination.  For example, I asked them to tell me what kind of apple they picked or what colors were on their butterfly. The children love participating and are very eager to share!


Judie Hurtado, RYT, has been practicing various styles of yoga for over 13 years but has always been particularly drawn to vinyasa. She has studied with many teachers, including Jennifer Kohl at Lotus Yoga in Montclair, where she completed her 300-hour yoga teacher-training program. She received her Kids Yoga Certification through Karma Kids and Every Kids Yoga: Teaching Yoga To Children with Special Needs through Craig Hanauer.  She is also a Reiki Practitioner and a Health and Wellness writer.  She can be reached at judie.hurtado@gmail.com. She also blogs about her fitness and spiritual adventures at www.judiesjuice.wordpress.com.

Message from Lisa Flynn, ChildLight Yoga: 
Notice as well, the story need not be complicated or overly verbose. A good rule of thumb...the younger the children, the simpler the story. Use familiar objects, sights and sounds. And, don't be afraid to let them stretch their bodies and imaginations by encouraging them to make up poses where there may not be an obvious choice. All in all, story yoga (whether using books or self-creations) encourages literacy skills and imagination while stretching the body.

What stories do you share with your children? Could you weave in some yoga poses?  Please share!

For more on utilizing story and storybooks in kids' yoga classes, check out these previous posts:
Bringing Children's Books to Life with Yoga: Part I
Bringing Children's Books to Life with Yoga: Part II

Yoga 4 Classrooms Card Deck Review & Giveaway: by Omazing Kids Yoga

The Omazing Kids Yoga review of our new Yoga 4 Classrooms Card Deck is well, Omazing!  We especially appreciate that Angela Moorad, the founder, notes the features that we feel make the deck and Yoga 4 Classrooms program unique, comprehensive and user-friendly. 

Highlights of the review....

Wow…. The new Yoga 4 Classrooms Activity Card Deck has it all!  The Y4C card deck provides an easy to use, well-rounded & comprehensive approach to yoga for kids. It is a “must have” for classroom teachers & kids yoga teachers.

Here’s what I LOVE about the Y4C Card Deck:

    •    Yoga is so much more than just “poses” so it is refreshing to see this expressed so well in a kids yoga product!

    •    The instructions on the back of the card are easy to understand & often provide ideas for partner variations, ideas to include books & music and other classroom extension ideas.

    •    The cards would be very easy to use in any setting with the use of standing & chair poses (no need for yoga mats or floor space) and do not have anything in them that could be viewed as “religious” (no Sanskrit words, Om symbols, etc..) thus avoiding the potential objections school administration or parents might have.

    •    The cards are colorful & large enough to be seen in a group setting.

    •    The cards are color-coded by category.

    •    The illustrations on the cards depict kids of diverse ethnicities & abilities.

    •    The words on the front of each card capture the essence & purpose of that activity or pose and would be easy to use as “affirmations”.

    •    The “Be Well” cards  address “Yamas” & “Niyamas” of yoga via “Character Education” in a classroom-friendly way. Yamas are social disciplines –  how we behave toward others & Niyamas are personal disciplines – how we care for ourselves.

READ MORE AND ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE.

Children's Yoga Teaching Tips

1.  When teaching children yoga, be friendly and firm.  In the words of the Dog Whisperer:  You are the Calm, Assertive, Pack Leader.

2.  When doing a yoga posture or exercise, children will breathe unconsciously no matter how much to tell them to breathe.  To encourage conscious breathing say something like, “Breathe so you can hear yourself and only yourself breathing”, or “Let’s take five big breaths together, inhale/exhale one, inhale/exhale two….”

3.  Story yoga works best when you remember the “glue”that holds it together: 1. step-by-step instructions, 2. Breath co-ordinated with yoga movement (ex. “breathe in as arms go up, breathe out down”).  3.  To ease transtions and encourage focus, end each pose/exercise with “Breathe in…(pause)…breathe out, and relax.’”

4.  Let most of the chatter go by, and keep teaching.  If there is a group restlessness, bring more large motor movement into the mix (ex. frog hops, monkey jumps for younger ones, downdog to plank and back for older ones.)

5.  Routine brings security. New material brings fresh interest. Use a combination of both in your class planning.  More routine from 2-6, more variety for 7 and up.

Shared by Shakta Kaur Khalsa.  Shakta has been teaching yoga and children for over 3 decades, is the author of several yoga books, mother of a teenager, happily married to Kartar for over 30 years, and oh yes--founder of the Radiant Child Yoga program, a teacher training program for keeping kids joyful, aware, strong, and beautiful. It works for us adult children too... View all posts by radiantchildyoga →

Learn with Yoga - ABC Yoga Cards teach kids yoga, speech, language and literacy

Learn with Yoga-ABC Yoga Cards for Kids
by Christine Ristuccia, M.S. CCC-SLP
Publisher: Addriya
Ages 2 and up
Retail Price: $20

As fun as yoga is for kids, many enjoy themselves more with a prop or other object to lead their practice. Yoga cards are great ways to learn individual poses as well as sequences, and Christine Ristuccia’s deck, “Learn with Yoga-ABC Yoga Cards for Kids” has the added benefit of teaching speech, language and literacy as well.

Aimed at children two years and older, these cards feature 26 poses, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each pose is laid out on two 5x7-inch cards: one for the child or student, and another for the parent, caregiver or teacher.  

The child’s card shows a full-sized illustration of a yogi in a certain pose, with another picture of the object such pose is named for.  Lastly, a bold Uppercase and Lowercase Letter is printed in the corner.  For example, Downward-facing Dog includes a yogi in the down-dog posture, the image of a dog as well as the letter Dd.  On the back, Ristuccia lists benefits, such as “gets your anger out,” and “calms you down,” and verbal cues to guide positioning.

The adult’s card includes a similar illustrations and verbal cues, but includes dozens of questions related to reading readiness, language development and conversation starters.  Examples include "What rhymes with dog?," "What sound is at the end of "Dog" and "Do you have a dog?"

These cards offer hours of fun, if you can keep a young child’s attention that long!  Luckily, the questions are optional, and if one day you focus only or a few cards including these exercises, another day you might group several together to create a sequence and focus only on the poses.  (The cards are also color-coded into various types, including warm-ups, resting, basic and other activities geared towards different challenges or strengths, such as fostering creativity or calming aggression.)

Recently, two of ChildLight Yoga’s students, age 3 and 6, tried out these cards during an afternoon yoga practice with their mom.  While mom tried to engage the kids with a few of the questions, the kids both seemed more interested in performing each pose, then moving on to the next.  Not surprisingly, the 6-year-old yogi had a longer attention span and stayed on her mat performing each of the 8 poses chosen.  The 3-year-old was in and out of the practice, walking away at times but returning when a pose looked fun.  

At the end of the practice, mom asked each of the little yogis what they liked about the cards.  

“They all gave me a good stretch, especially Elephant!,” said the 6-year-old, referring to the E card and its standing pose.  

“They made me feel strong,” said the 3-year-old.  

When mom asked what they didn’t like so much, they both said they didn’t like answering questions.   (What is a great concept for a classroom or studio environment may not work as well at home.)

Mom also gave her feedback of the double card format.  

“It was confusing to go between the two cards, as each one had a front and a back,” she said. “I think the publisher might have made it more simple, such as a child-friendly front and a back aimed at the grown-up.”

Besides the double cards and what might be too many literacy and language development questions, these are cute yoga cards that provide a lot of options for incorporating yoga into a child’s day.  They can be used at school, playtime or bedtime and for a wide age group. ~ Amy Bevan

Amy Bevan is a freelance writer, local reporter and host of The PranaMama, an online wellness and lifestyle magazine, and frequent contributor to ChildLight Yoga's blog, The Kids Yoga Resource.  She is also as certified ChildLight Yoga Instructor and Itsy Bitsy Yoga facilitator.  Amy resides in South Berwick, ME with her husband and three young children.

Note from ChildLight Yoga:  We are impressed with the thoroughness of this particular kids' yoga card deck - so impressed that we are carrying them in our boutique.  The format and content of the deck lends itself well to uses in therapeutic sessions with occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech therapists, as well as in children's yoga classes and even at home, as described by our guest reviewer above.  Our opinion? A big thumb's up!