The Kids Yoga Resource

Seacoast Yoga Community Launches Teen Yoga Network Offering Free Classes to Teens

The Seacoast yoga community is launching the Teen Yoga Network to make the benefits of yoga accessible to teens. Free classes are available to teens ages 14 – 17 at fifteen participating yoga studios.

Spearheaded by Lisa Flynn, founder and director of ChildLight Yoga and Yoga 4 Classrooms, the Teen Yoga Network was designed as a seva (service) project. She presented the idea to area yoga studios and teachers and the response was immediate.

“Teens are stressed, busy and often don't have a lot of funds,” Flynn says.  “And most yoga studios, including ours, typically cater to adults and/or kids, with teens sometimes falling through the cracks. As a yoga community, we are trying to make yoga more accessible to them. In doing so, our hope is that more teens will have the opportunity to experience the positive benefits of yoga, ultimately building resilience, self-esteem and the self-regulation skills essential to a positive adolescent experience and lifelong health and wellness. In the end, healthier teens means healthier adults and communities.”

Participating studios, including Awakening Grace Yoga, Balance Yoga Studio for Women, Bikram Yoga Portsmouth, ChildLight Yoga, My Om Whole Fitness, Peace Tree Yoga, Portsmouth Yoga Shala, Rasamaya Yoga, Sacred Movement Yoga, Salon by the Sea, Seacoast Power Yoga, Symmetry Yoga, 3 Bridges Yoga, Yoga on York, and Zev Yoga, invite teens between 14-17 years old to join an appropriate selection of their regularly scheduled adult classes at no charge. TYN (Teen Yoga Network) classes and related details will be noted on the schedule page of each studio’s website, and ChildLight Yoga will soon have dedicated Teen Yoga Network webpage posted, with links to participating studios.

To celebrate and encourage the growth of this initiative, ChildLight Yoga Studio in Dover, NH will be hosting two teen-focused specialty trainings in 2012 for those who wish to learn more about sharing yoga with adolescents: 

The Yoga 4 Teens Teacher Training with Christy Brock Miele of San Juan Capistrano, CA, Founder of YogaMinded and Author of Yoga 4 Teens, An Instructor's Guide to Teaching Yoga to Teenagers, will be held this month from March 16-18. (Note to ChildLight Yoga Teachers! - Training is $50 off for all those who have previously completed a ChildLight Yoga Teacher Training when you register by March 8. Use coupon code: CLYDISCOUNT.)

As a part of this training weekend, area teens are invited to a FREE demo class with Brock Miele to be held on Saturday, March 17, 10:30 - 11:30am. Pre-registration for the free class is required. Email lisa@childlightyoga.com  


From November 2 – 4, 2012, ChildLight Yoga Studio will also host the Karma Kids Teen Yoga Teacher Training with Erin Wilson of New York City.




ChildLight Yoga, located at 453 Central Avenue in Dover, NH, provides evidence-based yoga education nationwide to children in schools and communities, and to professionals whose work supports the well-being of children. For more information about classes, trainings and the Teen Yoga Network, visit www.childlightyoga.com.

Media Contact or for Information about starting a Teen Yoga Network in your community:

Lisa Flynn
ChildLight Yoga & Yoga 4 Classrooms
453 Central Ave, Suite 103
Dover, NH 03820
603-781-3323
Blog: www.thekidsyogaresource.com
FB: www.facebook.com/childlightyoga
Twitter: www.twitter.com/childlightyoga

TRUST ME . . . You Should Read This

 

As the sun finally starts to shine a little brighter and the last of the snow melts, I begin to think of warmer weather, of springtime, and of the potential for life and growth once again!  In the coming weeks, I will use the inspiration of spring to explore the theme of Trust (Satya).

What does is mean to have trust?  Consider the following three definitions, as provided by dictionary.com.   

1. To rely upon or place confidence in someone or something

In this day and age, when our nightly news is filled with terrifying stories from around the globe, it can sometimes be difficult to think of trusting others. However, without the ability to see the kindness or genuineness in others, we are left lonely and separated from the greater community around us. How do we teach our children to be cautious, but also trusting of the overall goodness that people possess?

To me, it is about reinvesting in connections. Our technology keeps us connected at a moments notice, but it does not allow for the same level of comfort or richness that an in-person conversation can provide.

This spring, I will be trying to spend less time in front of my computer or phone and more time in person with those I really care about. I will be reinvesting in these friendships and taking the time to see how the people I care about are doing. I will give support, and I will also build connections with people whom I can rely on when I’m struggling and need the comforting hand of a friend or loved one to help pull me back up on my feet.

 2. Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence

Trust is also about understanding ourselves: who we are and who we want to become. It is about challenging ourselves, dedicating ourselves to things that matter to us, and confidently sticking to the core values that underlie the actions we take in our lives.

 3. Confident expectation of something; hope

If you had asked me in January whether this winter would ever end, I admit that my hope, my faith, was challenged! And yet, here we are in April. The street parking spots have returned to their normal sizes and the sidewalks are once again easily accessible.

An important aspect of trust is having hope and believing in your own ability to actualize those hopes that you hold most dear.

In the coming weeks, we will be working with our students on building their sense of confidence and trust in themselves as yogis and as individuals. We will also be focusing on ways to remain engaged with our neighborhoods in ways that facilitate the building of community, of connection, and of trust.  Lastly, we will spend time thinking about what our hopes are for ourselves and for our world and how we can be part of fulfilling these visions.  We will learn how to nurture our relationships, our world, and ourselves.

We invite you to join us on this journey. We will do yoga, we will do art, we will talk, we will play, and we will breathe!

Happy Spring!

Ideas for helping students build their sense of confidence and trust in themselves

1. Have each student identify a yoga move that they have not yet been able to master. Encourage them to pledge to spend a few minutes each day practicing this pose. The goal is to push themselves to accomplish new things and have confidence in their abilities. However, the other goal is to recognize that sometimes this takes time, effort, and endurance in order to achieve.

 2. Before class, cut handprints out of cardboard (they can be also purchased in packs from many craft stores). Ask students to write, on each finger, one personal strength that they feel they possess. Then in the center of the palm, write one thing that they want to keep working on. Offer an opportunity for each student to share what they have written and facilitate a conversation on how students can work towards accomplishing their goals.

 Ideas for remaining engaged with our communities

1. Inspire students to pick a cause and volunteer a weekend of their time. Not only does this encourage investment in their community, but it is also a great way to foster a sense of competency in kids.

2. Bridge Building . . . I love building bridges with kids! I assign kids into groups of 2-3, depending on the size of the group, and give them popsicle sticks and masking tape. Bridges can be suspended from two chairs, tables, or any other raised surfaces, but no part of the bridge can touch the ground. The assignment is to build a bridge that can handle the weight of ten soup cans (that I lug into class). This game requires teamwork, communication, negotiation, and creativity in order to be accomplished. Additionally, it can also be the start of a productive discussion around the metaphor of bridges: how do we get where we want to go? How do we build metaphoric bridges in our own communities? How do we support ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities?

Ideas for fostering hope

1. For an art activity at the end of class, invite students to think about a person in their lives who could use a kind word. Perhaps they know of a sick relative, a neighbor, or a friend who is going through a hard time. Provide supplies for students to write an encouraging and loving card to this person.

2. Group mural: Provide a large piece of paper (a role of butcher paper works nicely) and invite the group to create a mural about their hopes for themselves and for the world. This activity not only requires collaboration, but it also demonstrates that what a group of people can create together can be more powerful than what one person can do on their own.

Katie Novick, a Licensed Social Worker, received her teaching certificate from Childlight Yoga in 2010 and is the newest member of the CLY Merrimack Valley team. She has been running therapeutic groups with children and adolescents since 2008 and is excited to be focusing her group experience on helping kids to learn yoga skills that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.  Katie believes that yoga can be used to help children build physical and mental strength, to feel in tune with themselves and with their peers, to learn skills to help them relax when the world gets stressful, and to increase children’s sense of self-esteem.

For information on ChildLight Yoga's classes for adolescents (Girl Time Yoga, Karma Teens, Peace Ambassadors) and all other ages, please visit www.childlightyoga.com.  Classes are currently available in Merrimack Valley area and Newburyport, MA as well as Portsmouth and Dover, NH.

 

 

Making it Personal - Helping Kids Understand the Power of Yoga is Key to Commitment

Helping children to understand why they are learning yoga is critical to gaining their buy-in and long-term commitment to the practice.  Yes, it is fun.  But, it’s also very beneficial for over all health and well-being. 

Knowing a little bit about your students will help you provide the appropriate answer to the question, “Why should I do yoga?”  Tying in yoga and its benefits to their life is the key to providing a satisfying answer. 

For example, if you know a student is an athlete, explain to him/her how a yoga lifestyle (poses, good nutrition, time for stillness/mediation) can help to build muscle and strength, mental focus, balance and coordination, energy – all which will improve his/her performance.  You might even mention the endless list of athletes who are now practicing yoga (do a google search: athletes doing yoga).

If you have a student who is into theatre, singing or performance, point out how yoga and meditation can help with concentration, the ability to remember lines and conquer fears, such as stage fright.

Another student may have a tough time focusing or paying attention at school and may feel down about getting into trouble all of the time.  Let him know practicing yoga can help us to calm down and focus, giving us tools to control our behavior and improve our concentration skills.

An anxious or especially shy student will be happy to know that yoga can help improve confidence, and even helps us to fall asleep easier, and sleep more soundly.

Or, maybe your student is focused on getting good grades and being a good person.  Explain how yoga supports the concentration and discipline needed to get good grades.  It also supports the kindness and openness that makes us better world citizens.

Knowing your students strengths and weaknesses will help you to provide the best answer and in turn, will help you to excite the kids even more about their yoga experience.  The key is to get them started.  Over time, with a consistent practice, children will begin to make those connections on their own as they begin to see and feel the effects yoga has in their daily life.

How do you tie-in yoga's benefits for your kids?

Practicing Truth: Yoga Principles for Children and Teens

This is the second in a series of articles about teaching Yamas and Niyamas to children.

Lying is a difficult subject to broach with kids.  As parents, catching our kids in a lie can upset and disappoint us, especially if it's a pattern.  We may wonder, "What have I done wrong to make my child think that lying is ok?"  And yet, if we consider our own behavior, we may realize that we don't always model truthfulness ourselves.  As adults, we can be dishonest with our kids in both subtle and overt ways.  Have you ever been upset about something - angry or crying - and heard your child ask, "What's the matter," only to reply with that pat mommy response, "Nothing honey, I'm fine"?  Think about the mixed message that sends.  Even a toddler can tell that mommy isn't fine. 

I remember an incident in a public restroom with my then three-year-old son.  As I looked up from the sink to see him eying the trash can with that curious gleam that only toddlers get, I heard myself saying (the voice of desperation - he was getting ready to touch a restroom trashcan, for goodness sake!), "Don't touch that, or you'll get sick!"  "Will it make me throw up?" he asked.  Determined to persuade him to walk away from the trash can, I replied, "Yes."  At which point he reached out and touched it anyway.  The fact that he came down with the stomach flu that night was an ironic coincidence, and I never did have to warn him away from public restroom trashcans afterward.  And although it makes a great story (in part, because I didn't get caught in my little lie), I certainly wasn't truthful.  Can public trashcans make you sick?  Perhaps.  But there were ways I could have stated my case more honestly.

We call these white lies, and justify them by saying they're necessary to protect, or to prove an important point.  The fact is, our children learn from us.  They are our greatest observers.  So when we tell these white lies, our kids usually know it.  What we teach them is this:  telling the truth is important, except when lying serves you better.  So when your eight year old denies spilling a glass of milk in the living room in order to avoid punishment, ask yourself how often you've fudged the truth to manipulate a situation. 

As they get older, children become more and more sensitive to our dishonesty, especially in the form of hypocrisy.  If you advise your teen-aged daughter to save her money, advocating the virtues of putting money aside rather than spending it on trinkets or clothes - then head out to the mall to buy yourself a new outfit on a whim - it sends a clear message that the playing field is not even.  There are the rules you expect your child to live by, and then there are your rules.  If there's an inequality, your child will notice.  And they will not respect you for it.

Dishonesty can be expressed as speaking an untruth, hypocritical behavior (saying one thing and doing another), failure to keep a promise, or violating a trust.  As a parent it's important to be mindful of our behavior in all of these respects in order to model honesty.  Is it easy?  Absolutely not.  Then again, I haven't found much about parenting to be easy.  But I do believe it's necessary to try.

Truthfulness or satya (Sanskrit for "non-lying"),  is one of the foundational principles of Yoga.  While, from a parenting perspective, we tend to teach truthfulness as a way of relating to others, in Yoga we consider truthfulness in terms of how it reflects on ourselves.  Does lying hurt people?  It can.  But it always hurts our selves - we who hold forever that experience of being dishonest.  Each dishonesty sows a seed inside of us, and each of these seeds has the power to undermine our ability to be our best selves.  By practicing honesty, we are allowing our best self to flourish.

It's appropriate to take a moment to acknowledge that while lying can hurt, so sometimes can the truth.  Yoga advocates for truthfulness in all situations, and at the same time says that non-violence (called ahimsa; in children's yoga we often call it "kindness") supersedes all other behaviors.  So how do we act when these two values - honesty and kindness - rub up against one another?  All of us, certainly, have been in a situation where telling the truth can hurt the feelings of someone we care about (who has not been asked by a friend, "Does this outfit make me look fat?").  Situations in which two equally important values conflict are often the most challenging in our lives.  There are no easy solutions.  And it's important that our children see us working through these challenges.  Their lives, after all, won't be free of them, so what good are we doing them by protecting them from the reality of it?  Life is challenging.  And seeing you acknowledge what challenges you and watching as you work to find a solution that doesn't compromise your values can offer them an important life skill.   

As a Yoga teacher, it amazes me how well children understand the subtleties of these conflicts.  They really do get it.  And Yoga class is an ideal opportunity to discuss and explore values such as honesty.  One way to teach kids to measure honesty is through what's called "the four gates of speech":  Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? and Is this the right moment to say it?  For younger children, stick to the first two measurements: Is it true? and Is it kind?  Ask them to tell you what they think truthfulness means, why it's important and how it relates to kindness.  Guaranteed, the balance between truth and kindness is no new dilemma for school-aged children.  They've all experienced it.  The important thing is to support them as they think about how to honor both in their lives - so when it happens again (and it will), they have some personal guidelines for how to handle it.

Encourage children to practice by asking them to share observations or comments about one another that are both truthful and kind.  This can be done moving around a circle (or tossing a ball across the circle; each child can share a comment about a fellow student, then toss them the ball - the receiving child then shares a comment about another student, to whom they, then, toss the ball.  Continue this activity until every child has had at least one opportunity to be both the giver and the receiver of a kind and truthful comment).  You can also have children work with partners.  Either way, it's a great way to support these two critical values - and at the same time build community and foster self-esteem.

When teaching older children - pre-teens and teens - draw on all of the "four gates of speech,"  and discuss honesty in all of its glorious complexity.  And, of course, there's the most critical reason why Yoga promotes honesty: by telling the truth, we begin to recognize truth around and within us.  The root word of satya (non-lying) is sat, which means "being."  Telling the truth requires that we inquire within ourselves and discover our most deeply held truths:  Who am I?  Why am I here?  What is my life about?  Practicing honesty is the gateway to deep self-reflection, teaching us about what lies within our hearts.  And only when we're connected to our truest selves, can we honestly say that we're in all ways truthful.

Lisa Burk-McCoy, RYT200, is working toward a 500 hour teaching certificate in Classical Yoga from the YogaLife Institute.  She also holds a prenatal yoga certification, and children's yoga certifications from ChildLight Yoga and Itsy Bitsy Yoga. Lisa currently serves as an instructor and business consultant for ChildLight Yoga. When not practicing yoga, she dabbles as a musician, playing flute in a local contra-dance band and teaching classical flute lessons to children and adults. She is blessed with a wonderful family–a husband, son and daughter, and a menagerie of pets. They make their home in Exeter, NH.

Practice Peace: Yoga Principles for Youth and Teens

ChildLight Yoga's Lisa Flynn posted an introductory article, Practice Peace:  Yoga Principles for Children #1, which discussed supporting the practice and understanding of peace for children.  This follow-up article focuses on an inquiry into peace for teens. 

Travel the halls of any middle or high school, and you'll notice signs of peace everywhere.  Literally. On t-shirts, backpacks, necklaces, hairbands, socks, sneakers, binders, book jackets.  The list goes on.  Young people are naturally attracted to the idea of peace and are enthusiastic promoters of non-violent idealism. 

As a mother of teenagers, I can attest first-hand to the world-loving, tree-hugging attitude.  We even catch and release mosquitoes and ticks in our househould - proof positive of my teens' commitment to the values of life and peace.  And yet, life in my house is far from peaceful.  Young people seem to suffer a disconnect between the idea of peace and what that means in a global arena, versus how to actually be peaceful in thought, word and deed.  

As parents, we first need to understand that this is a normal developmental issue.  Teens need to challenge their parents in order to assert their independence - a process that is anything but peaceful.  On the other hand, what a ripe opportunity to plant seeds for future growth!

As a yoga teacher, I find peace (which we call ahimsa, or non-violence, in yoga-speak) is a topic that invites introspection and sharing.  Ask teens questions that encourage self-reflection: What does peace mean to you? How do you practice peace in your life? How do you feel peace within yourself? How do you uphold peace even when you have to tell a hurtful truth?  Facilitate a group discussion, and ask teens to provide specific details about their own personal practice of peace.  If you'd like, you can even ask them to explore times they don't feel so peaceful.  After all, it's all about self-discovery - for better or for worse.

Abby Wills of Shanti Generation posted a somewhat different approach on her blog.  Called The Sound of Peace, Abby invites her students to consider what peace sounds like to them.  This is a wonderful exercise that integrates sensory awareness and conceptual thought. Surely psychologists and educators have a clinical word to describe that!  So, let's extrapolate:  What does peace taste like? Feel like? Smell like? Look like?

Close the activity by inviting teens into a meditation on peace. This meditation is best practiced outside or by an open window, although you can also play a disc of nature sounds. Ask students to sit comfortably with their hands resting on their thighs. Draw their attention to their quiet and gentle breath. While remaining focused on their breathing, ask them to ask notice the sounds and sensations around them: maybe birds are singing, perhaps a gentle breeze is blowing; they may hear the shouts and laughter of children playing nearby, a dog barking, or the noise of passing traffic. They don't all have to be peace-evoking sounds. Life isn't always peaceful, so it's helpful to learn to integrate and accept abrasive sounds along with those that inspire tranquility. 

Instruct the children to collect all of these sounds, like elements of a collage, and mentally overlap them until they begin to blend into one sound. Invite them to draw this universal sound into their inner selves. Notice the sensations these sounds create inside their bodies and minds. Ask them: Can you feel joy? Can you sense the peace of all things being connected together? Can you connect to the world around you and feel this peace inside of yourself?

Maybe, just maybe, they'll take a little of this peace experience home with them.  And think how their parents will appreciate that.

Lisa Burk-McCoy is working toward a 500 hour teaching certificate in Classical Yoga from the YogaLife Institute.  She also holds a prenatal yoga certification, and children's yoga certifications from ChildLight Yoga and Itsy Bitsy Yoga. Lisa currently serves as an instructor and business consultant for ChildLight Yoga. When not practicing yoga, she dabbles as a musician, playing flute in a local contradance band and teaching classical flute lessons to children and adults. She is blessed with a wonderful family–a husband, son and daughter, and a menagerie of pets. They make their home in Exeter, NH

 

Related Posts:

Yoga Inspires Discipline and other Values in Children

Karma Kids and The Golden Rule

Bring Children's Books to Life with Yoga

Practice Peace: Yoga Principles for Children #1

Teaching Savasana to Suicidal Youth

I teach yoga each week to a group of suicidal teens who reside at a local youth shelter. The opportunity always leaves me with a sense of satisfaction and happiness; I feel an absolute glow afterwards. My job is to facilitate an experience for these tender youth to know that they have their very own inner reservoir of peace. I do this by teaching an hour long yoga class, inviting them to move and breathe and coordinate their bodies into healthy shapes. We end in Savasana, the quintessential yoga pose for relaxation. What joy it is to observe them have this experience:


Six teenagers are lying at rest on their back.  Savasana is the pose.... legs slightly apart, feet spilling outwards, arms spaced out from their sides with palms of their hands revealed and empty.   Their faces are perfectly still, pointing skyward.  Eyebags cover their eyes and offer release, a retreat from visual stimulation.  Heart -shaped sand bags rest on their bellies. I observe them breathe: gentle, sublime movements come and go to their diaphragms. They are poised for surrender, and surrender they do.  Their soft breaths show me they are letting go. As the minutes go by, I imagine that all their emotional disturbances and bodily agitations dissipate.   Tranquility becomes almost palpable to the afternoon air.  I am comforted from the sense of space and peace in this moment.

These are distraught and endangered teenagers (most have been hospitalized for attempted suicide) who come to find safe, secure respite and rehabilitate from their fragile environments.  Yoga is a twice-weekly activity for these youths and is part of a comprehensive program that supports positive life changes and reunification with family.  The shelter provides a highly structured routine encompassing many aspects of healthy living.

The program and staff support our yoga time together-- they have the furniture cleared for yoga practice, set the mats up, and, with encouragement, require the residents to participate.  Oftentimes an intern or staff member will participate with the residents in the yoga class.  These facts are important because the structured context and supportive staff set up the foundation for holding a meaningful yoga class every week.

Six years ago, I began offering classes once a week in the early afternoon. So powerful were the after-effects of yoga in the teens that staff members remarked on the calm that followed into the late afternoon, evening, and bedtime. Yoga was referred to as a great anger management tool. Residents who initially resisted yoga would tell the therapists how much they liked it. The staff responded and scheduled a second class per week along with an occasional Saturday class. When their time at the shelter ends (after four to six weeks), many teens make a plan for integrating yoga into their lives.

While I teach a different sequence of poses each week, ending in Savasana is a ritual. Savasana is the all-important pose of letting go, the culmination for release that defines true relaxation. If relaxation is the antidote to stress, then Savasana is a pose everyone should do on a regular basis. These teens seem particularly attuned to its benefits and literally beg for getting into it every week. My experience is that teenagers in any environment crave its offering: a chance to rest without being judged, a reprieve from daily pressures, and an escape from self-comparison.

Sometimes I wonder why I am so touched by this time in Savasana of our weekly yoga class at the shelter. Gandhi put it this way: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” My own yoga practice connects me to immense grace and I’m always restored to gratitude and contentment. Inviting others, particularly young people with a history of self-destruction, to know such grace leaves me supremely satisfied. Perhaps they are receiving peace, tranquility is touching their souls, and their sorrows are fading. Perhaps they are receiving a burning flame of hope for life and the potential it holds.

Christy Brock is founder of YogaMinded and Yoga 4 Teens, and author of the book, Yoga 4 Teens: An Instructor's Guide to Teaching Yoga To Teenagers.  Her Yoga 4 Teens teacher training, will be hosted by ChildLight Yoga in the Boston area on November 6 & 7, 2010. 

Visit her blog at http://yogaminded.com/blog/ for more great articles on sharing yoga with teenagers.

The Magic of Music

 Music can be incredibly powerful in its ability to help calm, soothe and relax the nervous system.  Studies have also shown that certain kinds of music, such as classical or calming instrumentals, can help integrate and regulate the way the brain works, helping with learning and mood management.  Music can also enhance intelligence, coordination, emotional expression, creativity and socialization skills.  And, if you've ever danced your heart out or used an iPod with your favorite tunes while exercising, you also know the power of music to inspire and energize.  It's not surprising then, that children's yoga classes typically involve the creative use of music.

Kids in yoga class respond to music almost immediately.  A bored or nervous six-year-old may not initially want to participate in the warm-up session of class.  Add a fun song like Yoga Kids' "Reach for the Sun" and suddenly eyes are wide and a smile appears, as he stretches his arms high into the air.  

If you're a classroom or yoga teacher, consider investing in an MP3 player or an iPod.  You can easily search online for the perfect songs to fit themes or class activities, create playlists and switch music without the fiddling with CDs.  Our friend, Aruna Kathy Humphries of YoungYogaMasters.com adds, "It lets you have all your music with you because you never know when you might need to change up the lesson plan."

Yoga games requiring kids to move quickly are best accompanied by upbeat music.  Much like the effect of a high-energy workout or dance song, a fun and upbeat tune will help to get a lethargic class moving. One of ChildLight Yoga's staples is Puntamayo's African Playground album, as it incorporates a lot of drumming, and no lyrics (all the Puntamayo CDs are great, by the way).  Yoga-specific or thematic children's music is always a hit with the younger classes, but sometimes tweens and teens respond better to pop music with which they are familiar —better do some research if you're out of touch with current artists!  And make certain you listen to the lyrics first. Not all pop music lyrics are appropriate (i.e., Kesha, Nelly, etc.).  If you're going to use pop music, you might choose songs with positive message like The Climb, by Miley Cyrus. 

Lisa Flynn of ChildLight Yoga often uses popular songs with inspiring lyrics during relaxation with teens and then invites her students to discuss of the meaning of the lyrics at end the class.  Inevitably, these are powerful conversations that really stay with the adolescents.  "Often the right song will even open the door to tears, a release," Flynn says.  "And, I've had many kids say they had never really listened to the actual lyrics before and are blown away by the message being provided.  It's powerful. They won't hear the same song again without remembering the conversation and connection it provided for them."

For classtime music and relaxation, mellow background music with no lyrics or nature sounds can really help quiet the mind, and is also recommended as part of a visualization with kids.  Stephen Halpern's In the OM Zone is ChildLight Yoga instructor Heather Warr's favorite.  "It is quiet and balances both sides of the brain," says Warr. In fact, any of Stephen Halpern's CDs are wonderful for setting a soothing tone for kids or adult yoga classes.  And, classical music is always a safe bet as well.  Nature sounds can often be found on recorded CDs or online as MP3 files, and can be a great tool when leading a visualization to a specific location, like the beach or a rainforest.  You can even download applications like Silent Island for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

ChildLight Yoga's teacher trainings focus on the creative use of music in children's yoga classes which was the reason founder, Lisa Flynn teamed up with children's signer/songwriter Sammie Haynes to create the CD titled, I Grow With Yoga,  It includes 20 songs with movement cues (just email a request when purchasing), making yoga class fun and easy to teach and follow.  

Flynn also loves Kira Willey's Dance for the Sun CD, which recently gained national attention when the single "Colors" appeared on a television commercial for Dell Computers.  The title song offers the perfect accompaniment to sun salutation.  Musical Yoga Adventures, by Suzy Frank, is another adorable choice for young children's classes.  The movement cues are available on the website as well.

Donna Freeman of Yoga In My School includes music suggestions throughout her book, Once Upon a Pose: A Guide to Yoga Adventure Stories for Children, and especially enjoys using thematic songs, such as "Wipeout" for a seashore or beach-themed yoga lesson.

Do you have more great music suggestions for your child's yoga practice or yoga class?  Share your suggestions, please!  — Amy Bevan

Related Posts:  Yoga Songs Make Kids Yoga Fun! , A Yoga Song for Kids...and Parents , Dell Uses "Colors"  from the Dance for the Sun CD