When I started teaching yoga for of
3- to 4-year olds I was overwhelmed. I asked myself, “how
could I teach yoga for these little toddlers? How can I explain yoga poses,
breathing techniques? How can I maintain
their attention for 45 minutes doing yoga? What I should do if they don’t want
to follow the instructions?”
The recommended environment for a
yoga kids class is a plain room, with no things that the kids could be
distracted. This yoga class was
challenging, because the yoga class took place in a Montessori space. So, the
room was full of plants, toys, and ceramic jars and we had to fit in a medium
size carpet. And there was a toddler, the youngest of the group, who didn’t
speak yet. After the first month I was
surprised how beautiful and enjoyable could be doing yoga with the toddlers.
I made my own tips that I followed
for this group so I would love to share them.
Research.
Even though I completed two yoga
kids teacher trainings so I learned a lot of techniques and yoga poses. I think
it is helpful to research so I can know more about the topics that I am
interested in. I found two really good books that helped me a lot. Also I found a beautiful CD with mantras for
kids. My point is that even you are prepare to teach yoga for kids, you also
can find more information that it could enrich your classes. Also the young
generations change really fast, one year the kids love Peter Pan and the next
year change they are interested in another movie, so researching is crucial
working with kids. I found more books and music for the yoga kids classes but
these sources were the main references for this special yoga class.
Books:
· Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Toddlers andPrescholars by Helen Garabedian
· Buddhism for mothers of young children:
Becoming a Mindful Parent by Sarah Napthali.
CD:
· Mantras for the young at heart-
Sarva-Antah & children.
Create your own style.
During these years I have met
amazing yoga teachers. Some of them sing beautifully, or write gorgeous tales,
or play musical instruments, or are acro-yoga experts. They normally prepare
their workshops with the elements in which they thrive awesomely, and I love to
learn from them. But the truth is that I do not have those skills; my strengths
are dancing and cooking. So, when I plan
my yoga kids classes I always include activities and games that feel comfortable
with. I usually customize the things that I learned during the workshops. I
will never sing but I have so much music that I can play in the classes. In my
yoga classes we always dance and prepare imaginary food. I learned that when I
do activities that do not feel confortable with, the most of the times they end
in a disaster. So, creating my own style
has helped me to discover my strengths and my weaknesses and also to connect
with the kids from my deeper self.
Planning, planning, and planning.
This tip could sound silly and
obvious, but I discovered that with a group of kids of this age I should plan
activities no longer than five minutes each. That means that at least I should plan 12
activities minimum per class. I also have extra ideas in case of emergency, I
mean when the kids don’t want to participate in the activities. The attention
spam at this age is short. Planning 12 or more activities per class twice a
week could seem crazy, almost impossible. Toddlers love repetitive situations,
they can watch the same movie thousands of times, and that also happens during
yoga classes. They love and enjoy the same or very similar activities every yoga
class. I normally change the topic each class but we engage in the same activities
and games. I realize that when the kids
know the activities they are confident; they help each other and enjoy yoga
poses. I have like 20 different activities and I switch them each class, and for
some classes I create a new activity so that my goal is to have funny and
predictable classes in which toddlers feel confident and successful.
Be flexible.
Even though I prepare and plan the
yoga kids classes the unpredictable situations could happen. Sometimes the kids
don’t want to participate or they have their own games or they are tired or they
want to talk about other topics. In that case, the yoga class could seem a
disaster and it could be if you don’t do something. When we do yoga we improve our
physical flexibility, then we should improve also our mind flexibility. If one
kid doesn’t feel confortable doing an activity or has another idea to share
with the group, I discovered that incorporate the new game or idea is more
functional in the yoga class than try that the kid do exactly what I teach in
the yoga class. My goal it is not that the kids do exactly what I say, my goal is
the kids enjoy and learn yoga poses. So, I normally incorporate the new game in
a yoga style. For example, in one occasion there were two girls that during the
yoga class they were apart playing “carrying imaginary babies”, when I saw the
situation I asked them if they wanted to play with the rest of the group. We
were doing an imaginary trip to the zoo at that moment. The girls refused and
continued with their game. I decided to incorporate baby animals in the zoo.
The girls immediately started following the new game of the yoga class and
finished doing the rest of the yoga class.
At the end of the class one of the teachers of the kindergarten told me
that the mother of one of these girls was in the hospital delivering her
brother. I have learned that the kids behave for a reason; they also have
problems, fears, and concerns. During the class the new things could happen and
be flexible to change the planned activities could help the kids.
Share with their parents.
Kids love to share and show what
they have learned with their parents. That is why I decided to do the same
thing that the kids do. Sometimes I write one of the activities that we do in
yoga class and give it to their parents at the end of the class. In this
writing I explain the benefits of the activity or in what situation they can do
it at home. On other occasions I write about yoga philosophy applied for
parents. I try to change topics and share some tools that they could be
helpful. My intention is to open the possibilities to do yoga in every
situation in normal life, like doing homework, traveling by car, dressing,
falling sleep, waking up, shopping at the mall, in every situation that kids
need to be relaxed and calm, they can do yoga. Yoga is not only at the mat,
yoga is in our lives.
