What is a Yoga-Snack and why do you need one?

           Yoga-Snacks ™

Welcome to the wonderful world of Yoga-Snacks™, an in-school yoga program designed to expose your children to the benefits of yoga during the school day. In just 20 minutes, your children will relax, renew and re-energize. 

During a typical Yoga-Snack, your child is familiarized with yoga. Yoga, an ancient Indian body of knowledge,  dates back more than 5000 years ago. The word "Yoga" comes from the Sanskrit word "yuj" which means "to unite or integrate." Yoga then is about the union of a person's own consciousness and the universal consciousness.  Ancient Yogis had a belief that in order to be in harmony with your own self and your environment, you have to integrate your mind, body, and spirit. For these three to be in harmony, your emotions, physical energy and perception must be in balance. The Yogis envisioned a way to obtain and maintain this balance and it is done through the three main structures of Yoga: Pranyama (the art of breathing), Meditation (the art of focusing the mind) and Asanas (the art of posturing the body). 

For children, yoga helps them to become aware of this connection between their mind, body and their spirit. They learn how they act within the world the world around them and how they react to this world. Through the use of postures, games, music, dance and relaxation, they learn to pay attention to these actions and use yoga as a tool to calm and focus their mind, body and spirit. But while stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body through developing both strength and flexibility. This is done through the performance of poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits. The use of poses can be a vehicle to focus and clam the mind.

 

Benefits of Yoga for Kids:

1. Builds their confidence and self-esteem.
2. Improves their powers of concentration and focus.
3. Develops their brain and intellect.
4. Excellent for their bodies and health. Promotes balance, flexibility, coordination and strength.
5. Helps them cope with stress and difficult emotions.
6. Develops their creativity and imagination.
7. Sharpens and expands their awareness.
8. Helps them develop calmness.

In relation to the Special Needs child, yoga has been proven to provide a perfect opportunity for these children to move, explore their world, and interact physically and mentally in order to understand themselves and their environment. Yoga is not a cure, but it will encourage physical activity, increase self esteem, provide relief from symptoms, promote positive social interactions, teach stress management, and develop muscle tone and flexibility, along with providing numerous physical, psychological and physiological benefits.

Yoga-Snacks ™ are a fun and engaging way to explore yoga poses, cooperative games, breathing, Sanskrit (the language of yoga), relaxation and meditation. The classes convey positive lessons in self-expression, body-awareness, and social skills. Yoga has a significant positive effect on a child's academic achievement and general health. Yoga is non-competitive and fun and students develop strength, flexibility, concentration and confidence. The results are amazing! Children who practice yoga are more focused, and are better equipped to deal with emotional fluctuations and challenges.  Yoga-Snacks™ are a benefit for your child and for you!

Summer camp alternative at B Yoga: Wrap Up

B Yoga is a peaceful space! The room is deeply set and I love all the free wall space. I was so happy when I walked in and I had a class of 15 kids, eagerly waiting for yoga. They came to a yoga studio, prepared for yoga...and it is yoga that we did.

Each day we started with breathing exercises (i.e. deep belly breaths, alternate nostril breathing). We then proceeded to poses (asanas). Each day we explored different poses and styles of yoga. We ended each yoga session with savasana (Corpse Pose).

Day One: Yoga and Journaling: I loved adding journaling to my classes. This age group was happier drawing pictures, rather than writing words, so I brought plenty of blank paper and folders for everyone. While they drew (I encouraged them to draw their feelings about yoga, poses they liked, how these poses made them feel in emotion and color...), I read to them the story of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god.  Hanuman --2004 publication.


Day Two: Yoga and Meditation: Today's class was full of song and dance. We started the class with Shakta Khalsa's Radiant Child Yoga's "Yogini Went to Sea". That song never fails to bring smiles to our faces and leave us all laughing at the end. I played various tracks while we did our practice and at the end we did several forms of mediation. First. We just sat in easy pose, hands cupped in our laps and focused our minds on the noise around us, hen the quite, on our breath and then on how our bodies felt. We did this silent, still meditation for one minute. Next, we tired my version of "I Am Happy, I Am Good" (please note Blog Entry on January 30, 2010). We also did "The Rockin' Yogi's (Found on the album Radiant Child Music: Happy). To end class, we did a rousing version of "Happy Jio".

Day Three: Yoga and Healthy Eating: After our yoga session, I gave the kids more paper for their journals (they were sad we didn't get to journal on the second day) and then got to work preparing a healthy snack with them. We talked about not eating too much processed food and how making things from scratch was more satisfying and somehow just tasted better. I had brought in carrots and celery I had prepared at home and two containers of plain, fat free yogurt. I brought some fresh dill in one bowl and maple syrup form a  local farm in another. I had the kids add the yogurt to each container to make one sweet dip and one savory. I also made simple syrup at home and cut up a bunch of lemons. I gave each child a chance to squeeze a lemon on my awesome glass juicer that I got at a thrift store recently (my favorite purchase recently). Not sure the amount, but I would say we made a pitcher of lemonade with 16 lemons, a gallon of water and 1 1/2 cups of simple syrup (which you make with a 1:1 ration of water and sugar).

Day Four: Yoga and Mandalas:  I love how kids classes go. One moment I am explaining to them what a mandala is and the next we are running all around the studio finding mandalas..in the lamp designs, on the ceiling, on our own yoga mats, on the wheel of a car driving by...so much fun!  The meaning of mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning "circle". Mandalas are geometric designs, symbolic of the universe, that are used as an aid to meditation (please note Blog Entry on December 16, 2009). I brought in many different coloring book pages of mandalas and each child looked at them and chose which ones they felt most like coloring. We spent the rest of class coloring. Some children ended class with a head stand.

Day Five: Yoga and Everything Mixed In Together:  Today we all brought in a favorite stuffed animal to join us in our yoga practice. After a warm-up, each student had a chance to say their favorite pose and then all the stuffed animals had a go at it and then all the students. There were many hand stands, head stands and tree poses...I taught turtle...we also had requests for wheel, crow, downward facing dog pose and dancer's pose. I then pulled out the folders and everyone had a chance to draw or do mandalas. We also took some time to explore the props in the studio: blocks, straps, blankets, bolsters and prayer pillows. This class could have lasted for three hours easily!

This was such a successful yoga session. I loved exploring yoga with these children and hope they all can fit yoga into their lives...just a reminder: I will be offering a youth yoga class at B Yoga, Melrose, MA starting on Friday September 17, 2010 at 4:15PM.

Come on and join me so we can enjoy yoga together!

Ole Namaste!

Sanskrit in room 304

One of the students in room 304 asked me what language I was speaking during yoga class. I explained to her that it was Sanskrit, a classical language of India. I told her I would make her a list of our class poses in both English and Sanskrit:

Art of Breath: Pranyama

Poses: Asanas

Mountain Pose: Tadasana

Forward Bend: Uttanasana

Chair Pose: Utkatasana

Cobra: Bhujangasana

Downward Facing Dog Pose: Adho Mukha Svanasana

Warrior I/II/III: Virabhadrasana I/II/III

Triangle Pose: Utthita Trikonasana

Tree Pose: Vrksasana

Child’s Pose: Balasana

Corpse Pose: Savasana

What is a 15-Minute yoga Snack?

The 15-Minute Yoga Snack is an in-school yoga program designed by Eve Agush. Eve brings a burst of yoga into the k-12 classroom to allow students a moment of time to be inside their own bodies and also a moment in time to share as a whole class. In a non-competitve atmosphere, Eve leads the class through a series of breathing exercises (pranyama), yoga postures (asanas), meditation and deep relaxation.

The 15-Minute Yoga Snack can be increased in time to the 30-Minute Yoga Break or the full 1-Hour Yoga Session.

To bring the 15-Minute Yoga Snack to your classroom, please contact:

Eve Agush: AlwaysBDancing@live.com

Namaste!