Desk Bound Yoga-Snack: Ms. Forzaglia's class:

Today's Yoga-Snack was desk bound, offering Ms. Forzaglia some in class tools to use during her very busy school days.
1. The class started seated at their desks, arms folded on the desk, heads down on the hands, eyes closed. To help them set their minds on a positive approach and outcome to anything they want in their lives. I set these intentions for the day: being more present, powerful, enthusiastic, gentle, loving, kind, fun, grateful. Each one of us is full of infinite abilities and that it is possible under any circumstances, whether you are happy, sad, hot, cold, ill, well... to achieve your intentions.
2. Sitting up, breathing in with the nose and out, stretching our arms above our heads, fingers interlaced, feeling the full length of out spines.
3. Lifting one foot: foot circles in one direction and then the other; lower leg circles in one direction and then the other. Waggle fingers. Wrist circles in one direction and then the other. Shoulder shrugs. Shoulder rolls forward and back.
4. Seated cat and cow (spinal flexion and extension)
5. Crossing one leg over the other, with the knee out to the side, this is an excellent hip opener. Pull the toes front of the leg to align the knee then lean forward, possibly pressing the knee open a bit.This may be enough or lean over more until your hands come tot he floor. Drop your chin towards your chest and breath. Put hands to the hips and sit up feeling your long spine. Switch sides.
6. Sitting sideways on the chair, to the right side. Right hand grips the top-back of the chair to pull, left hands grips the side-back of the chair to push. gently twist towards the back of the chair, keeping hips down and feet flat on the floor. The left knee might move out forward past the right. This is fine. Twists should be done with gentle energy, rest and then twist some more-always breathing. Relax twist and switch sides.
7. Standing now at the back of the chair-we did a modified chair sun salutation:
    a. Mountain pose
    b. Up mountain, let head drop back and gaze at hands; only if this feels good to your neck (breathe in)
    c. Step left foot back (breathe out) far enough to create a lunge (right knee can be as close to a right angle as comfortable). Arms up (Warrior I) (breathe in and out a few times)
    d. Step left foot forward (breathe in) and drape over chair (maybe hands on seat) for a supported forward bend (breathe out and in a few times. Breath in)
    e. Step right foot back (breathe out) far enough to create a lunge (left knee can be as close to a right angle as comfortable). Arms up (Warrior I) (breathe in and out a few times. Breathe in)
    f. Step forward (breathe out) but have feet hip width apart and be able to lean forward with hands on the back of a chair so that you create a right angle at the hips (chair downward facing dog pose) (breathe on and out a few times).
    g. Breathe in- Come up to standing- up mountain
    h. Breathe out-mountain pose.
8. Standing poses with the chair for stability: modified dancer to full dancer; tree
9. Sit once again. Head on hands folded on desk. One minute of stillness and relaxation. Remember the intentions and go forth into the day buoyed by your intentions.

Thank you and namaste!
Eve


   

Yoga-Snacks Returns to Runkle School

I just received a letter from a teacher at Runkle School, Brookline, MA. She wrote for a PTO grant and was awarded money to bring me back to Runkle for a 6-week yoga session. At this point, I have 4 classrooms included. Hooray for the PTO! Hooray for Yoga-Snacks! Hooray for Justine Sands!

Namaste! It's time for a "Yoga-Snack"

Yoga-Snack: Back to Back

Today I led two Yoga-Snacks back to back. I love the dedication of the classes that I teach to my yoga program. Their commitment to me is deep and has allowed us all to reap the benefits of this in-school yoga program.

We started class with a few warm ups: 3 large Belly Breaths, 3 Bumble Bee Breaths (ears covered and humming on the exhale), one giant Volcano Breath (with a huge open mouthed sigh at the end), Bumpy Camel, Washing Machine (while saying "Whish" Whoosh"), Dryer and then a simple Spinal Twist to end.

Standing, we did 3 Sun Salutations. On our final rise up, we "sat" in Chair Pose and then brought our arms parallel to the floor, creating a Lightning Bolt, and held it for the count of 5.

From there, we did Warrior I (I am a warrior; I am brave; I am strong; I am happy; I am ME!); Warrior II; straightened our front leg and did Triangle; used our leg strength to stand and then we jumped our legs together. Holding one leg (I chose to use the leg that had been at the back of our Warrior-to-Triangle series), Dancer's Pose. We then repeated the whole sequence from Chair Pose through Dancer's Pose on the other side.

Sitting back down in Easy Pose, we did our new "I am Ha-Ha-He-He-Ho-Ho" meditation. And I have to say the few kids that were still in grumble mode, switched out and everyone joined in and by the end , everyone was smiling and having a good time, but not fooling around.

We ended with Savasana. I had them notice that an in-breath feels cool, while the out-breath feels warm. We then allowed ourselves to be blanketed by snow, covering us, encasing us, heavy on our bodies, causing us to be still and relaxed (the warm breath kept the snow from forming on our noses and mouths, therefore allowing us to continue to breath). Total stillness and calmness enveloped the room.

Wiggling fingers and toes, rolling wrists and ankles, we shook the snow off. Then rubbing hands together and covering our eyes with our warm hands, we reopened our eyes and then rolled to one side (preferably the right side) and curled up like a baby for a moment. Sitting back in Easy Pose, covering our heart with our hands, we said Namaste!

Namaste my little Yogis and Yoginis!

Namaste to you, Om!

This week's Yoga-Snack was a birthday celebration! We started with a recreation of the standard birthday song, by changing the lyrics to:
Namaste to you, Om!
Namaste to you, Om!
Namaste to you, dear (name)!
Namaste to you, Om… namo guru dev namo!

The kids got a great kick out of that and I hear they sang it all day!

We then moved onto a special yoga class where we took a trip to the circus. No, I do not mean that we actually went to the circus, instead we based the whole class on things we see and do at the circus (main ingredients: kids and fun!).

We started by taking three large Balloon Breaths because what is a day at the circus without a balloon? We rode our Bumpy Camel, Washing Machine became the ride “The Whip” and as we turned side to side we called out “Whish” “Whoosh”; Dryer became the “Ferris Wheel” which we rode both forwards and back. Pretending to be in a Moonwalk, we did a series of Frog Push-Ups.

All warmed up and ready to go, we saw our first animal, the Elephant. With our legs wide, we clasped our hands and swung our trunks up and down and side to side, trying our hardest to sound like elephants. Bear walk ( one day I did this as an active pose, but I realized the classroom is not geared for the space, so the next day we did this on our backs, walking in the air; remember to walk with opposite hand and leg moving at the same time. If you do this with children with sensory disorders, then have them actually touch their leg with their hand). Sitting on our feet, toes in, heels out, we leaned back and did Camel and then leaned forward, grabbed our knees with our hands, straightened up our shoulders and did Lion’s Breath with some big roars. With the older kids, we also did Crane, or as we called it, Balancing On The HighWire!

Send in the clowns to add a little Laughing Yoga to our meditation; we did my modified version of “I am happy, I am good” (see entry on Saturday January 30, 2010 entitled “Morning Meditation”). The kids loved it! I call it "I Am Ha-Ha He-He Ho-Ho Hu!"

We slipped “Happy Jio” in here. Kids just wanted to get up and dance.

For our Deep Relaxation, I had the kids lie in Savasana and imagine a birthday candle in front of them. To slow down their breathing, I told them too imagine that as they breath in gently, the flame pulls toward them a bit and then as they breath out gently too, the flame moves away, but that they must remember to breath gently so as not to blow out the candle. On our final breath, I had them think of something that they are thankful for in their lives and with one final blow, out goes the candle.

Namaste to you, Om!

Yoga-Snack: In Your Chair

Today I tried something different with my Yoga-Snack. I based today's class on the Yoga Calm 15 Minute "in-chair" lesson.

We started seated at the tables, pushed back a little. There we took 3 large belly breaths, in and out of the nose and then to spice it up, we took 3 Volcano Breaths, breathing in through the nose, arms up together above the head, look up, then the exhales are through the mouth, blowing "fire" out. Then for a laugh, we closed our mouths and with our tongues licked on top of our teeth, up to the gum, all the way around the front of every tooth, as if you were licking peanut butter off that was stuck there. We did this 3 times in both directions. This really relaxes the jaw and tongue.

In sequence, for a light vinyasa (flow) class, we stood behind our chairs with our hands joined at heart center (When you bring your hands together it helps to balance the right and left sides of your brain):
1. Mountain Pose (hands at heart center)
2. High Mountain (hands joined above head-tall llike a mountain)
3. Forward bend arms crossed above head (hand to elbow) to top of chair or table.
4. Stand up, feet together
5. One leg back, lunge, holding chair
6. Then arms joined up above head, look up
7. Feet together (front foot joining back)
8. Lean body forward, both hands grasping chair, top of body parallel to ground (Chair Dog).
9. Dancer's Pose both sides
10. Step opposite leg forward and repeat lunge sequence on opposite side through (8).
11. Stand up, feet together for High Mountain
12. Mountain (Hands at heart center)
13. Seated twist
14. Head on desk, whole class challenge, 2 minutes of stillness & silence