Ready, Set, Grow

Re-cap

We “grew” to our full potential in yoga today with a Ready, Set, Grow, yoga theme.  I am always so impressed with how the kids remember the names and the poses, some after just a few short weeks.  We reviewed our Spring Break happenings first to get out the chattiness, it's all good.  Sounds like everyone had a nice break.  I got a little more grand-baby time in Utah!  The shoulders of all of my shirts smell like baby goodness.  I’m thinking about not washing them.  We started today with a centering exercise, lying supine, with supportive bolsters under our spine to open up our chests, and feet together in Cobblers pose to open up our hips.  To combat all that tightness from traveling in cars or planes.  We practiced quiet, calming breath.  Ahhhh, so relaxing. To complement our growing theme, I retold the Chinese folk tale of the Empty Pot , the moral of which is honesty.

We imagined getting a field ready to plant, by moving rocks (Rock and Roll), cutting the weeds (Sit and Twist) and plowing the fields (Plow pose). Our background music was Everything Grows.  Then we discovered all of the critters trying to get to our crops.  The kids came up with the critters and we did the poses for Butterfly, Frogs, Bees, etc.  We became watering cans with Triangle pose, we move into this pose using the I’m a Little Teapot song.  Then we took off our muddy clothes and washed them and dried them with more yoga poses.  This is where things got silly.  A good silly though.  We ended our yoga practice with Lavendar oils and wrapped up in blankets, dormant seeds in the earth.  

Class Highlight
At the end of class, I had a couple of girls pretending to be asleep, as others in the class folded blankets and rolled mats and got ready to go.  Whatever it takes to calm their minds and bodies for five minutes, right?  I'll take it.  Pretending (practice) can turn into reality someday!

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Check out this Instagram sensation of a yoga instructor mom and family doing yoga poses!

Pose of the Week

Rock and Roll or Spinal Roll.   In a seated position, draw your knees up and bend your head to your chest.  Place your hands under your knees and join them.  Make sure that your spine is rounded or gently curved.  Lightly rock back and then forward, keeping your head bent to your chest.  To increase the difficulty, straighten legs and extend as your bring them over head.  Do several repetitions and then lie in corpse pose. 

Benefits
-do this exercise right before bed as it has a soothing affect and will promote sleeping soundly

-done in the morning, the spinal roll can shake of the sleep and drowsiness and energize you for your day ahead

-massages the spine and neck

-relaxes the nervous system

Play and Namaste! 

Susan

http://yoga4kidz.jigsy.com/