Week 154: Yoga Flora and Fauna

Fun yoga adventures this week led me to a parent and tot yoga session hosted by our local Mommy Connections group, Nirvana Hot Yoga and West Edmonton Mall.

I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.

Recall, I’ve done yoga with both of my sons up until they were mobile. After that, well, it wasn’t really feasible. It wasn’t easy for me and it wasn’t fun for them.

But this session was different.

Maybe because we were on Centre Stage at the West Edmonton Mall. Or maybe because we were under a huge sky light. Or maybe because the teacher did an excellent job engaging with the kids. Or maybe because my three and a half year old has matured and can have an attention span for 20 minutes! Or maybe it was just all things combined!

Note: My youngest was happily leading his grandma around the mall so I wasn’t trying to practice AND contain a toddler!

As I said, the teacher did a wonderful job of taking common poses and turning them into animals and flowers and all sorts of things. 

Okay - let’s be honest - some yoga poses already have animal names (dog, anyone?) so it was a natural fit.

Here are some of the offerings…

Breath work
We were bumble bees…breath in…exhale and buzz! In cross legged position we brought our pointer fingers to our ears and made circles with our torsos while buzzing!

Cobbler’s Pose (Baddha Konasana)
We were butterflies! First moving our wings slowly then picking up the pace to fly higher in the sky.

Cat-Cow Pose(Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)
Need I say more? We meowed with our mad cats and mooed with our cows. Funny enough…I joke with adults to add the sounds to this pose. It’s not just for adults. The funny thing with kids though (who are not afraid to speak their minds) was one kid shouted out “let’s be wolves instead of cows”. Needless to say, we were howling on our next cows!

Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
Again, a no-brainer. We were slithering snakes who hissed in the upright position.

Child’s Pose (Balasana)
Making our bodies as tiny as possible, we morphed into tiny bugs…I was a lady bug by choice!

And finally,

Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
We moved from a crouched position into growing flowers (I was surprised we weren’t trees). But flowers were a nice option too!

To be honest, the teacher did such a great job with so many “kid-friendly" poses, I’ve forgotten them all. There was an airplane in there and a bridge too!

It just goes to show that yoga is for all ages! The kids had a blast. We even played a game “Yogi Says” and finished with namaste.

It was refreshing to share my yoga practice this week with my son. He knows I creep away to the basement or to the odd class to practice, so it was nice to share some yoga with him. He likely has no memory of the earlier classes we did and I would like him to consider yoga as something he can try and participate in. It is all about giving him options and seeing if he wants to try. He has no preconceived ideas about yoga either.

Teaching kids yoga in the future. Yes - I think I’d like that! The class was full of smiles, jumps, wiggles and laughs. Who wouldn’t want to teach yoga that way anyhow. Something to keep in mind for the future.

And hey wait a minute - I’ve never got to play “Yogi Says” at a class before! To be continued...
LW