Yoga Classes for Kids and Families
Yesterday, my family and I went to our first yoga class together. I was riddled with apprehension because our three and half year old doesn’t have a still-sitting bone in his body. When he’s not running or climbing or bouncing off the walls, you’ll find him spinning in circles to burn off steam.
When we walked in the door we were greeted by Mike, a young enthusiastic yoga instructor who immediately took a shine to our little ball of energy. It wasn’t long before our son was fascinated by him as apparent from the grin from ear to ear on our sweet boy’s face.
Colouring pages to break the ice
We started the session off with a bit of colouring pages and pens as we waited for a few more families to come in. It helped the kids feel comfortable as we settled in. When everyone was ready we started class by being set to task.
Each person was to tell the group what our favourite animal was and then do a yoga pose that represents that animal. Ok, what?
Animal Poses
Now I was nervous. I thought I would have to demonstrate what Dragon Pose looked like (my ‘mythical’ animal of choice) and imagined how I might represent the fire breathing variety (like there is any other kind) but I soon realized that Mike had my back. He was a great dragon, not too fierce but just enough that by the end we were all flapping our giant dragon wings and roar-laughing, clearly eager to see what would come next.
One of my favourite animal poses of his was the hybrid ‘pig bunny’, as there was a little girl who couldn’t decide which was her favourite. Mike had us hopping and sniffing like bunnies and then rolling in the mud. Very fun!
Kids can breathe too
We read a couple of books and played a few more games including a breathing exercise that actually had all the kids sitting in a circle quietly together. I was pretty impressed as our little guy sat patiently waiting for his turn to play with the toy we were passing around to practice our breathing.
When it was time for Savasana (dead body pose), all the kids lay quietly on the floor as we listened to a modernized version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’. It was actually peaceful.
What a nice start to our Sunday.
If you want to find out more about Yoga Buttons on West Broadway, check out their website. If you buy a 10 class pass you’ll save 10% on your first purchase.
Infant and Child CPR Workshop
We are holding our Infant & Child CPR class here this Tuesday and we will also have a yoga break, of course. So wear something comfortable.
And we’re having a sale on tickets until tomorrow so click HERE if you want to purchase tickets. We only have a few left!
Namaste.