A Day at the Beach

Hi yoga friends! This week at the library we pretended to take a little trip to the beach. Here's a reminder of what we did so that you can recreate your own beach journey at home.

We sang hello to everyone with "Yoga Time." Then we focused our attention in on the breath. This week was the Ocean Breath, which is a version of Ujjayi Pranayama modified for kids. We began by simply breathing in and out naturally. Then we began to exhale out of the mouth, making an audible sound, pretending to fog up a mirror. We continued that exhalation with the mouth closed. Next we tried to find that same sound on the inhalation. We came back to a few rounds of normal breath before moving on to our "Breathe It In, Breathe It Out" warm-up song.

I used a flannelboard that I made to provide some visual stimulation as we continued warming up with "The Sharks in the Sea" to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." You can take a look at the flannelboard pieces on my other blog if you are interested in making your own. Here's how we practiced:

The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp... - Stretch arms out to the sides and clap together in front of the body

The lobsters in the sea go pinch, pinch, pinch... - From table top, stretch one arm out in front of body and make a pinching motion with the hand. Release arm back to table and repeat on the other side.

The clams in the sea go open and shut... - Sit in butterfly pose with arms lifted overhead (open) and bend forward into forward bend touching the toes (shut). Rise up and repeat.

The seahorse in the sea rocks back and forth... - Kneel up high on knees and rock body slightly forward and backward.

The octopus in the sea goes wiggle, wiggle, wiggle... - Stand up and wiggle your whole body!

The kids in the sea jump up and down...

Our first book was Swimmy by Leo Lionni. This Caldecott Honor book is a children's classic. There is a lot to talk about regarding emotions when sharing this book with kids. After all, it starts out with Swimmy's whole family being eaten right in front of him - yikes! But don't let that turn you away from the book. You can talk about the tuna fish being a tuna fish, simply doing what tuna fish do, and how that affected Swimmy. Equanimity is a tough concept even for well-adjusted adults, but this book presents a kid-friendly way to talk about it. You can talk about Swimmy's sad and lonely feelings, and how he was able to recover. And you can talk about Swimmy's bravery and the clever way that he helped his new fish family defend themselves from the bigger fish by working together. It's a classic for a reason!

The creatures Swimmy meets can be inspiration for more creative movement:

jellyfish - standing forward fold with dangling arms

lobster - table pose, stretching arms out to pinch one at a time

seaweed - high kneeling, swaying from side to side

strange fish - fish pose

eel - cobra pose

sea anemones - tree pose

We read a book about a fish, so next we sang and danced along to "The Goldfish" from The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band by Laurie Berkner.

Our next book presented the opportunity to try out some more advanced yoga poses than we've experienced so far in Yoga Storytime at the library. You guys did great! Remember, it's not about what it looks like on the outside, it's about how it feels in your body and your heart on the inside. This great book, The Yoga Game By the Sea by Kathy Beliveau, is part of a new series of yoga game books for kids. I can't wait to see more!

As we do every week, we began cooling down with our sun salutation dance, "Dance for the Sun." We had one more very gentle story that invited us to come back to the breath, Breathe by Scott Magoon. Then it was time to take a rest, letting the sounds of the ocean waves invite deeper and deeper relaxation. Thanks for traveling to the beach with me today everyone! Until next time, NAMASTE!