Mindful Trees

Hi everyone! Thank you so very much for joining me for our final session in this series of Yoga Storytime at the Lexington Public Library. This week our theme was "Trees," and we did several variations of balancing poses.

We began by breathing together, sharing a call-and-response chant about the breath to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell":

I am breathing in,

I am breathing out.

I hear the breath's gentle sound,

as I breathe in and out.

The breath moves into me.

The breath moves out of me.

The breath moves in and out of me,

I know that I am free.

Then we moved on to warming up our bodies with songs. I found this week's song, "I'm a Tree, I Have Four Needs" from the Storytime Katie blog:

Song: “I’m a Tree, I have Four Needs” (Tune: Skip to My Lou)

I’m a tree, I have four needs.

I’m a tree, I have four needs.

I’m a tree, I have four needs.

Do you know what they are?

The next verses are:

I need soil for my roots, to grow big and strong (crouch down in a squat with hands on the ground and shift from side to side)

I need lots and lots of sun, to grow big and strong (stand in mountain pose, lift arms overhead like the sun and bend from side to side)

 I need water now and then, to grow big and strong (lift arms overhead wiggling fingers like rain, bending down to the ground)

 I need air just like you, to grow big and strong (spinning around like a leaf being blown by the wind)

Our first book was a beautiful bilingual book by Maya Christina Gonzalez called Call Me Tree / Llámame árbol. This poetic book is a beautiful celebration of diversity. It is also the only picture book that I know of that is intentionally gender-neutral throughout. 

After our story, we linked together the various movements we had learned so far as we pretended to be trees growing big and strong:

seed - child's pose

seed sprouting - child's pose with arm stretches

roots spreading - squat with side bends

sun - mountain with arms wide overhead

wind - mountain with arms overhead and side bends

rain - wiggling fingers like falling rain down into forward bend

tree

We played around with some more yoga poses along with the "That's What They Do" song by Karma Kids Yoga.

Next we tried something a little different. I led us in a mindfulness activity using apple slices as the attention of our focus. We spent time looking at the apple first whole, then it slices, then smelling it, and finally tasting it. 

We began wrapping up with our "Dance for the Sun" and our final story, Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid. Then we brought our attention back to our breath and took our final rest.

Thanks so much for being part of this series of Yoga Storytime at the library. If you enjoyed it and would like to see it offered again, please let your local librarians know. In the meantime, please come join me for another series of Yoga Storytime at Centered, 6/1-6/22 on Mondays at 10:30 AM! This is a donation based program, so you are encouraged to pay what you think is fair based on your own budget. I hope to see lots of library families there! 

It has been such a joy sharing yoga storytime with you this month! Until the next time, NAMASTE.

Yoga Storytime at Centered!

Hi everyone!

I'm so excited to let you know that I will be offering a 4-week series of Yoga Storytime at Centered in June! The program will be Mondays at 10:30 AM, June 1 - June 22. Feel free to drop in to any or all - you don't need to register in advance.

Yoga Storytime is ideal for children ages 3 to 5. We invite a spirit of curiosity and use books, stories and songs to explore the breath and creative movement. Parent/caregiver attendance is required and participation is strongly encouraged.

This is a DONATION based program. You are encouraged to pay what you think is fair based on your own budget. Cost should not prohibit anyone from attending; if you are able to give a little more to help make up for those who are able to give less, this generosity is appreciated.

Centered is a holistic community center that offers a myriad of classes and workshops for adults, children and families. It is located at 309 North Ashland Avenue Suite 180, Lexington, KY 40502. Call 859-721-1841 for more information.

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!

Come Play Yoga at the Library!

Hi everyone! Here's what we go up to in our second week of Yoga Storytime at the Lexington Public Library! Take a look at last week's post for information about the parts of our practice that we are repeating each week (welcome song, warm-up song and "Dance for the Sun").

After welcoming everyone with our "Yoga Time" song, we experimented with Bumblebee Breath. To do this, first take a breath in, and then as you breath out, make a BUZZZZ sound, nice and loud. Do this a few times. Then, take a breath in and as you breathe out, make a BUZZZZ sound again, but this time allow your lips to seal together. You should feel a nice tingle in your lips. Try this a few times. Then, take a breath in, BUZZZZ on your breath out with your lips sealed, and bring your hands to cover your ears. You will hear the buzz sound much more strongly inside your head. If you don't like it, that's OK! You can stop anytime. When you are done playing with bumblebee breath, come back to regular breathing.

We warmed up our bodies with a song and then a rhyme that asks us to move first slowly and then quickly:

Slowly, slowly, slowly CLAP your hands.

Quickly, quickly, quickly CLAP your hands.

We followed this with stomp your feet, wiggle your hips, jump up and down, and shake your body.

Time for our first book! You Are a Lion! by Taeeun Yoo. It can be made quite interactive, like a guessing game.

Next we had a "Silly Dance Contest" (from Jim Gill's Moving Rhymes for Modern Times) and read our second book, Silly Suzy Goose.

This book introduces lots of different animal movements that you can link together for a little animal vinyasa: giraffe (upward salute), bat (forward fold), frog (squat), snake (cobra), dog (downward facing dog), elephant (lifting and stomping one leg at a time in tadasana), lion (lion's breath while standing in tadasana).

After all this movement it was getting to be time to cool down, so we did our "Dance for the Sun" and read our final book, It's OK to Be Different by Todd Parr. And of course, a little rest before singing so long.

Thanks for coming to play yoga at the library! Until next time, NAMASTE! 

Yoga at the Library!

 Yoga and the library? Oh, be still my heart! Don't you just love it when your favorite things come together? As a former Children's Librarian at the Lexington Public Library, it is a high honor for me to have the opportunity to lead this series of Yoga Storytime. Welcome! I'm so glad that you have found the class, that you have found the blog, and that you are interested in keeping the yoga fun going at home.

First thing is a big thank you to parents/caregivers for taking the time out of your day to bring your child to the library this week. You rock! You probably already know this, but you are the first and most important teacher of your child. All of the ways in which you make the effort to interact with your kiddo (such as through books, songs, movement and conversation) make a HUGE difference in helping to prime your kiddo's brain to be ready for school and all the learning to come down the road. So seriously, you are awesome.

A little reminder, kids' yoga is quite different from grown-up yoga. We aren't using any Sanskrit names, or worrying about alignment. In fact, as long as everyone is safe and disruptions are minimal, there really are no "have-to's" in yoga storytime. Depending on many factors unique to your child, you may see him or her choose to participate enthusiastically, watch from a distance, try out a few moves, or contentedly stick with one move s/he really enjoys. All of this is fine! Yoga storytime is all about exploring breath and creative movement through stories, songs and imaginative play. There is plenty of room for many unique variations of anything we may be doing. You don't have to worry about helping your child do any of the movements "right." I encourage you to participate at your comfort level, offering lots of positive encouragement and support to your kiddo as s/he explores the activities at her/his own pace.

Here's what we got up to this first week at Yoga Storytime.

We started off in our circle greeting everyone by time with our "Yoga Time" song"

Yoga Time (to the tune of "Hello Thumbkin")

Hello [NAME], Hello [NAME]

It's yoga time! It's yoga time!

We're very glad to see you. We're very glad to see you.

Ring the chime. Ring the chime.

Next we settled our attention on the breath. I use a nifty little prop called a mini Hoberman sphere for this breath so the kids can visualize breath going in and filling up their internal balloon and deflating it as they breathe out. We began warming up our bodies with a version of this warm-up song from Storytime Yoga®:

Now we were ready to move with our first story, so we read Stretch by Doreen Cronin, a simple rhyming story that encourages a lot of creative movement.

Here are some of the movements that the story introduces:

Seated with lifted arms

Reverse warrior (picking an apple)

Standing twist

Down dog

Lion

Swimming

Warrior II (surfing)

Cat/Cow (inchworm)

Star floating in space

Then it was time to shake out all of those movements like our legs, arms, heads and whole bodies were made of spaghetti with "Spaghetti Legs" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill. This fabulous CD is available from the library (for free!). 

We explored some animal movements with From Head to Toe by the one and only Eric Carle. After this we introduced our sun salutation, which we will do each week along with the song "Dance for the Sun" from Dance for the Sun by Kira Wiley. This will be our signal each week that our movement time is starting to come to a close. 

We ended with one more story, The Feel Good Book by Todd Parr. Then we took a rest in savasana...isn't it amazing that they will actually lie still for a minute or two! As we began greeting one another, we ended the same, this time with our "So Long" song.

So great to meet you all this week! Thanks so much to the library for bringing us together. Until next time, NAMASTE!