Young Yogis

One of our classmates has had a really tough week and could use our positive energy, thoughts and prayers. Please take some time today, or this week, to think about Jasmin and send her all of your positive intentions. We love you Jasmin and are thinking of you!

Sat Nam,

Mrs. Williams

Rise and Shine

On Monday, we did our first Kundalini yoga Kriya! It was for Spine alignment. Kryia means "action," in Sanskrit. Priya thought I kept saying her name! :) We also did a meditation for a calm heart, this group LOVES to meditate! Next Monday is our last class for this school year.

Rise and Shine

This group of yogis really enjoys meditation, and they are good at it! We have been going longer and longer in meditation, and yesterday we learned the Sa Ta Na Ma meditation. We have been talking a great deal about when we use yoga outside of class, and many yogis could give great examples of how yoga helps them in the classroom, at home, before an athletic competition and many more. One yogi said that when he was in the waiting room at the hospital, waiting to see if his brother was alright after hitting his head in a hockey game, the noise, people and stress were a lot to handle. He knew he had to relax, so he found a quiet spot and starting doing "downward dog." It worked instantly! Way to go!

Rise and Shine

Here is the double cobra invented by Nolan.
















We have been doing partner yoga for the last two weeks and have been having great fun. Nolan even created a new pose called the "double cobra." It was great for flexibility and focus. The feather game had us using our intuition to find a feather in small groups, and everyone really got into the game. We have also increased our silent meditation time to three minutes! Check out some of these photos of young yogis in partner poses!

Rise and Shine

The first two weeks of Rise and Shine Yoga have been great! Everyone is so open, and willing to learn and relax, and we have a full class! We have been talking about being in your "breath awareness," and different yoga activities you can do at your desk or at home to handle stress and anxiety. Ask your young yogi to show you what he/she has been learning. When the students entered last week, a video of Nirinjan Khalsa was on, performing at the Sat Nam Fest, 2010. The instrument she was playing was called a harmonium. The yogis had many questions about the clothes and instruments. It was a great experience to learn more about Kundalini yoga, in particular Kundalini musical artists.

Sat Nam,

Mrs. Williams

Yogi Parents

Click here for a great article on helping children deal with anxiety. This article was written by Shakta Khalsa, the founder of Radiant Child Yoga, and my friend. Enjoy!

Yoga Books

Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A just right book for 4th graders that is talk worthy on many levels. There are several deep themes here, grandparent/grandchild relationships, pets as more than friends, thinking of others, loss and the joy of life. It made me think of all the work we have been doing in class with "author's message," and yoga! This is such a great yoga story as well! I bet we could come up with a great yoga set for these characters that would lead to a very meaningful meditation. If you read it, let me know what you think.

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