YOGA TIP
My friend’s daughter ran up to me last week to ask for a yoga session while we were vacationing in Jamaica for Thanksgiving. We asked my daughter to join, too, and put three towels down beside the pool.
We started our yoga journey to Jamaica by being airplanes (Warrior 3 Pose) and then took a shuttle (Chair Pose) to the villa. Then the girls took turns saying what we had seen or done so far. Here’s our Jamaican yoga sequence:
• Palm tree (Tree Pose)
• Surfer (Warrior 2 Pose)
• Bird (Warrior 3 Pose)
• Jellyfish (Standing Forward Bend)
• Swimmers (Locust Pose)
• Dog (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)
• Cat (Cat Pose)
• Dolphin (Dolphin Pose)
• Snail (Child’s Pose)
• Butterfly (Cobbler’s Pose)
• Sunbathers (Resting Pose)
You could play Bob Marley while practicing the Jamaica yoga sequence!
(Click here to see the List of Yoga Poses for Kids page for images and descriptions of the poses.)
We finished the yoga session in Resting Pose, with our hands on our bellies. We pretended that our hands were dolphins and that the inhale/exhale of our bellies was like the dolphin swimming in the water.
Afterwards, I thought about why the yoga experience was so successful. I think it’s because a child (not me) initiated the idea, the children came up with their own ideas, and it was quick and spontaneous. I also loved how the yoga session gave the girls a chance to think about Jamaica and what they had experienced. Learning through movement at its best!
Have you had a similar spontaneous yoga experience with children? I’d love to hear about it!
