by sara | Jun 10, 2017 | Breathing Exercises
Begin with Breath
Breathing Exercises For Kids
Let’s begin with breath. Why is breath important? Deep breathing helps calm us if we’re nervous or anxious. With yoga it helps us hold the poses longer and center ourselves. This is especially important for kids who are maybe nervous or anxious at home or at school. We’re going to show you some kid-friendly ways to practice breath work from our kids’ yoga teacher training.
We’re going to learn eight breathing techniques that kids can remember and use in the home, at school, any time they’re feeling anxious, nervous, or upset. So why is breath important? Deep breathing helps calm us if we’re nervous or anxious. With yoga it also helps us hold the poses longer and center ourselves. I’m going to teach you some fun kid-friendly ways to practice that deep breathing and breath work.
First is our Belly Breathing. You can place your hand right on your belly and go ahead and breathe in and breathe out and you can actually feel the breath moving inside. Another fun way to do it that kids love if they know each other is lay on their tummies and breathe deeply and see if they can feel their friend’s breath work as well.
Next is Window Fog. Pretend like you’re trying to fog up a car or maybe you’re stepping outside in the cold air and you’re kind of seeing your breath. Go ahead and breathe deeply in and out as hard as you can. Put your hand there so you can feel your breath moving.
Blowing out the Candle is especially fun too. Put your index fingers together and then you’ll breathe in then and breathe out as if you’re blowing out those birthday candles.
These Breathing Balls are another great visual to see your breath actually working. 
The training video shows you how the ball expands and decreases. Kind of how your diaphragm would work with your breath.
Feathers are a great tool for breath work as well. You can blow your feather up and down your yoga mat. You can blow it across the room. These are inexpensive ways to actually see your breath in action.
Pinwheels are another great resource. You can take it outside, you can take in the house and practice blowing it fast or blowing it slow. You can practice different ways of utilizing your breath.
Bubbles are a great way too to see how your breath is actually working. 
Finally, we must remember Sun Salutations. These are important with yoga to connect this movement of reaching up high to the sun and then diving forward towards your toes. Go ahead and breathe in as you rise up and exhale as you fall down. That really helps you connect the movement with the breath and really warms up your whole body.
Ready to dive deeper with teaching yoga and mindfulness to children? Learn more about our online Kids Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Training here.
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by sara | Jun 9, 2017 | Kids Yoga Lesson Plan
Below is a portion of the transcript of the
How to Teach Yoga to Kids Online Teacher Training 
Find out more here.
The Top 6 Benefits of Yoga for Kids
The good news is that if you practice with kidsthen you are going to get these benefits as well.
Yoga increases flexibility and strength. Children begin to diminish in flexibility around the ages of 6 or 7. They’re born flexible but as you age your flexibility does decrease. The good news is that by practicing yoga it helps maintain flexibility. Yoga also builds strength as muscles are worked in new ways. This can be the active just holding a few poses and breathing, it makes you feel strong and powerful. Yoga poses can be done standing, sitting, or lying down, but each has its own benefits and can challenge various muscle groups. Being flexible can also result in fewer and less injuries and strained muscles. This is good news for kids that are involved in sport related activities and other commitments outside of school.
Yoga also increases balance. Just like flexibility balance is another skill that decreases as we age. Balance can be improved though with practice and many yoga poses have a lot of balance work. Often your body’s balance naturally improves with yoga without you even realizing it. This is also true with children. In my experience as kids balance in yoga poses their self confidence increases because they feel their bodies growing stronger.
Yoga increases your concentration and focus. We are part of a rapidly changing world and kids are no exception. Their young minds are often over stimulated with technology and electronics. This means they’re used to getting that immediate feedback from video games, tablets, phones, and this can then make it very difficult for kids to actually sit still and focus and complete a task in school or at home. But yoga helps kids practice concentration and self control which then enhances their focus and awareness.
Today as many parents rush from activity to activity it can be difficult to be still and just be in the moment. It doesn’t always start out like that with kids. You picture toddlers and preschoolers who dawdle. They notice the clouds in the sky or things on the sidewalk. They’re taking their time and they’re being in the moment. Many kids become accustomed to this fast paced lifestyle until they know of no other way.
There is a lot of benefit to just slowing down, unplugging, and being away from it all. A good kids yoga class can help provide that. It begins a settling into the moment, focusing on breathing, and the body. Children can then practice engaging poses with games and they can end with relaxation or shavasana where they lie still and doing nothing. Kids actually really enjoy that. They know they’ve worked their bodies hard and it’s time to rest their bodies.
Yoga also makes you feel good which then increases your confidence. I see this all the time in my kids yoga classes when children are finally able to master a pose that they’ve been working on and they see their flexibility and balance improve. They are calmer, more poised, and they’re confident in their abilities not only during yoga but also outside in their day to day activities.
Finally yoga definitely promotes health and mindfulness. It is a physical activity so you get those happy endorphins pumping. When you leave the yoga class you feel good inside and out and you want to maintain that good feeling. All that twisting and moving, inverting, and holding poses during yoga also helps with your digestive system. The breathing exercises which we’re going to talk about a little bit later in this course definitely help calm and center kids. This gives kids the tools they need to use when their feeling overwhelmed and stressed and anxious in life. Instead of logging more hours in front of a screen, yoga promotes good health, calmness, and positive active movement.
by sara | Jun 8, 2017 | Kids Yoga Lesson Plan, Teacher Training
How to Teach Yoga to Kids Online Training
Find out more here.
Section 1 – What You Will Be Taught in this Course and How it Will Be Taught 
What You Will Learn:
Hello and welcome to How to Teach Yoga to Kids. My name is Sara Weis and I am glad you are here. I am a certified kid and adult yoga teacher and the bestselling author of Go Go Yoga for Kids A Complete Guide to Yoga with Kids and Go Go Yoga for Kids: Yoga Lessons for Children. I hold a Masters Degree in education and have been teaching in schools and leading yoga for children for over 20 years.
I know exactly what works with children and just as importantly what doesn’t work and I am anxious to show you what that is.
Kids yoga teacher training doesn’t have to be complicated and time-consuming. You only need minutes to gain skills and lifelong benefits that yoga provides. With our How to Teach Yoga to Kids online course and teacher training you will become confident with using yoga with kids. This course is for parents, teachers, counselors, and students, and anyone who enjoys yoga and wants to make a difference in kids lives. You’ll be able to use your knowledge in the home, at school, yoga studios, camps, and clubs.
At the end of this course, you’ll be qualified and confident to teach yoga to kids in any setting. You will also have lifelong access to the training, receive a personalized certificate upon completion and access to our private Facebook Group. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll learn in Part 1. You’ll learn what is kids yoga and how does it differ from adult yoga. Why do kids need yoga? And what are the benefits of yoga for kids? As well as the benefits for you as an adult?
In Part 2 we’re going to get started with the kids yoga teacher training. We’ll learn some breathwork techniques that really work to help calm and center kids. We’ll learn a lot of child-friendly yoga poses that can be done anywhere. I’ll give you the top ten yoga games and activities that I have used with kids and numerous times that they have fun with while learning the yoga poses. You’re also going to leave this course with mindfulness tips and relaxation techniques that help your kids settle down.
Part 3 will include of our valuable resources. You’re going to have lesson plans and templates for writing your own lessons. You’ll have cheatsheets on putting together kids yoga classes. I’m going to give you lots of recommended book resources, props, and materials. Let’s get going.
by sara | Jun 8, 2017 | Kids Yoga Lesson Plan
Welcome Summer! What a fun morning spent teaching a summer fun for kids yoga class Athleta.
We loved our Beach Ball Yoga Poses, swimming, surfing, and sunning on our yoga mats.
Getting down on our bellies and preparing for the class favorite pose: Shark Pose!
make some ocean waves with our breath and moving our arms up and down. Now let’s try doing this in Tree Pose for an extra challenge!
Creating sand castles with our bodies. Check out our flags blowing in the breeze!
Everyone is now officially ready for summer! Check out some of our favorite summer fun for kids yoga games here.
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by sara | May 3, 2017 | Benefits, Kids Yoga Lesson Plan, Mindfulness
Yoga doesn’t have to be an adult-only zone. Children have shown that they can benefit from a yoga practice too. It can help with their fitness, relax them and even enhance their focus in the classroom. The idea of family yoga is exciting to parents that want to teach poses to their children, but where do we start? How do we make yoga child-friendly and enjoy a family session?
7 Family Friendly Yoga Ideas
1. Communicate with your child and teach them some easy poses that you can do together.
If you want to start with family yoga sessions, you need to start slow. The concepts may be a little strange to kids at first, so take it one step at a time. If they lose track of their breathing or a routine, it doesn’t matter. Keep talking to them as they change position so they can express how it feel, what they like and dislike. Be prepared for the fact that many kids will get frustrated the first time. Talk to them about why they are struggling and encourage them to try again. Their flexibility and enthusiasm could take them into poses they didn’t know were possible. Yet, start simple with some cross-legged positions, downward dog, and cobra pose.
Be prepared for the fact that many kids will get frustrated the first time. Talk to them about why they are struggling and encourage them to try again. Their flexibility and enthusiasm could take them into poses they didn’t know were possible. Yet, start simple with some cross-legged positions, downward dog, and cobra pose. The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards provide great pose visuals for adults and kids.
2. Don’t be afraid to break the rules a little if it means having fun.
The appeal of these family yoga ideas will depend upon your attitude to the practice. Are you someone that takes it very seriously, from the precision in the poses to the breathing? Or are you more casual about it all?
Breathing and safety in the poses are important, but kids need a little leeway here. Let them adapt to a comfortable position. Don’t get frustrated at them for them not breathing properly or doing the poses correctly. Instead, model the breathwork and poses. The important thing is that you are engaged, communicating and enjoying the experience together. Go Go Yoga for Kids – A Complete Guide To Yoga With Kids is a great resource for making yoga fun yet educational for kids.
3. Make some noise
Many of us are drawn to yoga because of the meditative side of the exercise. Not only are we aiding our bodies and building strength, tone and flexibility, but we are also imporoving our mental health. This is where deep breathing and quiet environments are so helpful for our state of mind.
Naturally, kids don’t want to be quiet all the time while having fun with yoga, and they shouldn’t have to be. These noises can be an expression of their feelings, either joy or frustration. Allow them to let it all out and join them, make it a joint expression. If they want to bark like a dog every time they go into a downward dog then that’s fine. Besides, if laughing yoga can become in the hit in some communities, some giggling and animals noises are fine.
4. Find the balance between technique and enjoyment
Family yoga can be tricky for parents to get into because it requires a different mindset. It is important to try and find a middle ground between a fun, silly activity and the deeper purpose of the practice. Talking, laughing and other expressions are great, but try and teach them the basics of the purpose of the poses and breathing. Explain to them that they will need to take a certain amount of deep breaths through the nose for each pose. Before long you will get into a rhythm with the routine and breathing and they start to relax a little.
5. Try some partner poses
There are some parents that take family yoga ideas to another level with some partner poses. When your child has the confidence in their abilities, and the basics of poses and breathing, these joint poses increase the difficulty level. It is fun to work side by side, but it can, even more, fun to try and balance in poses together.
The Kids Yoga Challenge Pose Cards includes several partner poses that work together for adult and children. Obviously, you should only try this out in a safe environment and work on these poses gradually. But, there is a lot of fun in trying and even more satisfaction when successful. These poses are great for those working on their bond as they require a close physical and spiritual connection.
6. Those that lack the confidence to teach can join a local class.
There is something wonderful about this one-on-one time with your child. It can strengthen a bond and help you to communicate ideas on wellness and happiness. Still, there are those of us that will struggle to find the confidence to guide children through these poses, or the perseverance to encourage them when the poses get a little difficult. This is where is helps to join a local class. A trained teacher can work with you both on a family-friendly level. They can help you to learn new poses and ideas that can then be tried out at home. Also, this is a chance to meet other parents and children in the same situation.
7. Look out for classes with group activities where the whole family can get involved
Find a class through your community, parks and recreation, or local gym that focuses on that parent-child relationship or work on child-friendly instruction. There are those that take the activities further and bring yoga poses in group games. This is a social event where everyone can join in and you are not restricted to 2 person activities. Therefore, if you want to bring a second child, a partner or perhaps a grandparent, everyone can have fun. Again, these games and techniques can be brought back to the family home for playtime on family gatherings.
Family yoga comes in different forms, from those simple routines to the partner poses and classes for the whole family. Anyone can bring their child into the world of yoga with the right attitude and techniques. Start slow and find a way to teach them the basics that are fun and inclusive. Then you can look into new games, classes, and ideas as you progress.
Guest Post written by Hieu Pham
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