This weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of Casey Feicht’s, (kidsyogaguide.com), parent/child yoga class for kids.  There were dances, giggles, deep breathing with breathing buddy friends, poses, toys, stories and singing.  Making yoga fun for kids is certainly Casey’s expertise!! My daughter, age 13, who was quite a bit older than the other kiddos, participated along side all of the little ones.

 

I especially liked how she encouraged each student to say “I’m a teacher too,” and how she reminded the children to listen to their bodies and if the body says “uh huh” to not do the pose.

While Casey taught rag doll, a range of animal yoga poses, boat pose, tree pose, peaceful warrior, and many others, a couple of my favorites were her variations on sun salutations and she has given me permission to share them here.  Casey also incorporates inspiration from Sydney Solis of story time yoga.com, please visit Sydney’s site as well for a multitude of beautiful ideas!

Sun Salutations Variation One

Chant the following with each pose of the sun salutations:

The sun the sun, I salute the sun

I open my heart to everyone

The sun rises, the sun sets

I open my heart to everyone

Again I rise, ready to live

Happy to live and ready to give

The sun the sun, I salute the sun

I open my heart to everyone

~Sydney Solis

Sun Salutations Variation Two

Say the chant above using different voices!  Casey asked the children to give her examples of different voices to use.  The class came up with robots and using an “underwater voice.”  Think up your own voices and have fun!  (some ideas that come to mind are:  mickey mouse, giggly voice, grandpa voice, whispers, windy voice, up and down voice, etc…)

 

kidsyogaguide.com

If you want to learn more about Casey’s teacher trainings, visit her website at kidsyogaguide.com or follow kidsyogaguide on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/kidsyogaguide/?fref=ts or click on the screenshot to the right.

 

www.storytimeyoga.com

 

Until next time, wishing you many peaceful moments!

Zemirah

 

 

Girl Om photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/48222223@N02/5567042224″>little Om</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>

Child Forward Bend photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/29436793@N00/153936295″>Downward dog</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>