Kids can make a lot of noise! Sometimes seem like they can’t stop moving. That’s why so many people say, “Kids’ yoga? Can kids really do yoga?”
They can, but not the stoic, controlled version that you might imagine when you think of a typical yoga class for adults. The thing with kids yoga is, it’s not meant to be the same as yoga for adults. Kids have different needs than adults and that is why, in kids yoga, I not only let kids make noise, I welcome it, encourage it, and actively find ways to channel their racket into yoga activities.
One of my favorite noisy activities to do with kids is Vowel Breath. This one goes over well with kids that know the alphabet, or at least vowels, but can be modified for our littlest yogis (read on). It’s simple! On the exhale, you say one of the vowels in a low, slow tone. We combine it with some movement between kneeling and extended child’s pose. It goes something like this:
Rest on knees, hips to heels or lined up over knees.
Inhale, lift arms overhead and on the exhale, bring palms to ground and say “A.” Relax the face and drop the jaw as you ride the exhale all the way out, letting the A sound through the entire exhale.
Inhale and bring the arms up overhead again, exhale and bring palms to ground as you say “E,” sounding the vowel out for the entire exhale.
Repeat for each vowel. Repeat for the whole series of vowels as many times as you like!
When you’re ready, rest in child’s pose with the arms reaching back or forward.
A modification of this could be: inhale while holding cow pose (or table top, which is like cow pose with a flat back), exhale rock the hips back to the heels as you say each vowel.
Maybe your yogis are really young and don’t know their vowels. Just encourage them to make open-mouth vocalizations using any single syllable. Let them be loud! The point is to lengthen the exhale and ride it all the way out.
I love that this week’s kids’ yoga practice falls on the full moon because if there’s one word that I could choose to describe my life as a mom, it is FULL. There is always too much to do and so I usually feel that if I think of my yoga practice as another thing that “I gotta do,” then I get frazzled. But yoga is less about doing more and more about doing less. Read that sentence a few times; does it make sense? In other words, less is more and yoga ideally is about making the space not for more stuff, but just for the sake of making space to stretch out in. Think of it as a refreshing silent pause after lots of noise and chaos.
So, when the kids get rowdy and you feel like you are dying for a little moment of silence, give vowel breath a try. It helps kids let out that urge to make noise and hopefully gets followed by some quiet moments in child’s pose.
Momlife is full. We can’t always wait for silence and emptiness to rejuvenate us. Let’s do fun yoga like vowel breath to fill the airwaves with happy noise so that we can fill it with chill immediately after. Try it and let me know how it goes:)
P.S. You don’t need to wait for your kids to follow along. Heck, you can do this all on your own, but I won’t promise that you won’t feel a little silly in the process!
Every Friday I’ll post ideas and inspiration for practicing yoga with kids and every Tuesday I’ll share a micropractice that helps busy moms (and dads and kids, and really anyone) to incorporate brief yoga practices into their day. Here’s the post to kick off this biweekly series that will last until the end of the year!