Letting loose with kids yoga
Sometimes yoga is too quiet, too controlled, and too formal for me. There are times when I have the sort of tension that requires big movements and dynamic breaths in order to move and shift.
Luckily, I discovered kids yoga in 2013. I did a kids yoga teacher training that year with Haris Lender, founder of Kidding Around Yoga and found a style of yoga where you can let loose, be loud, and use your imagination in fun ways.
I’ll admit, I don’t necessarily do kids yoga practices when I’m practicing solo, but….you can. Why not? You might feel a little bit like a weirdo, but you also might have fun!
Anyways, I wanted to offer a kids yoga practice regularly for mamas who can squeeze in more time by doing yoga with their kids, but as I said, this can be for the young-at-heart, too! I promise, I’ll try more of this alongside you all because I could use the release and I’ve also been working on trying to not give a crap what people think about me:)
How to do vowel breath
The practice here is called vowel breathing. I figured with the beginning of the school year, this could be very apropos. Rather than rewrite things I’ve already written though, I’m going to refer you to a post from a couple of years ago where I write about how to do vowel breath.
And just in case you don’t have it in you to read another post, here’s a quick little video demonstrating vowel breath:
Benefits of vowel breath
You might wonder, ‘but why?’ I mean, if that wasn’t just fun enough to do for the heck of it (and believe me, kids love weird stuff like that), then let me explain. The exhalation is a very powerful tool for letting go of tension and anxiety, and vocalizing helps deepen the exhalation. Not to mention, if you practice this to the point where you feel like a total fool, you might get some laughs out of it and voila! Some spontaneous laughing yoga. You’re welcome!
It’s a little complicated, though. Everyone’s nervous system is a little different so that one person might find this stimulating while another might find it relaxing. Pay attention to the energy that is put into it: is your child screaming the vowels? Then they are probably overstimulated so you can even start with doing quiet or whispered vowels. Are they gasping in their inhalations and then going through the vowels quickly? Again, quiet vowels or even slow motion vowels can inspire them to approach this in a way that will bring balance.
Tired kids? Are you tired? Lie down, maybe even put an eye pillow over your eyes, and make these vowel sounds while you rest on your back. Watch the video demo above for more clarity and ideas.
More resources
Years ago I wrote this little blog post for Kidding Around Yoga on using yoga to deal with anxiety, which includes vowel breath. Check it out!
Here’s another resource I found on how we can do this using various vowel sounds (since English has 5 vowels but about 20 vowel sounds). In the video at the end of the article, she uses a few vowel sounds that are different than the ones I use.
In a future post, I’ll write about chanting the sound Om and how we can make it fun and interesting for kids, and maybe some interesting tidbits for the mamas, too. Until then, try out this vowel breathing sitting, standing, walking, lying down…let me know how it goes!
Next week I’ll share another post for the seasonal focus. At the Autumn Equinox, our theme was shifting, with a subtheme of using drishti to make intentional, graceful shifts in life and on our yoga mats. We are just past the midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, so next week I’ll write on the theme of falling; how appropriate for the Fall season, right?? Stay tuned…
Did this post bring some joy to your yoga practice? Do you know someone else who might enjoy it? Spread the love and share this with friends:) I always appreciate it. Thanks for reading and happy practicing!
Thank you for bringing some fund back into yoga! I find that is is easy to mistake “serene” for “serious.”