Twisty Tuesday: Yoga for you and your mini-yogis!

It's Tuesday, so why not have a "Twisty Tuesday?" Each tuesday I hope to have a blog post dealing with yoga: poses for you and for your little yogis and yoginis.

 

Yoga is a wonderful addition to any family wellness plan and yes, anyone can practice yoga. Anyone. There are many many styles and approaches to yoga, but these posts will focus on a fun, lighthearted approach and give you insight as to what resources are available to further your practice, change it up and get your kids involved.

 

Poses this time will include Mountain Pose (Tadasana), Forward Bend (Uttasana) and a mild back bend.

 

Mountain Pose is a foundation to a good, strong yoga practice. It is a standing pose and many yoga styles begin their practice from this pose.

• Begin standing, with your feet hip width apart and parallel to each other. Spread your toes (think of those little crazy haired trolls) and lift your arches. This is your grounding.
• Imagine your knee caps are lifting onto your thighs (don't lock your knees, lift the caps). This will support your lower back and protect your hamstrings from over-extending.
• Imagine your tailbone pointing down into the ground. The idea is to avoid sticking it out like a duck, but to avoid tucking it under too far. Stand up straight.
• Hunch your shoulders up to your ears and then roll them down. Imagine your shoulder blades sliding down your back. Let your arms "dangle" at your sides and leave your palms open. 
• To keep your neck neutral, tip your chin down slightly. Lengthen your body along your spine while grounding your legs down through your feet. 
• Ta Da! Tadasana! (Who knew standing up straight had so many directions!)

Forward Bend, or Uttasana, begins with Mountain Pose. You will first complete a mild back bend and then fold into forward bend.

• From Mountain Pose, rotate your wrists so your palms face out. Keeping your arms straight, raise them up over your head as if you are trying to catch a large bubble. Keep your shoulder blades sliding down your back with your arms reaching uward. You can look straight ahead or up between your hands.
• For the back bend, squeeze your buttocks and lift UP and back at the same time. You will want to avoid squishing your lower back, so the lifting up and back is important. This is a mild, slight backbend; don't bring your arms more than a few inches behind your hips. 
• For the forward bend, keeping your back flat, start reaching up out to your sides with your hands (think of a swan dive). Keep your chin up and back flat. Hinge at the hips.
• Continue to legnthen your spine as you bend at the hips. When you get to a point where you can't go any farther without rounding your back, either bend your knees or place your hands on your thighs, shins, ankles or on teh floor. 
• Relax the neck and let gravity continue to release you into the pose. Remember to take deep breaths, 4 or 5 to start, as you are in the pose. 
• To come out of the pose, raise your chin and stretch your arms out to your sides in a reverse-swan dive. Come up slowly, exhaling as you do. When your hands are stretching up to the ceiling, you are at the top of the pose. Bring your hands together and straight down in front of you.  

How do you teach this to little kids? Easy. Mountain Pose is "Stand up Straight!" The Back Bend is "Reach High to the Sky!" Forward Bend is presented as "Low to Your Toes!" (Their legs will almost invariably bend here, but that's ok. As they get older and watch you more, they will keep them straight. This isn't a competition, you want them to have fun!) They will get it and have a great time, too. You show them and they follow along. Remember, though, they will only do this for a few minutes or so. The won't need too much instruction because most young children have not corrupted their posture with poor habits, yet.

Have fun with your yogis and they will have fun with the yoga. Congrats! You've started them on a lifetime of wellness!