chapter 9

Putting It All Together

As you begin sharing yoga and mindfulness with your child, remember what we discussed in chapter 3. Start slow, introducing activities with plenty of time for exploration and conversation. Don’t pressure yourself or your child to move through activities quickly. There is no checklist and no time frame for your practice.

As you schedule time to work with your child, remember that a combination approach—whereby you have one or two longer sessions per week, combined with reminders to integrate the tools into daily life—is recommended. In your longer sessions, try to incorporate activities from different elements of the practice, even if your child has a strong preference for one or two elements (for example, some kids are happy to practice Move activities and leave out everything else; others would love to do Relax activities for the whole session). Yoga is most powerful as a holistic practice.

Although you should feel free to combine activities in ways that appeal to you and to your child, what follows are some suggestions for sequences based on approximately twenty-, forty-, and sixty-minute practices. When your child is first learning the practices, these sequences will take longer than they might later on, when the activities are more familiar. If you choose to create your own sequences, keep in mind that a useful way to think about a practice session is as a gentle bell curve, whereby you are starting off in a calm place, then working up toward things that are more energetic and challenging, and then ending with something relaxing. Don’t worry if you get started on a sequence, decide to dedicate more time than you had planned to a particular activity, and don’t get a chance to finish the sequence. If your child is engaged, it’s always worth it to spend the time on what he is interested in. Just try to finish up with a relaxing activity and/or a short savasana.

This is a good time to review the guidelines in chapter 3, and to choose an opening and closing ritual for your practice sessions.

Recommended Sequences (All time frames are approximate—don’t rush!)

Transitions

When you are practicing several activities in one session, an important part of the experience that often gets neglected is the transitions. Sometimes, when you move from one activity to another, you can lose your child’s attention as you transition, particularly when moving from sitting to standing or vice versa, or from sitting to reclining. You say “stand up” and your child takes it as an invitation to jump, run in circles, go get a snack, and so on. My recommendation is that you make the transitions part of the experience as much as possible, guiding your child with specific instructions for standing and sitting. The transitions that follow include some possible ways to do this, but you are welcome to get creative and come up with other ways to transition that are enjoyable but specific.

Another instance in which you will want to make deliberate use of transitions is when you feel you need to bring your child’s energy level up or down in preparation for what is coming next. Sometimes it’s helpful to insert small amounts of stimulating or relaxing movement in between activities so that your child is better prepared.

From Sitting to Standing: No-Hands Stand

This is a fun but challenging way to transition to standing, and while both you and your child may struggle with it at first, keep trying and it will get much easier quickly.

1. From a sitting position, bend your knees and plant your feet on the floor (close to your hips).
2. Reach your arms straight out in front of you between your knees.
3. Use your core strength to shift your weight forward onto your feet and slowly lift up to standing, without putting your hands on the ground.
4. Feel free to rock back and forth to get some momentum going to help lift you up. Try just a little weight shift, or even a full roll onto your back.

From Standing to Sitting: Tiptoe Pose to Squatting

This is another transition that will build core strength while keeping your child engaged and focused.

1. Begin in mountain pose (see chapter 6) with your gaze steady and focused.
2. Stretch your arms out in front of you.
3. Slowly lift up onto the balls of your feet and pause for a moment.
4. On a long, slow exhale, begin to bend your knees (see illustration 26) and come all the way down into a squat. Then, lower to sitting.

Illustration 26: Going from standing to sitting, or tiptoe pose to squatting

From Sitting to Reclining: Smallest You to Biggest You

Sometimes it’s hard to get your child reclined on her back for Relax activities or savasana. She may want to curl up on her side, or roll onto her belly, but this transition can help.

1. Sit in the middle of your mat.
2. Hug your knees tightly into your chest, squeezing your body as closely as possible. Make yourself as small as you can be. (See illustration 27.)

   

   Illustration 27: From sitting to reclining—smallest you

3. Slowly open your body, stretching your arms and legs as far away as you can, making yourself as big as you can be, and lower down until you are lying flat on your back. (See illustration 28.)

   

   Illustration 28: From sitting to reclining—biggest you

4. Now try repeating this a few times. From your back, pull up to sit and curl into a small ball. Then lower down again. The more times you do this, the stronger your core will get, and the more relaxing your reclining activity will feel.

Bringing Energy Up (Gently): Waking Up Your Body

This simple activity asks your child to bring his attention to each part of his body and move it through its full range of motion, starting with his feet and moving up to his head. You can do this quickly or slowly based on your child’s attention span and interest level.

1. Start in mountain pose (see chapter 6), and bring your attention to your toes. Explore how they move. Wiggle them, pick them up, spread them out, and then place them back down.
2. Now explore the rest of your feet and ankles. Roll them in circles, point and flex your feet, and make any other possible movements.
3. Move up your legs and find your knees. Pick them all the way up one at a time, and then bend them as deeply as you can. What other movements are your knees responsible for? Consider jumping, lunging, squatting.
4. Keep moving up your body to your hips and explore how they move. Make big circles with your legs, open and close your hips, maybe give each leg a good shake.
5. Continue moving up your body, pausing at each joint to move it any way that feels good. Be playful and creative as you figure out how many ways your body has to move.

Bringing Energy Down: Rag Doll Pose

This is a basic forward fold that provides an easy way to rest and let your energy settle down.

1. Begin in mountain pose (see chapter 6).
2. Slowly fold forward, letting your body be soft.
3. Let your arms hang down and your head be heavy. (See illustration 29.)

   

   Illustration 29: Rag doll pose

4. If your hamstrings feel tight, you can bend your knees a little bit.
5. Try swaying gently from side to side and forward and back.
6. Take a few full breaths, and then as you breathe in, roll very slowly back up to standing.

Coming Back to Neutral: Simple Twist

This simple, gentle twist can be practiced between any of the activities. It provides a grounding, neutralizing energy that can aid in your transitions.

1. Begin seated with your legs crossed, or straight out in front of you. Sit up tall.
2. Lift your arms up to the sky, getting as tall as possible while keeping your shoulders relaxed.
3. Bring your right hand to your left knee and your left fingertips to the floor behind you.
4. Sit up tall as you inhale, and then exhale and gently pull your knee with your right hand and twist to the left, looking out over your left shoulder.
5. Keep the right side of your seat firmly on the ground and your shoulders soft. (See illustration 30.)

   

   Illustration 30: Simple twist

6. Switch sides when you are ready.

Getting Creative

You know your child best, and once you get used to these practices, feel free to swap out activities in any sequence for ones that you think would work better for your child, or try creating your own sequences together. Just keep in mind the bell curve structure, and consider starting with a calm activity, bringing the energy up, and then slowly bringing the energy back down so that the ending of your session is quiet and relaxing.