Dana Flynn

Large city, you’ve gridded me in. 
I had to give you my bank account and blood type. 
you dragged my heart under the tracks over the Williamsburg Bridge on the J train at Rush Hour.
Large city, you said you loved me. 
Why did you slam the door? 
I love you, I love you too, 
I have to get away from you, 
I have to get back. 

Large city, you are an energy-overdose-vitacap I swallow and digest
in the time it takes to walk from 4th to 14th-

Large city, I heard you the first time. 
I heard you the first time, 
you don’t need to scream. 
Large city, I heard you the first time. 
Give me some rest,
Large city, why do I come back to you when you say the same thing over and over, running across my mind like 
the Nasdaq ticker in Times Square?

Large city, Weekends in the country just aren’t the same without you. 
Did you feel the earthquake at 14th and 1st? 
Did you feel the hurricane, the tornado, 
whirling us in and spitting us out the Empire State, the Statue of Liberty?

I climbed to her crown once, looked out the top. 
Her eyes were tiny from inside. 
Her staircase was petite, of course, 
she was French! 
She wore high heels under her long dress
and still wasn’t as tall as you.

Large city I wrote your name in sharpie
on the white t-shirt I always wear
like a bullet-proof vest 
over the heart
I gave to you.

More and more kids are practicing yoga — and you know what, it totally makes sense. Here are six ways that kids are natural yogis:

1. They are Fearless: Kids are not afraid fall, go upside down, or look silly. They have an enviable freedom and sense of adventure! They are more fearless than me when it comes to trying things like headstand.

2. They are Flexible: Kids can often put their feet behind their head, do splits and all kinds of crazy flexible things without even trying. Their challenge is more holding poses and slowing down, but this can be done, especially if approached as a game. (How long can you hold your Tree Pose?) Again, they are more flexible than me in many ways!

3. They Have Yoga Poses Named After Them: There’s Child’s Pose, and no “Adult Pose” after all.  There’s Happy Baby pose (not “Angry” or “Frustrated Baby”). There must be a lot to learn from kids if adult yogis are busy posing as them!

4. Kids Love Animals and Nature, Even Urban Kid Yogis: Why visit the zoo when you can be the zoo?  Who doesn’t want to pretend to be a barking downdog or slinky snake? Kids really get into what it might feel like to be a windy tree or a camel with a big hump. There is a natural curiosity and respect for nature inherent in most kids. They love to learn animal facts along with practicing poses.

5. Kids Are Busy Exploring the World. Yoga Helps With That: One of my teachers said a kid’s job is to play; play is how they learn about the world. What better way to play than through yoga?  You get to see what it feels like to make your body into a triangle with three points, or a star, with five. You get to be a warrior (one, two OR three) and get to go on adventures involving mountains and suns and dogs and cats. You get to sprawl out in rockstar pose and play air guitar, or curl up in bug pose. When you think about it, it almost seems more natural that kids would do yoga than adults, given all the playful things we do in yoga. (Breathe like the ocean? Stick our tongues out? Try to stand on one limb?)

6. Kids Need Yoga As Much As Adults: State tests, soccer practice, bullies, the “cool table” in the cafeteria, wanting to look like Miley Cyrus or a Jonas Brother and not yourself, dealing with siblings, wanting the latest toy, text messaging, the internet, getting good grades, serious concerns like childhood obesity, eating disorders and ADD….the list of kid stressors is about as long as adult ones, even in a good year. Navigating childhood can be tough. Learning how to calm yourself down and building confidence and health through yoga helps with kid life. Increased self acceptance? Check. Knowing how to breathe to relax yourself and reflect before acting? Done. If kids can learn some of the benefits of yoga from an early age, imagine what an amazing future world we’d all have!

Mini Asana Adjustment

The benefits of yoga for kids are endless, and include: Reduced test anxiety. Increased concentration and better performance in school. Stronger social skills. Better performance in sports. Increased muscle tone and natural weight management (and in a fun, non-dogmatic way…more of a downdog way). 
And if you practice yoga with your kids, you’re bonding in a style watching TV together can’t do! 

There is no set way to practice with kids. You might try a yoga DVD at home, or flipping through a yoga book and copying what you see. You might want to check out a yoga kids class at a studio. You might choose to do a few poses together before bed, or in the morning after brushing your teeth. Some people wonder how yoga can compete with video games and movies and other entertainment and if kids attention will wander. But from my experience as a kids yoga teacher, kids are often in tune with yoga naturally and really find it fun and soothing, and often request it. In fact, maybe they’re hungry for more than video games. They’re often more in tune with the joy of being in the body than adults and really enjoy bonding with friends and the adults in their life through yoga. And who doesn’t want to go upside down? 
 
Rodney Yee talks about the way parent yogis effect their children through sharing what they love. “If you practice yourself, then yoga becomes part of the furniture for the kids. When the household is studying something deeply, the walls are vibrating with that knowledge. So whenever people begin to practice yoga, all the people in the household are going to absorb some of that.”

Imagine what it will be like for kids to learn yoga, and have those skills through the turbulent adolescent years, and into adulthood. Imagine how teaching kids yoga could positively effect the future world. A world where people are happy, healthy and balanced, or at least trying to be? Awesome. 
 

Here’s a list of resources to get started: 

In LA: MiniYogis

In NYC: Karma Kids Yoga

Everywhere: contact your local Y or yoga studio for kids classes

Anywhere: Yoga DVDs such as Family Yoga with Rodney Yee

CDs: Come Play Yoga, (Karma Kids Yoga Music)

Books: My Daddy is a Pretzel by Baron Baptiste, Dogi the Yogi (You’ll be amazed by how kids act out what they read and naturally get a practice).

yoga for youth

Yoga helps kids develop strength, flexibility, calm minds, open hearts and gives them tools for regulating emotions. To start practicing with the kids in your life, check out the following kid friendly and fun yoga poses: 

1. Take Five Breath: This calms and centers kids and can be used off the mat (before tests, when stressed or in conflict.)

How To: Sit in a comfortable position (often “criss-cross applesauce”, raise one hand like a power-to-the-people fist, and extend your fingers while inhaling to the count of five. Then, exhale to the count of five while curling your fingers slowly back in. Slowing the breath slows the mind and creates focus and relaxation. 

2. Tree Pose: This is a classic and fun balancing pose. Kids love the challenge of balancing on one leg.

How To: Standing on one foot, bring the other foot to rest on the standing leg, above or below the knee. Think of your standing leg as a tree trunk rooted into the ground and extend your arms like tree branches. For fun, try slowly moving your arms like branches in the breeze for “windy tree” while keeping balance. Or, try closing your eyes for “Tree at Night” without falling over. Two trees can hold hands and make a forest. 

3. Relaxation Pose: Kids are often as overbooked as adults and need downtime to relax.

How To: Lie on your back with legs and arms flopped open and relaxed. Try not to move or wiggle, but get very very still.  For variation, try “Starfish pose” in which you lie with arms to the side in the shape of a star. Think of having suction cups on the bottom of your arms and legs and being stuck to the bottom of the ocean floor. This will help you stay still. 

4. Downward Facing Dog: Another classic pose. Even the littlest of yogis can go upside down in this way and look through their legs for a change in perspective.

How To:  Make your body into an upside-down V shape with hands placed shoulder-width apart and feet hip-width apart.  Have you seen a dog stretch in this way?  Turn it into “Walk the Dog” by walking in your downdog, trying to keep your arms and legs straight.   

5. Candle: This is a Shoulder Stand in adult yoga, and is a great, safe way for kids to go upside-down. As one of my kid yogis says, its fun to “rest your feet.”

How To: Lying on your back, bring your hands to the small of your back and push your legs up into the air.  Try moving your feet like a flickering candle flame. For variation, move your legs into tree position for “Upside Down Tree.”

Combine these poses into a mini-practice!  Begin with Take Five Breath to center and focus. Then try Downward Facing Dog, moving into Walk the Dog. Then practice Tree for balance and Candle for upside down practice. Then rest in Relaxation. In this short practice your child has learned a breathing skill for relaxing and slowing down the mind, has practiced balance, worked on upper body strength, went upside down in a safe way which is restorative to the body, and has some rest time.  Remind kids that yoga is a “practice not a perfect” and the point is to try your best and have fun.