Final Week

This will be the last week of our Yoga Kids classes. The time has gone by quickly, and I will miss the energizing and fun-filled days I shared with some amazing kids! We are already looking forward to next summer's yoga adventures. So, enjoy this last pose of the week and remember, "Practice and all is coming."

Pose of the Week

Bold Warrior

Last week you learned how to be a Brave Warrior. I know you have been practicing and are getting braver all the time. Now you are a Bold Warrior as well as a Brave Warrior. Congratulations! Keep building your strength and courage.

Instructions

1. Jump your feet apart (Steps 1-4 are just like Brave Warrior.).
2. Stretch your arms straight out of the shoulders, palms down and fingers stretched.
3. Turn your toes toward the right.
4. Bend your right knee into a right angle.
5. Turn your torso forward.
6. Raise your arms alongside your ears. Feel the support of the earth underneath you and stretch your hands to the sky.

Affirmations

In this pose say the following:

• I am a bold warrior.
• My body is strong.
• My mind is strong.
• My love keeps my family strong.
1. Come up.
2. Turn your feet to the left.
3. Do the pose on the other side.

Note to Parents and Teachers

The word warrior comes from the root “war”. In yoga we practice peace, so I’d like you to encourage your children to think of the qualities a warrior has besides someone who fights. Discuss with your children the characteristics that peaceful warriors possess. Some ideas are

strength, tenacity, perseverance, focus, concentration, believing in yourself. Is there something that your child would like to have or achieve at the moment? It could be anything from a toy, to getting better at a sport, realizing a goal, or whatever they come up with. Explain to them about the posture, presence, mind and other characteristics of a warrior.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Math Medley

Notice the shapes that your lower body makes in the warrior poses. Which of these angles does your knee make in your Brave and Bold Warriors?

• Is it a right angle at 90 degrees?
• An obtuse angle at more than 90 degrees?
• Or an acute angle that is smaller than 90 degrees?
• Can you see and feel them as you practice?

Visual Vignettes

Draw yourself, your friends and family as warriors. Color them. Decorate them too. Put your warriors on a hangar with a string and make a mobile.

Nutrition Tips

The American Dairy Association says, “milk does a body good.” Yet there are many other foods besides milk that help create a strong body and bones, and actually contain more usable and digestible calcium than milk. Except for people of northern European origin, most adults worldwide can't digest lactose, the natural sugar in milk. This is because as we mature, our bodies stop making the enzyme that breaks it down. As a result, many peole may develop intestinal discomfort whenever they have milk or milk-based foods (Weil). Here are some ideas for alternative sources of the vitamins and minerals milk provides:

Sesame Seeds...

can be ground or made into a paste like tahini and used in halvah or hummus. Put them in homemade cookies, cereals and candies too. They are rich in calcium and protien.

Leafy Greens...

like kale, spinach, collards, turnip greens, bok choy are excellent sources of calcium and vitamin D.

Molasses...

is a great source of calcium too and can easily be used in or on pancakes, waffles, cookies, breads, cakes.

Did you know that most nuts and seeds can be made into milk too? There are many to choose from like almond milk, soymilk, sesame milk, rice milk. Actually, goat’s milk is said to be more digestible than cow’s milk especially for children.

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Kids Weekly Pose

Yoga Kids classes have been extended into July, and we're having a blast. Today we sampled foods that make our bodies happy and chose to put away foods that make our bodies sad. Wes and Tilden loved the seaweed while Jamie decided it tasted too much like fish. The Nelsons brought freshly picked carrots from their garden and I brought blackberries and beans from mine. These were everyone's favorites. Some had mixed feelings about the melons, whole wheat bread, yogurt, asian pear, and dreaded sea vegetable- seaweed. The kids were already well informed about good nutrition and what to look for when reading food labels! These little yogis taught me a thing or two. Kids are never too young to begin incorporating healthy eating habits as well as healthy living habits. But we all agreed that some of the foods like chocolate cake, cookies, and fruit juice are sometimes okay. Sofia summed it up perfectly when she said, "Just a little bit sometimes is good." I couldn't agree more.

Pose of the Week

Wheel

Open your heart and get a boost of energy in this pose round.

Pose Instructions

1. Lie on your back.
2. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor, heels in close to your backside.
3. Bend your elbows and lower your arms over your head.
4. Place your palms flat on the floor beside your ears with the fingertips pointing toward your shoulders.
5. Pull your elbows toward each other.
6. Press down into your hands and feet, as you straighten your arms and legs, and lift your chest and thighs toward the sky.
7. Release down.

Finish up by curling into a ball and letting your body rock and roll back and forth.

Note to Parents and Teachers

This is a challenging pose. Please supervise and assist your child to come into this position

easily and without force. Most young children will be unable to arch their spines like a wheel. Their pose will look more like a table..their chest level and their 4 limbs supporting their torso like the legs of a table.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Affirmations

Make up some positive statements that will help you in this pose as well as make you feel good. Some examples of YogaKids affirmations are:

• I am flexible
• My heart is open
• My spine is strong
• My brain is alert

Body Benefits

This pose brings strength and flexibility to the spine, back, legs and arms. The more you practice, the more this pose will begin to look “wheel-like.”

Brain Balance

Whenever the head is lower than the heart, blood flow to the brain is increased. When done properly, wheel can oxygenate and wake up the brain.

Visual Vignettes/Laughing Language

Talk to your children about all the different ways that wheels make a difference in our lives. Imagine if we didn’t have cars, skateboards, skates, scooters, bicycles? Can you think of new ways to get around? Write and draw your innovative inventions.

Nutrition Tips

Most children love wagon wheels. Use whole wheat, rice or semolina pasta as a healthier alternative to refined white flour. Top it with a hearty tomato sauce filled with vegetables.

Do the wheel pose regularly to boost energy, awaken the brain and make yourself feel alert! What foods make you feel good? Which ones don’t you like very much? How do certain foods make you feel? Try this fun Food Mood activity.

Take three paper plates and have your children draw different faces:

• Make a happy face.
• Make a sad face.
• Make an angry face.

Attached their decorated plates onto the wall or the refrigerator. When your child likes a food, have him draw or write it on the happy plate. If what you are serving isn’t a favorite choice, she will choose the “sad” plate. Foods that contain a lot of sugar, artificial ingredients or too much salt can have an adverse effect on your child’s moods and feelings. Have him “post” these on the angry face plate.

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Kids Week 4

Pose of the Week

Sit and Twist

Instructions

1. Sit cross-legged in front of your partner with your knees touching.
2. Put your right arm behind your back, reach out with your left hand and grab your partner’s right hand. Breathe in and sit up tall.
3. Breathe out, turn away from your partner, twist your spine, and look over your right shoulder.
4. When you twist, rotate your spine gradually from the tip of your tail to the top of your head. Take your time and fee the stretch. Inhale as you lengthen your spine and exhale as you twist.

Sit and twist for 5 breaths. Change sides.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

We All Win

Have your students/children help each other twist and lengthen to their “edge.’ In yoga, going to the “edge’ means that you practice the pose the best you can. Tell your students/children not to force the pose or strain their muscles, but to keep breathing and moving as deeply as they can. Have the students guide each other with gentle communication.

Body Benefits

Twists are beneficial in so many ways. They massage the internal organs and glands as well as energize the spine, hips, open the heart and release tension in the neck and head.

Laughing Language

Play with opposite words as you twist. For example, one person would say “dark.” Your partner says “light.” The choices are endless. Have fun. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Silly/Serious
• Happy/Sad
• Sun/Moon
• Morning/Night
• Wet/Dry

Nutrtion Tip

Just as you can achieve an even deeper twist with a partner, some foods help digestion when eaten together and yet other foods can give you an upset stomach or cause discomfort like gas and belching when eaten together.

Here are some examples of foods that are great food combinations for your body when eaten together and other combinations that make digestion more difficult.

Easy to digest

Grains with vegetables

Pasta with vegetables

Beans with vegetables

Fish with vegetables

Cooked/Raw fruit eaten alone

Melons eaten alone

Difficult to digest

Fruit or sweets with beans

Fruit with vegetables

Fruit with grain, dairy or meat

Grain with dairy or meat

Melons with anything

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Kids Week 3

Pose of the Week

Eyes Around the Clock

These eye movements link all the parts of the brain by stimulating the corpus callosum – the brain’s superhighway. Simultaneously exercise your brain and eye muscles to make learning easier.

Instructions

Take any seated or standing position. Imagine a numbered clock hanging in front of your face. Try to keep your head still and move only your eyes. Do each exercise 3-6 times.

1 and 2: Look up to 12 o’clock. Down to 6 o’clock. Reverse.

3 and 4: Look right to 3 o’clock and left to 9 o’clock. Reverse.

5 and 6: Look diagonally from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock. Reverse. Look diagonally from 11 o’clock to 5 o’clock. Reverse.

Between each direction give your eyes a rest. Rub your hands together to create friction until

they feel hot. Keeping your fingers together so no light penetrates, place your hands over your eyes (open or closed) to soothe them and allow them to soak up the heat. Open your relaxed eyes and continue.

Now make complete eye circles: Begin clockwise at 12 o’clock and look at each number around the face of the clock. Return to 12. Look counterclockwise from 12 and back. Palm the eyes and

relax. Repeat.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Laughing Language,

Reading Comes Alive with Yoga™,

Musical Musings

Can you think of books and/or songs that have clocks and/or time in them? Read them. Sing the songs. Roll and rotate your eyes and increase your brain power. Have fun.

Visual Vignettes

Create fun and wacky clocks and watches out of available supplies. Use these as a focal point to

focus your brain.

Body Benefits

Just like the rest of the body, the eyes have muscles too. Improve your eyesight with this pose.

Nutrition Tip

Just as this pose helps all of the different areas of our brain link together and creates balance between the right and left sides of our brains and bodies, there are foods that are also more equalizing for our bodies. Some foods make us feel slow, heavy, dry and sluggish; these include cheese, eggs, meat and salty snacks. Other foods give us a huge burst of crazy energy, but then leave us feeling tired and spaced out; These foods include sugar, coffee, pop and and an excess

of fruit juices.

The most balancing food are the ones that leave us feeling energized and de-stressed like:

• Tofu, Leafy Greens & Seeds
• Roots and Winter Squash
• Beans and Sea Vegetables
• Whole Grains
• Fish

Eat more of these foods for a balanced, calmer you!

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Kids Week 2

Classes started last week and have been great. There are 10 kids ranging in age from 4 to 11 years old. They are already enjoying the many benefits of yoga practice such as a greater sense of well-being, calmness, heightened self-esteem, awareness, and strength. One practitioner experienced a well of emotion that allowed her to release tension and anxiety in just the second day of class. Yoga is amazing.

Pose of the Week

Polar Bear

These animals have an incredible sense of smell and can sniff food from as far away as 20 miles. Covering their noses keeps their body temperature warm and their olfactory keen.

Pose Instructions

Sit on your heels. Open your knees wide apart, toes touching behind you. Bend forward at the hips and slide your chest along the floor. Place your chin on the floor and gently cup your hands (paws) over your nose to keep warm. Breathe in an out for at least one minute.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Visual Vignettes

An adult polar bear paw can measure 12 inches across, with claws about 2 inches long. Use a

compass and a ruler to draw a life-size bear paw. Color or paint it, or use other materials to

decorate the paw.

Body Benefits

Why do Polar Bears cover their noses with their paws? So they can stay warm and conserve

their heat energy which is necessary in the in the sub-freezing climates where they live.

Bridge of Diamonds/Ecological Echoes

Polar bears are known to frequently share food with other families of bears. During the cold seasons, polar bears eat mostly the fat from seals, and the bodies of dead animals that they hunt or find. Sometimes they will find whale carcasses to feed on. When they do, lots of other

polar bears may come along too, sometimes as many as twenty polar bears.

Nutrition Tip

What are the best foods for us to eat when it is cold and blustery

outside?

1. Whole grains are great cold weather comfort foods and provide our bodies with lots of energy to help us stay warm and healthy during the winter. Try oatmeal for breakfast; Tabouli for lunch-- brown rice for dinner. Popcorn for snacks. So many possibilities of grains with fun names like amaranth, bulgur, corn, millet, rye, spelt, quinoa.
2. Since we do not get to hibernate in winter, we need to eat foods that are high in protein and fat (just like the polar bear!). Some great sources for winter warmth include soups, meats, nuts, beans, whole grains and root vegetables. Eat well. Stay warm and healthy.

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Kids

"help your child develop a strong body, gain respect
and love for himself/herself and discover a place of stillness and peace.
yogakids is a stepping stone on this journey. it brings that marvellous inner light
that all children have to the surface. watch them shine!"
--anjali ewing

I'm adding a new class to my schedule- YogaKids every Wednesday and Friday from 9 am -10 am all throughout the month of June. All kids ranging in age from 4-12 years are invited. There's still time to sign up so contact Mapleton Recreation at 801-806-9114 or sign up online here. I'm so excited for these classes to begin! YogaKids created by Marsha Wenig is the premier yoga program for kids. It has been endorsed by Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Andrew Weil and countless others. A great summer activity bringing amazing benefits to kids and parents, too.

Children Who Practice YogaKids

• Develop strong, limber and healthy bodies
• Set a lifelong foundation for well-being
• Foster creative expression, imagination
• Increase focus, concentration and attention span
• Cultivate self-esteem, setting patterns of success and achievement
• Relax and sleep better
• Cope with life stressors more effectively
• Learn about anatomy and physiology
• Discover a sense of awareness and respect for themselves, for others and the world around them

Thanks to I'll be bringing updates to the following section below.

YogaKids News

Are your children involved in competitive sports and games? Why not give them a break with a game designed for having fun “with” rather than “against” each other! The Yoga Garden Game, designed by San Francisco yoga teacher Jennifer Durand, is now on sale in time for summer fun, pay only $18.95 (regular price $20). Buy one for home and another to keep in the car for vacation travel. This game makes the perfect birthday gift and birthday entertainment, too! In the tradition of YogaKids^® “We All Win” philosophy, the Yoga Garden Game show parents and their children the value yoga can have in their daily lives.

Watch for more YogaKids birthday party ideas and solutions!

Pose of the Week

Pedal Laughing

Laughter is an international language. Pedaling a bike is excellent exercise. Put these two together and travel to the land of ha ha he he health.

Instructions

1. Sit in a chair or lie on your back.
2. Bend your arms and legs like you are riding bicycles in the air.
3. Pedal forward: laugh .
4. Pedal backward: laugh.

It might be hard to really laugh at first, but once you get started, you won’t be able to stop.

Have fun and be silly with this pose!

Parents and Teachers

Laughing is a great way to lighten up an intense mood or situation. If tension is mounting and bad moods are escalating designate a laughing break. Remind yourself and your children to look at the lighter side of things.

Activity Ideas for Home or Classroom

Math Medley/Awesome Anatomy

Count out loud or use a timer to see how long each person can maintain their pedal laughing. Time pulses and heart rates too. Make a chart or graph to look at the comparisons.

Body Benefits

Laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, boosts immune function and produces a natural body chemical called endorphins, which make you naturally feel good.

Musical Musings

Form a pedal laughing chorus or choir. High tone laughers are sopranos, low tone ones are bass. Medium low laughers are tenors and medium high are altos. Take turns being the conductors to bring in different voices, get louder or faster and to stop.

Nutrition Tip

Have fun with your food! Many of us have a "love-hate" relationship with food. It is a necessary part of our daily lives but is often confusing, time consuming and takes us away from other activities we would rather be doing. This week bring laughter into your life with the Pedal Pose and bring that laughter and feeling of play into the kitchen.

• Have family members create their favorite meal - participate in the menu planning, preparation and cleaning.
• Play music in the kitchen.
• Keep fresh flowers in your eating area.
• Practice cooking different types of foods - get the children involved in cooking new foods and new recipes. Connect Food to cultures or countries your children may be studying in school.
• Have family members select a vegetable or fruit of the week - something you have never tried - they find a recipe(s) and help with the preparation.
• Try to sit down and eat as a family at least a couple of times a week - no TV, no phones, no computers. Enjoy a fun relaxed meal together.

Copyright 2006 Marsha Wenig/YogaKids International.
Photographs by Susan Andrews
info@yogakids.com - 1-800-968-0694 - fax 219-873-7612

Yoga Bag Pattern

"after observing and empathizing with three generations of mothers
and thinking of my own dear mother, I surely know that there is
no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood."
-m. russell ballard

Here's a free pattern from Amy Butler Designs. Great idea for a fun Mother's Day gift. Thanks again Heather for this great find!