Friday afternoons have never been so much fun as they have this holiday. A welcome relief from the Mon-Thurs commute, and quite frankly, the highlight of my week, has been the kids yoga classes that I’m running as part of summer camp at St Georges Hill Lawn Tennis Club. We’ve had Royal Baby inspired classes, Yoga Challenge themes, and the most amazing trip around the world, with fun (and sometimes quite silly) music from appropriate countries to accompany the postures and movements.
We’ve had bumpy truck rides, rollercoaster rides, we’ve been elephants, lions, pigeons, penguins, sharks and surfers (warrior II). When Prince George showed up we were soldiers, corgis, storks, horses, deer, hares and, of course, we finished our asana practice with ‘happy baby’, what else… This has been one of the most rewarding summers for me, seeing the enjoyment and confidence growing in the children, having fun and acting like a kid with them (all adults should try it once in a while, it’s therapeutic!) and then seeing them all relaxing in their meditation at the end of the class. One group asked for more meditation, the completed 15 minutes, this is a big achievement for 5-12 year olds (the range in that particular class) and the fact they asked for more shows that downtime is sometimes what they really need. No stimulation from TV, computers, games consoles, siblings, parents: just some gentle music and a soothing voice to help them focus their mind, so they can relax fully. There is a great deal of emerging evidence that yoga and meditation provides huge health benefits to children, not only in calming them and managing behaviour and reducing their stress levels, but inspiring them too, building confidence, building strength and courage and most of all, building their self esteem.
I’m actively looking for Weybridge/Walton/Chertsey area venues to run some public kids classes, so watch this space. I can’t wait…
Photo copyright Kanua CLM