Teaching

12 Sep 2013

Taming the Monkey Mind

Ever feel like this? How do we calm our MONKEY MIND?

Back to school…my favorite time of year! New Students and new lessons to explore together!

I wanted to begin the school year with a lesson about the many ways we can quiet our “monkey minds”.

After chanting OMs at the beginning of class, I brought out one of my favorite stuffed animals CURIOUS GEORGE and explained to the children that our minds can be all over the place. We call this a monkey mind because like monkeys are always playing and jumping and swinging around, sometimes we have so many busy, busy thoughts and ideas going around in our minds.

“Today, we are going to learn some ways to help us calm and quiet our busy minds…are you ready?”

As a warmup, I used Sara Marlowe’s wonderful mindfulness song called “Busy Minds”, which are available for download on her site. The children did a “busy mind dance” when she was singing and when the music stopped, they had to freeze and listen, as they practiced some ways of keeping our busy minds still. From all the laughter and smiling faces, it was easy to see that the children absolutely LOVED this activity and song!

After we discussed some of the ways (mentioned in the song) that we can calm our busy minds…breathing, listening, visualization…I told them that of course yoga is one of the best ways to do this too!

Next I read the book I LOVE MONKEY by Suzanne Kaufmann. The book is about a monkey who wants to be special and tries to be all kinds of animals and objects, which were great prompts for yoga poses and movement: BUNNY (Rabbit Pose), ELEPHANT (Elephant BREATH) SQUIRREL, CHICKEN, ROBOT, BEE (Bumble Bee BREATH) and many other silly things, like Monster, Corn, Cucumber, Sushi, etc.!

While there are not many traditional yoga poses in the book, they children really enjoyed the book and making up movements for the animals, creatures and objects in the story.

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At the end of the book, the monkey decides that there is ONE thing that he is really good at being and that is… HIMSELF! The children had fun pretending to be a MONKEY, jumping and making monkey sounds!!

I really LOVE the message in this book, that everyone is special and you can just BE WHO YOU ARE because that is what makes YOU special! Then I passed Curious George around the room and asked them to share one thing that makes them special, something they like to do or are good at…they shared so many great responses, from baseball to swimming to playing the drums to gardening to yoga even!

For RELAXATION, I told them “Now we are going to put our busy monkey minds to sleep and enjoy some quiet time.

In a soothing voice, I read them the last few lyrics from a song called Playing Monkey’s Lullaby by Caroline Cotter

Monkeys playing have more fun

They’re fancy free and tra la la

but even playing monkeys see

the light that shines inside of me

so close your eyes and clear your mind

and find the peace you have inside

and let those monkeys go to sleep

By: beyogabelove Category: Books, Children, Creativity, Fun, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Meditation, Music, Props, Spirituality, Teaching, Theme Classes, Yoga

9 Sep 2013

Growing Your Fruitful Kids Yoga Business

Hello blog readers! I have been away from blogging for a couple of weeks enjoying a much needed vacation.

Now that I am back, I am excited to share that for the past month and a half, I have been busy developing my online training series. It will be a new, improved version of my live Growing Your Kids Yoga Business Organically Playshop offered in NYC a few months ago. I received several messages from readers interested in an online version of the playshop and with the support of my amazing coach Rebecca Snowball, I am bringing my vision into reality. More details to come soon…

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It’s back to school time and I have lots of fun lesson planned for this month, so stay tuned!

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Creativity, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Teaching, Transformation, Yoga

8 Aug 2013

Why I Love Teaching Kids Yoga

First Annual Kids Yoga Held at the Livingston Public Library

by Danielle Santola Saturday, August 3, 2013 • 6:55am

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LIVINGSTON, NJ – This summer at the Livingston Public Library, certified Children’s Yoga Instructor Betty Larrea ran the first annual Kids’ Yoga program, which attracted an average of 20 children per session. The four-week program invited local youth to come together and expand their minds and creativity through yoga.

At first, the program was available to children in grades K-4, but as the weeks progressed parents began to participate in sessions alongside their children. Attendance also extended to infants as young as eight months old.

Each week, Larrea incorporated music and picture books to teach the children about breathing techniques, stretches and balance. Using a story for guidance, she asked the kids how they think a certain character might look and perform different actions accordingly. Many books have been written intentionally with instructional yoga references, but Larrea found that free form stories, like Marion Dane Bauer’s “How Do I Love You?” allow for greater imagination amongst the kids.

The Librarians often attempt to expand their involvement in the community by offering new and exciting activities. After hearing positive results from the yoga programs in surrounding towns, the Livingston Librarians decided to look into it.

“Yoga is something that enables kids to be creative and express themselves,” said Youth Service Librarian Gina Vaccaro. “We knew people would be interested and since we’re more of a cultural center rather than a traditional library, we’re always looking for new and exciting things.”

Larrea has been teaching yoga to kids for 13 years. She said the difference between adult and child yoga programs is that for kids it is about discovery first and poses later. When children are given the opportunity to express their creativity, she said, they are not only connecting with themselves but discovering new things about themselves as well.

“The connection of integrating the mind and the imagination is a holistic aspect that is already so natural to them,” Larrea said. “At the end there is a state of inner peace, being in their own space and finding a connection with themselves and that’s a beautiful thing.”

Vaccaro said that there was such a positive response from parents that the library intends on continuing the yoga program in the fall and expanding it to interested adults. One child even asked Larrea if she would be interested in helping him throw a yoga-themed birthday party.

“My favorite part of this summer’s experience was seeing the parents engaged,” Larrea said. “We played and had fun and it was a very bonding experience for the families.”

By: beyogabelove Category: Books, Children, Creativity, Family, Fun, Kids Yoga, Self Development, Teaching, Theme Classes, Yoga

12 Jul 2013

Summer Yoga-A Day at the Beach!

Remember all the childhood fun of a TRIP TO THE BEACH?

This week in my yoga classes, we used our imaginations to go to the beach.

I had a few songs and poses planned, but thought it would be fun to let the kids decide what THEY wanted to do at the beach. It’s amazing how many fun ideas, activities, sea creatures and more! they came up with!

First we got ready by dressing up and packing all the beach gear we needed.

We all pretended to dress up for a day at the beach…Bathing Suit, Sunglasses, a Hat, Flip Flops, and of course putting on some Sunscreen. The children called out some of the essentials, including: Buckets and shovels, beach balls and toys, beach towels, blankets, umbrella, water and of course snacks!

We did some CHOO CHOO TRAIN BREATHING as we got on the train to the beach: “ALL ABOARD”.

When we got to the beach, we did some SUN SALUTATIONS to thank the sun for a beautiful day!

Then each child got a turn to share what they would like to do at the beach:

We swam, built sandcastles, played with our beachball, looked for seashells, flew like BUTTERFLIES and SEAGULLS, went scubadiving underwater and saw many sea creatures like SHARKS, WHALES, SEA HORSES and OCTOPUS (partner pose), crawled like CRABS, went fishing on a BOAT and caught some BIG FISH, and lots more!!

For my younger preschoolers, we sang the SONG SWIM AROUND THE SEA (to the tune of Ring Around the Rosie)

Swim around the sea, the fishies and me

splashing, splashing, we all get wet!

Then I let the children pick sea creatures for the CHORUS

SHARKS, DOLPHINS, LOBSTERS, etc, and we all did the POSES together.

We also went SURFING to a cool surfing/movement song called RIDING THE BIG WAVES by Charity and the JAMBand:

runnin’ down to the water…
everybody’s ridin’ the big waves

paddlin’ into the ocean…
divin’ under the waves…
chillin’ out, waitin’ for the set…
paddlin’ hard, into your wave…
standin’ up on your board
droppin’ in and makin’ the bottom turn
stallin’ and you’re deep in the barrel
…WIPE OUT!

This catchy song has lots of actions, but we added some yoga poses to do on our surfboards DOWNWARD DOG and HERO!

By the end of class, the kids really were wiped out, so we did our STILL AS A STARFISH guided relaxation for SAVASANA and listened to the sounds of the ocean waves as we rested on our beach towels.

I love giving the children I teach the opportunity to generate ideas and make their own FUN in yoga class by using their creativity and enthusiasm. The class was jam-paced with stretching, movement, play and lots of laughs!!

For more KIDS YOGA THEME IDEAS, be sure to SUBCRIBE HERE NOW by clicking the FOLLOW button to the right.

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Creativity, Fun, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Nature, Teaching, Theme Classes, Yoga

9 May 2013

Yoga and Imagination~ Perfect Together

Kids Yoga is part poses, part play and ALL IMAGINATION!

In today’s yoga classes, my theme was simply YOGA. I have been teaching yoga to this particular group of preschoolers for over a year and a half and they have come a long way from the first day I walked into their classroom. It’s amazing to see their development physically, mentally and emotionally. These kids are always so enthusiastic about yoga that they are constantly asking to share the new poses they made up. So today, I allowed them to lead the class in doing their very own original yoga poses!

What is YOGA?

We began the class with a discussion on what YOGA is. I got some really amazing answers from the children about why we do yoga and what they like about yoga:

“It helps us be strong.”

“It’s exercise and makes us healthy.”

“To practice.”

“You get to be whatever you want to be”

Then we went through the sequence of our yoga class. When I asked why we started class with OMs their responses were:

“We chant our OMs so we can get ready for yoga.”

“We say OM so we can be calm.”

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Ready, Set, BREATHE

I then asked the children what came next in yoga class and they immediately called out “BREATHING”. We talked about how important it is to breathe and how good it feels. I asked what their favorite breathing exercise was, some liked Balloon (belly) Breathing and others liked Volcano, so we did both.

I can BE a Yoga Teacher!

I then turned the class over to the children and they each got a turn to teach their pose to the rest of the class. It was amazing to see that they understood the concept that how each pose stretches a certain part of the body. Some of the poses they made up were cheetah, fire truck, helicopter, and dinosaur while other children showed us new versions of their favorite poses, including tree, camel, and dog. Letting them demonstrate the pose allowed them to learn leadership and you could tell how proud they were after we clapped our hands for our “teachers”.

Time to Relax

After our stretching, moving and trying out all hese creative new poses, the children were ready for Savasana. I played Kira Willey’s Colors, which includes yoga poses in the many colors of the rainbow:

I am purple today, bright and happy like a butterfly in the air

I am yellow today, I shine my light out like the sun

I’m a rainbow today, all the colors of the world…are in me

The class was a huge success and it makes me so happy to see how much my kids have progressed in their yoga practice and to know that they really “get” how yoga helps them in their lives.

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Creativity, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Self Development, Teaching, Theme Classes, Yoga

7 Apr 2013

Connecting Through Acro Yoga

I attended another awesome Acro Yoga event sponsored by MERJ at Om Factory in NYC. MERJ connects people with similar interests through local activities. Members can select an event or interest they enjoy and find activity partners who would like to join them in that activity.

The idea behind both MERJ and Acro Yoga is to connect with others, so this event was the perfect way to bring people together.

The best part of these Acro Yoga events is the instant connections you get to make with near strangers. Since Acro Yoga is very hands-on, the barriers that are usually there when you first meet someone are left at the door.

The event was led by two Acro Yoga facilitators, one of which was Sandhi Ferreira, who also teaches at OmFactory and Jivamukti. There was a really relaxed vibe and a DJ playing chill music in the background. We began with some group stretching to break the ice and get to know each other. From the smiles on everyone’s faces, it is clear to see that there was some real connection and fun going on!

Then we broke off into small groups and practiced some Acro Yoga. The instructors demonstrated all the poses to make sure we were clear about the steps involved. I learned some new flying poses and we all had a great time working together.

We each had the opportunity to be the base, the flyer and the spotter, which helped us build confidence in our ability to set up and support the pose. There is something so reassuring about knowing that you are being fully supported and that someone will catch you if you fall.
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Aside from having lots of fun, I had a breakthrough thanks to Sandhi’s support. I realized that I don’t really have a hard time trusting others when being the flyer, but when it came time to be a base, I had a hard time trusting myself. I would be holding someone up in a flying posture and and then the fear and doubt would creep in. I was afraid I was not strong enough to hold someone up or that I would drop them.

Trusting myself is been something I have been delving into for some time and I was so grateful to have a teacher support me in breaking through my own limitations and embracing my power. It was so liberating to be able to let go of my fear and step into my POWER. I am excited to continue growing and evolving through my Acro Yoga practice, as I continue learning about trust.

What would you do if you truly TRUSTED YOURSELF?

I would love to hear from you…

By: beyogabelove Category: Acro Yoga, Partner Yoga, Relationships, Self Development, Teaching, Trust, Yoga

4 Apr 2013

Spring is in the Air!

With Spring in the air, it is the perfect time for children to explore Nature themes and poses.

This week, I introduced a Nature theme with a discussion about Spring and what happens during this season. Since children are already learning about Spring and new life as part of their school curriculum, acting out the phases of development of a butterfly or a tree or a flower helps to reinforce these concepts. April is also National Poetry Month, so I read a poem with many elements of Nature, such as trees, sun, rain, wind, etc. as a prompt for our Nature yoga poses.

Learning about life cycles helps children appreciate and have respect for the natural world and the Earth.

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There are so many Nature poses to choose from, birds, insects, animals… You can even teach them variations of many poses they already know, such as Flower. We started with our basic flower pose and then I challenged them to try balancing in Lotus Flower pose. Then we did a group Sunflower pose. We all sat in a circle with our legs stretched out and reaching for our toes in forward fold, as the sunflower was “sleeping” and as the Sun came out, we stretched our arms out and up over our heads as we breathed out.

I ended class with a Nature Meditation. The children rested in Savasana while I led them through a guided visualization which included many of the Natural elements and creatures we explored in our class.

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Kids Yoga, Meditation, Poetry, Self Development, Spirituality, Teaching, Theme Classes, Transformation, Yoga

28 Mar 2013

Listening with Your Heart

Listening is one of the most challenging lessons that educators are faced with when teaching children.

One of the themes we explored this month in my yoga classes was LISTENING. After I introduced the theme, I asked the children to share why listening is so important and where they can listen. Many of them responded that they listen to teachers so they can learn and to their parents when they ask them to do something. We discussed how listening was a great way of helping too. Then I told them that we were going to practice our listening by reading 2 poems and asked them to “put on their listening ears”.

Poetry is such a wonderful resource for teaching.

Children are captivated by the sound of rhyming words and the singsong of your voice as you recite each verse. After reading the first poem, I asked the children to help me with the next “action poem” where I read part of the poem and we pointed to different parts of our bodies and they filled in the missing words.

This is the poem I used:

I listen mostly with my _____ (ears, point to ears)

But I sometimes listen with my _____ (eyes, point to eyes)

I look at your _____ (face, point to face)

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I listen mostly with my ______ (eyes, point to eyes)

That’s a really good place to start

But I learn a lot about you

When I listen with my ______ (heart, point to heart)

Playing listening games is a fun way to teach listening skills.

One was yoga telephone where the children sit in a circle and close their eyes. I placed a small animal puppet in one child’s hands and when they all opened their eyes, that child whispers the name of the animal to the next child and then each child whispers in the next child’s ear until it goes around the circle. Then the last child names the puppet and we all do the yoga pose together. For younger kids, we passed the puppet around the circle and the children had to listen to when the music stopped and the child with the puppet in their hand led the class in that yoga pose.

Most importantly, children learn that listening is not something they only do with their ears, but also with their eyes, their hearts, their whole beings. They understand the importance of listening to their teachers, parents, family and friends as a way to show that they care.

image credit amtbweb.org

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Creativity, Kids Yoga, Poetry, Self Development, Teaching, Yoga

21 Mar 2013

The Light Inside-Teaching Kids About Spirituality

As a yoga teacher, part of my job is guiding my students to find their own light.

How do you teach a young child about spirituality? Children may not understand the concept of a “soul”, but they do understand the idea of a LIGHT inside or the LOVE in their heart.

Over the past few months, my yoga lessons have revolved around finding PEACE inside or how we can express the LOVE in our hearts. The children have been learning how they calm their bodies and their minds through yoga, breathing and meditation. The other day, I asked my classes if they knew why we chant OMs before yoga, and they responded “to find peace”. It’s moments like these that make me love teaching!

Children are always learning…absorbing everything they see, hear and feel.

They relate what they learn to their inner experience. Teaching a child to pay attention to their breath, tune into their feelings, and listen with their heart will help them develop a strong connection to themselves and the world around them. This builds their sense of trust in themselves and self confidence. We may think they are too young to understand but they “get it”.

The greatest lesson you can teach young children is to LISTEN to their inner voice.

It’s not often that children get to just “be” and relax. At the end of every class,they lie down in Savasana or

DO NOTHING DOLL…Nothing to think, Nothing to Do, Doing Nothing is Good for You.

While my students are resting in Savasana, with their eyes closed, I tell them a “story”, a guided visualization where they are lying on a beach or going on a cloud ride in the sky. I ask them if they can try to be so still, so quiet that they can hear the sound of their own breathing. I tell them to breathe in that calm feeling from the top of their heads to their tip toes. It may take weeks or even months before they can lie down without wiggling around or talking, but eventually they can and even enjoy it. I let them know that no matter what, they can find that quiet place inside where they can always go when they are feeling sad or upset.

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I usually end my yoga classes with a soothing song, either Kira Wiley’s Namaste Song or Snatam Kaur’s Longtime Sun. I explain that just like the sun, we each have a LIGHT inside us and to remember to let it SHINE. When I look around our circle and see their blissful faces, I know that they are IN that peaceful place, shining their light!

I leave you with this beautiful blessing. May your own light guide you on your path so that you may find your peace. Namaste.

May the longtime sun

Shine upon you

All love surround you

And the pure light within you

Guide your way on

~ Celctic Blessing

By: beyogabelove Category: Children, Inspiration, Kids Yoga, Love, Meditation, Music, Peace, Soul, Spirituality, Teaching, Yoga

16 Mar 2013

AcroYoga: Dare to Fly

Last weekend I attended an amazing AcroYoga Elementals Playshop at Starseed Yoga in Verona, NJ. The class was led by Lorrie Sheppard and Brian Yuen of Interactive Yoga. I have done partner yoga with my niece before and love doing inversions on my yoga swing, but had never taken a formal acroyoga class.

AcroYoga is a form of partner yoga where one person (the “base”) supports the other (the “flyer”) in a series of aerial postures.

Lorrie and Brian created such a safe, fun space to explore acroyoga! We began with some partner and group stretching, where we were able to get a deeper stretch by working together. The instructors first went over some of the basics and safety guidelines and then we plunged right into the flying!!

We practiced some very challenging poses which involved doing advanced backbends. We also learned important techniques in “spotting” or assisting both the base and the flyer to feel supported and safe. It was a team effort, as we helped each other find the balance and alignment in each pose.

AcroYoga allows you to fully immerse yourself in a pose while your weight is being fully supported by your partner.

There is a fluid synergy between the base and the flyer, as you work together to discover creative ways to join your bodies in flight. Each of us took turns being the base, the flyer and the spotter, so we all got to experience the full spectrum of AcroYoga. The playshop was nourishing on so many levels and gave us the opportunity to connect with others and try certain postures which required openness and trust. But most of all, we all had FUN!

For me, the lesson was about trust and surrender.

There is something so freeing about being able to fly in the air and trust that you are being held and supported. Just like in AcroYoga, life is about learning to trust and surrender to the Universe, knowing that you are supported and will be taken care of. That is not always an easy lesson but daring to take risks and fly is the only way you can soar!

I can’t wait for my next AcroYoga Adventure! For upcoming acroyoga events, be sure to visit Interactive Yoga’s website at http://www.interactive-yoga.com.