8 Limbs of Yoga for Kids - Week 2: Niyamas

This week we go a little more internally with the Niyamas. The Niyamas are all about self-awareness. When we practice yoga, it is most important that we listen to our bodies. When reaching for our toes, it's okay if we don't quite make it. Sure, some kids can reach the bottom of their foot in a forward bend, but that's not important. All that matters is that we are on our mats moving and breathing how we feel comfortable. We do yoga to feel good in our bodies! Not to push ourselves into poses that don't feel good! We may really want to get into a pose, but we won't always get there on the first try. Yoga is a practice - a self study. It is not to be rushed.

When we practice yoga, it is good every once and awhile to stop when we're in a pose, and do a body check - How am I feeling? Am I going too deep or not deep enough? How is my heart beat? Am I breathing? We want to feel happy and content in all of our poses. When we learn to figure out ways to be happy and comfortable on our mats...we ultimately learn to find ways to be happy and comfortable off our mats. And perhaps we need some aid along the way...on our mats we learn to use props - blocks and straps - to help us find comfort in the poses. Just like in life, we learn to ask for help when we need it.

It is so important for use to pay attention to our bodies in everything we do. How we place our feet. How we place our hands. And for the littlest yogis...we started that small. Our Yoga Hands are most important in this world.

"I spread my fingers wide and place them gently. Watching how I move, I do so quietly.

My hands will help. My hands will care. My hands will rise above.

My hands will always do good things because they're filled with love."

8 Limbs of Yoga for Kids - Week 1: Yamas

This 8 week session, the Alluem Kids and I will be exploring the 8 Limbs of Yoga! So often when we think of yoga, we only think about the poses, the physical...but there is so much more to yoga! Yoga is a way of life and these 8 Limbs act as guidelines to living a purposeful and meaningful life and there are so many good lessons within for the kids!

The 1st Limb of Yoga are the Yamas. The Yamas focus on our behavior and how we act in this world. It draws attention to the way we treat other people, animals, the earth, our belongings and the places we go. For an example, the kids and I talked about yoga studio etiquette. We should always treat a space the way we would want our own space to be treated. Removing our shoes to keep the floor and our mats clean. Entering quietly, rolling out our mats, sitting down and stretching or lying down and resting. Being respectful of the people in the room around us. Treating others the way we would want to be treated. Smiling and saying hello. Introducing ourselves to a new student. The Yamas also teach us that what we do in the world effects everything and everyone around us. This is the yoga we can practice every day!

A fun way to show this was with a Group Knot! Everyone stands in a circle shoulder to shoulder raising their right arm to the sky. Reaching across the circle we grab hands with a friend. Then raising our left arm to the sky we reach across and grab hands with another friend. We can now see that we've turned ourselves into a human knot! Now to untangle! The things we need are communication, patience and awareness of how we move. The person's whose hand you are holding is ultimately the most important. That hand effects the next person which effects the next person and so on in a chain reaction! So much fun!

Nobody is perfect.

As I was prepping for Storytime Yoga and searching for some new reads by my favorite author/illustrator Peter Reynolds, I came across one of his recent blog posts...

Peter recently visited a school in NJ where 6th grader Sydney shared her essay reflection on his book Ish called Nobody is Perfect:

Nobody is perfect
by Sydney Abraham

Nobody is perfect. That is a fact.

Not a scientifically proven fact, but more like a fact that, quite frankly, most people refuse to believe. People want to be perfect. It is human nature to want to be 100,000,004% perfect.

I used to be like that. I would cry and scream and shout if I did something incorrectly. Everything had to be exactly accurate and correct. I would not settle for anything below amazing.

All that changed one day in first grade.

My first grade teacher read us a story called "Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds. This book illustrates that being a little imperfect is okay. It also suggests that older brothers are pests, but who doesn't know that already?

In the story, a little boy draws a picture. His brother belittles his picture and says all sorts of mean things about it. The boy, Ramon, was very upset. Ramon's sister comes and comforts him and tells him that his drawing is very good and that their brother was just trying to get on Ramon's nerves. She said the drawing was fine- not perfect, but good enough. Ish.

When I first heard that story, it was just another story that my teacher read to us during story time.

A couple weeks later, I was trying to perfect a picture that I was drawing. It wasn't turning out that way, and I was frustrated. I was not a happy camper. Then I remembered that book, "Ish", that we had read in school. At that moment, and at many moments that would follow, I realized that was so important that it needed to be perfect.
Settling for "Ish" was good enough for me.

It was that day, not when we actually read the book, but when I discovered its true meaning, that really did change the way I look at life.

To this day, whenever I try to do something perfect, I remember that one picture book that changed my outlook on pretty much everything that's important in life.

I still try to do my very best every day, but I know nothing will ever be completely perfect. I now know that if you try to be perfect in everything you do, then you will never achieve anything. You will be too busy trying to perfect everything that you've ever done. Of course, everyone is a perfectionist in his or her own way. I will not settle for any grade below an A- or a B+. Some people will spend an hour trying to make the finishing touches on a picture they drew for fun. Others spend endless amounts of time trying to improve in a sport they love.

For me, perfecting little things like these is okay, but I'd rather spend time improving, not perfecting, but improving, the bigger things in life. I believe that nothing in this universe is perfect, everything from the smallest molecule to the largest galaxy has its flaws.

Nothing is perfect.

It never has been, never will be.

Everything is a little imperfect, "ish", and that's just fine by me."

Sydney, you are amazing. What a great lesson to bring to your yoga class. So many times society sends messages to our children that we have to be perfect - that we have to look a certain way, wear the latest style, act a certain way, and like certain things just because everyone else is doing it. We feel pressure that our grades need to be perfect, our art needs to be perfect, our performance on stage or on the field need to be perfect. As a result, if we can't live up to these standards - we break down, we become hard on ourselves, we cry and scream and shout like Sydney did when something wasn't perfect. But like Sydney reminds us, NOBODY IS PERFECT.

Luckily, there's yoga. Yoga teaches us to be who we are in the bodies we're in today. As we move through poses on our mats we find that everyone is different - we find that nobody is perfect. There are poses that someone may be able to do that the person next to us may not be able to do - and THAT'S OKAY! We learn to breathe through the difficult times and embrace ourselves whether we can do the pose or not. When we listen to our bodies and treat them with kindness and respect - moving how ever we are comfortable, we begin to enjoy being who we are on the mat and we learn to take that with us off the mat. We accept who we are without judgement. We accept that we are not perfect...and that's the beauty of life. I mean, if we were all perfect - how boring this life would be! So be a little "Ish" and love you for who you are today!

Baby & Me starts this Friday!

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www.alluemyoga.com - workshops tab

(Click to enlarge image)

Snowy Days with the Alluem Kids

Quiet down on snowy days with your kids...take time to just be.

Winter Session starts this Monday!

Classes are filling! Sign up today!

Register online: www.alluemyoga.com - workshops tab

Peace Exchange - South Africa

The Peace Cards are officially on their way to South Africa!

67 cards from 67 amazing Alluem Kids!

They are so excited and anxiously waiting for the kids in Africa to write them back. Thank you Ross Holzman of the Create Peace Project! Thank you for this work you do! Thank you for taking this trip and hand delivering the cards for us! Thank you for sharing our messages of peace with kids in other parts of the world! Thank you for being the change!