Monday 27 February 2012

We've joined Change4Life, here is how you can too...

Change4Life is a nationwide movement that aims to help us all, but especially our kids, eat better, move more and live longer.

These days it’s easy to eat too much unhealthy food and get too little exercise. As a result, we end up with too much fat in our bodies.

The link between this fat and preventable illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer has been proven. Children are particularly vulnerable because the habits they get into when they are young can turn into health problems when they’re adults. In fact, if we carry on as we are, 9 out of 10 of today’s kids will grow up with dangerous levels of fat in their bodies.

Anyone can join Change4Life and it is full of lots of great information for keeping you and your children healthy.

You can join by visiting
http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/why-change-for-life.aspx

Thursday 23 February 2012

A Beaming Pancake Day

It's pancake day! We all love pancakes, with lemon, sugar, honey, chocolate....the list goes on. Why not set the theme of the day with a little yoga, a sun salutation to wake up the day and a little game of making the pancake. Sit with your legs straight in front of you, bring the soles of your feet together so your legs make a diamond shape. using one arm pretend you are holding the outside of a large bowl and with the other arm you are going to mix the pancake mixture. Your whole family can sit in a circle and go around the circle in turn saying "Today is pancake day and I am going to put on my pancake....." As you move around the circle you must remember the items your family have already placed on the pancake and then add another one of your own. This game is great for memory and concentration and lots of fun : )

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY FROM BEAMING BUDDHAS X

Thursday 9 February 2012

What is Family Yoga?

What exactly is family yoga?

Family yoga is a way for the child and carer to communicate, work together, enjoy each others company, bond, keep fit and active and have fun.

We start with some warm ups, simple exercises for children and carers to follow, to raise our heart beat and warm up our bodies. Yesterday we did giant yawns, shake wiggle and roll, jumping on our trampolines and skipping. Once we have warmed up our bodies we do some yoga postures. Yesterday we learnt 'Table', 'Cat', 'Cow', 'Twisted Cow', 'Child', 'Down dog' and 'lunge'. The carer gave the child a massage by pretending to make pizza on their back and the child then got the opportunity to do the same to their carer. Next we played a game to explore breath. I handed over to each person a straw and a cottonwool ball and got them to blow the cottonwool up the mats. It was lovely to see how the children progressed from sucking the straws to realising it was the out breath that blew the cottonwool, and eventually the 2 & 3 year olds learnt to direct the straws to blow the cottonwool in the right direction. It was funny to see some of the carers adding ramps by rippling the mats, it began to look like crazy golf! Next came the mind yoga, with a memory game, where carers and children were put into groups and parents took turns to take away an item and the children had to guess what was missing. The session was concluded by carers getting to lie in the 'corpse' position with a calming eye pillow and the children lying on the carers tummy cuddling up to teddies whilst listening to calming music and me reading a story about a girl who had lost her tummy button!

It is a fun and creative exercise session for child and carer and it enjoyed by all, even for the quietest of children, by the end of the class they are wanting to join in. The classes are run in a block of 6 spanning over 6 weeks, with the carer and child being awarded a certificate of attendance at the end of the course.

For more information or details of our current Family Yoga classes please contact us for more details.

t: 07950 277877 e: nikkola.woods1@gmail.com w: http://www.beamingbuddhas.co.uk