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