Millions of over-screened and overscheduled American students head to an afterschool program each day. They’re often running on too few hours of sleep, living with very real ADHD and anxiety, and struggling to get enough time outside. One very effective way to empower our kids is to share with them a yoga practice they can always carry with them.
“It’s always so quiet in here… it’s wild in the other clubs!”
When I gather up my club kids, they’ve been moderating their behavior for up to ten full hours. But as we pass through the door of our space, the kiddos line up their shoes, roll out their mats and breathe more deeply.
We always review expectations (Stay on your mat! Be kind! Try your best! Raise your hand to talk! Do not touch anything in the classroom!), and check in with their energy levels. How are they feeling? Exhausted? Bouncing off the walls? Ready to learn? I let them tell me.
And then we do the same routine every week. Turn the lights low, set the vibe with music, and sit down to breathe. Their favorite breath exercise is to blow out all 39 candles on my imaginary birthday cake. We do sun salutations (in slow motion and super speed). That’s usually when staff walk in and comment on the zen vibe and how they simply cannot believe the highly-engaged children doing a real-life yoga class.
We wrap up with a story, themed poses, a game, and everyone’s favorite meditation (coloring)!
Middle School is Entirely Different
Believe it or not, littles are way easier than middles. Since they’re brutally honest and care more about their cell phones than mindfulness, I felt like a failure when I started yoga with tweens. It’s been a fantastic exercise for me in nonattachment.
What worked was to engage their help. I asked if I could pilot my grade school practices on them. I used the story book practices I planned (The Wonky Donkey is a big hit) and these pseudo-adults got a chance to unwind and be silly in a way they hadn’t been in a long while. I let them color, too.
When they’re engaged, we set up the mats for a Connection Circle. We discuss how breathing and physical practices help regulate our nervous systems. Then we do a flow and end with a “nap.”
How Do You Find a Kids’ Yoga Gig?
After school programs are short on volunteers, employees, and programming. When I’ve offered, I’ve gotten yeses. While my earliest kids’ classes were peripheral to my own kids’ clubs and classrooms, once word got out that I was willing to work with kids, program leaders started reaching out to me.
If you’d like to create opportunities to teach kids’ yoga in your communities, check with your local parks and recreation or community centers to see if they’d like to offer a session (I’ve found that 6-weeks pre-registered works best). You could explore options at your local YMCA or gym. Preschools and daycares often like to add programming, too.
What Training Do You Need to Teach Kids’ Yoga?
A 200-hour training will likely be sufficient. I’m working on my RCYT training; the kid-specific content added so much depth to my classes. I would recommend a Yoga Alliance or GOYA approved training, regardless of whether you desire to obtain your RCYT.
Impacting the lives of our children through yoga is an honor. For those of you who teach yoga, please join me in the much needed work of sharing yoga with our youth. For those of you with kids, I hope you help them develop a practice of their own.
Emily Jo Sulzie fell into teaching kids yoga through her own children’s schools, and recognized the great need for kids to be exposed to yoga at a young age. Over time, Emily developed relationships with local community agencies to provide kids yoga to students who may otherwise lack the opportunity to develop a yoga practice. She’s learned a lot along the way about human growth and development, classroom management, and realistic expectations for kids yoga, and she looks forward to sharing those lessons with you.
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