“When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.”   ~B.K.S. Iyengar

Today we honoured our planet Earth by dedicating our yoga practice to her. The children gathered their mats and I gathered some stones and flowers for them to use as props. And I pulled out my little magical box of  YOGA PLANET cards by Tara Guber and Leah Kalish, purchased at our local teacher store, Kids In Harmony.

We love yoga practice at my house…from start to finish, I have the children’s full attention. Even the under 2’s are happy to have a mat and a prop and be included.

All my little yogi’s ready for practice! To begin, I gave them each a stone.

We discussed where the rock came from. We talked about how solid it is. How worn it is. How smooth. We talked about how the Earth is a big, big, rock that holds all the living things on it in this big, big universe. We talked about all the living things that are on this big rock…animals, plants, water, US!  And we talked about how we can be caretakers of such a beautiful planet. To give back to the Earth, after all she has given us.

Then we practice our “Green Breath”…breathing in oxygen and health. The same oxygen that the plants on this earth give us. And we exhaled all the carbon dioxide. We closed our eyes and breathed. And thought of all the ways are thankful to the Earth.

After a few minutes of “green breathing,”  we moved into some poses that reminded us of the earth. We practiced our Tree Pose, of course! And also Flower Pose…

5 years old…

3 years old…just needs a little help with balance…

And our smallest…not even 2 years old.

We moved into some partner work and talked about how we could be strong and unmovable…to grow our roots into the ground like a strong tree. The partner tried to lift the tree from its anchored spot. There was lots of giggling and bragging and generally a lot of fun. And our “trees” were strong! Not many of them could be lifted from their roots.

After a bit more discussion, we moved into our favourite resting pose. Child’s Pose. While they rested and practiced their breathing, I talked quietly to them about how they were children of the Earth, and the Earth needs their help in looking after her. I reminded them that they are not too small to make a difference.

Nothing cuter than a diapered bottom in Child’s Pose.

We finished our practice by making a promise to do just one thing to help Mother Earth stay healthy and safe. The promises were small and beautiful…just like these wee little yogis. But oh, the difference they will make.

Namaste.

 If you happen to live in the Red Deer, Alberta area, you really should check out the Breathing Room’s Yoga Studio+Cafe  for their yoga programs. They really are fantastic…and so are all the ladies that run it. If you click on the photo below, it will take you right to the kids programming schedule…

Thanks for stopping by!