Archive for the ‘Sing Song Yoga’ Category
6 Tips to Dive Right Into Kids Yoga
It’s easy to put off beginning new things with your kids. The need for extra time, new paraphernalia, the “know-how”, and the needed space (without extra laundry filling it) can put parents into a temporary frozen state.
Kids yoga is no exception. It might seem as though everyone else is up on the latest yoga pose or the trendiest method, and you’re in no place to get your kids involved in that unknown territory — as though you’re too far removed to catch up.
However, this in not true in most any endeavor. So, here’s a little platform to help you feel comfortable to jump right into kids yoga.
1. There are no rights or wrongs in kids’ yoga
First of all, you can’t get it wrong. As parents we are often afraid that we’ll get things wrong so we hold back from trying. But the most growth occurs, for ourselves and for our kids, when we step outside our comfort zone. Whether you choose to begin with a kids yoga book, a CD, a DVD or an App, you’ll find those that you like and those that you don’t – but none of them will set you off perpetually in the wrong direction. Just jump in and allow your likes and dislikes to lead you to your family’s best fit.
2. Maybe a live kids yoga class is your best first move.
At times going into a class with a real teacher can be a great jumpstart to finding what works best for your family. If one class doesn’t do it for you, another class might be the key. There are heaps of great teachers out there and an increasing number of styles/methods so finding a good fit will be much easier today than it was just 5-7 years ago – when I was looking for something for my little one.
3. No yoga experience necessary.
As a yoga instructor people often sheepishly “confess” to me that they have never done yoga before, as though that’s a bad thing or that they’re somehow behind. Everyone is a beginner when they first begin something. No one comes into the world an expert on anything. We all begin at the beginning. It’s truly that simple. You do not need to know anything about yoga to start kids yoga!
4. No equipment needed to start.
You can begin without a yoga mat and don’t even really need any special clothes. Just give it a shot! Then, if your family is diggin’ it, you might find that a yoga mat and some soft clothing may help up the fun-factor!
5. Any space will do.
No need for a special space to begin kids yoga. Just scoot the toys to the side and begin the yoga fun!
6. Just jump in and get your feet wet.
Whether you begin with a live teacher or a book, yoga poses begin with simply mirroring the teacher. Nothing need be perfect. Just jump in and be guided to your next experience by your likes and dislikes. There are heaps of quality kids’ yoga programs available. I have a biased regard for our program, Sing Song Yoga® which currently has a customizable app and a DVD.
So check it out if you wish or locate another that seems a good fit! Either way, have a blast and be easy about it! Yoga is meant to help us lighten up a bit.
We would love to hear from you – either a comment below or through Facebook or twitter.
Related Posts:
Top 6 Yoga Poses for Toddlers “A few months ago a parent asked how she could best do yoga with her one-year-old daughter…”
Kids Yoga App – Create Your Own Balancing Sequence Effortlessly create a balancing sequence with a few taps of this kids yoga iOS app.
Top 5 Tips to Help Kids Yoga Balance: Kid Twitter Question Answered A kid question answered: “Do you have any tips to help us balance better?”
Getting Kids Ready to Write: Yoga in Schools A teacher question answered: “I was wondering the best combinations [of poses] to use [with my students] for getting ready to write.”
Twitter Leads to Most Rewarding Visit Imaginable Sing Song Yoga founder does yoga with students she connected with on Twitter.
For more info:
Sing Song Yoga® Kids’ Yoga App
Sing Song Yoga® kids’ yoga DVD
Sing Song Yoga® school program
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015.
Posted in Kids Yoga at Home, Parenting, Sing Song Yoga.
Tagged: children, childrens yoga, dvd, ipad app, kids yoga, kids yoga app, kids yoga dvd, kids yoga video, parenting, sing song yoga, yoga, yoga app, yoga for kids
Yoga in Schools: Kids and Teachers Talk Kids Yoga.
A quick peek into what kids and teachers are saying about using the Sing Song Yoga app in the classroom. Kids yoga in schools explored… Highlights from the video clip:
Tell us about Sing Song Yoga®
What I would tell other kids about Sing Song Yoga is that you have to try it because it calms you before, if you do Daily Five in your classroom or writing. ~ first grader, MI
It all started with a simple challenge from our movement specialist in the district to say we’ve got to get our kids moving and that will increase the engagement. And I would say that Sing Song Yoga is our perfect answer to doing that. ~ Kristi Zoerhof, First Grade Teacher, MI
- “It keeps you strong and healthy and it really keeps you calm when you’re doing stuff.”
- “I would tell other kids that Sing Song Yoga is really fun.”
- “It is the funnest thing in the world.”
- “It gets your body moving and it makes you exercise.”
- “The app is my favorite because it is completely customizable. Whatever you have time to work with, whether its 5 minutes or 20, you can create yoga sequence videos for your kids to do. And it is actually a spot in our lesson plans that we have a spot for yoga.”
- “It’s really really fun and it’s relaxing.”
- “They love it. They look forward to it. They request it. And it is probably our most popular activity of the day.”
- “They should do it ’cause it’s really really fun.”
How does Sing Song Yoga® make you feel?
- “Sing Song Yoga makes me feel happy and calm.”
- “We find that we are more focused and our work time is more productive.”
- “I feel happy from yoga.”
- “Sing Song makes me feel happy.”
- “Sing Song Yoga makes me feel calm.”
- “It’s calming.”
- “I like crane pose because it makes me feel steady.”
- “Sing Song Yoga makes me feel happy.”
- “Sing Song Yoga makes me get happy and excited.”
What would you tell other teachers about Sing Song Yoga®?
- “I’m really sure that if your children do it, it’s going to be fantastic.”
- “Truly, every minute spent in Sing Song Yoga we have seen the rewards and the benefits in our classroom work. I would recommend it to every classroom teacher who wants to give their students a moment to have intentional movement breaks.”
- “The songs are really cool.”
- “You can see it on the iPad and you can see it on the screen.”
- “Try Sing Song Yoga. You will not be disappointed.”
- “I love Sing Song Yoga.”
Related Posts:
Getting Kids Ready to Write: Yoga in Schools A teacher question answered: “I was wondering the best combinations [of poses] to use [with my students] for getting ready to write.”
Twitter Leads to Most Rewarding Visit Imaginable Sing Song Yoga founder does yoga with students she connected with on Twitter.
Top 5 Tips to Help Kids Yoga Balance: Kid Twitter Question Answered A kid question answered: “Do you have any tips to help us balance better?”
At Sing Song Yoga we love tweeting with students about their yoga ideas, experiences and questions. We also love chatting with teachers! 
For more info:
Sing Song Yoga® Kids’ Yoga App
Sing Song Yoga® kids’ yoga DVD
Sing Song Yoga® school program
This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2015.
Posted in Benefits of Yoga, Education, Sing Song Yoga, Yoga in Schools.
Tagged: app, brain breaks, children, childrens yoga, dvd, education, educators, kids yoga, kids yoga app, movement acivities, movement in the classroom, schools, sing song yoga, testimonial, yoga for children, yoga for kids, yoga in schools, yoga in the classroom
Kids Yoga in Schools: Getting First Graders Ready to Write
Sue, a first grade teacher from Michigan writes:
I was wondering the best combinations [of poses] to use [with my students] for getting ready to write.”
This is a great question! Yoga in schools can be a powerful resource for helping kids get ready to write, as well as do other school tasks. Kids’ Yoga is not going to take overly energetic children and mesmerize them into a state of conformity, but it can help a child transform their energy into a more usable form for accomplishing particular tasks. As teachers we occasionally need tiny reminders that children are not built to sit for long periods, and their squirminess might be good feedback to us that their bodies truly need to move in order for their brains to work most efficiently.
I know that, as an adult, when I rush around my world to run errands and then sit down in front of my computer to get some work done, it takes me a bit of time to refocus on my task at hand. Also, if I sit for an extended period of time I need to get up and move to focus most efficiently. Similarly, if a child is moving from one activity to the next without time to refocus with some deliberate guidance, or is sitting for extending periods of time without a chance for specific movement, then it’s likely that s/he won’t be able to give her best.
Yoga in schools can provide purposeful tools for helping children refocus. There’s much involved in how yoga can do this. However, simply put, focusing on one’s body to get into and hold a pose can help quiet the mind’s chatter, allowing more space for purposefully focused thought. And if the yoga movement itself is sufficiently involved it can fulfill the body’s need to move in order to stimulate the necessary systems for optimal learning.
In other words the physical yoga poses and the focus necessary to accomplish them work in tandem to help children refocus.
In addition to this, particular sequencing of poses also has the potential to calm the nervous system, which counters the stressors that physically shut down the brain for learning. The brain of a child who is in distress physically shuts down the networking necessary for learning. The brain of a relaxed child has much greater learning potential.
When thinking about yoga in schools it might be helpful to know that poses can be divided into three categories regarding their main effects on the nervous system:
- energizing poses (red – see arrow in pic below)
- calming poses (blue)
- neutral poses (yellow)
Poses can be sequenced to deliberately shoot for particular goals. For example, our Brain Break sequence was created to assist students in refocusing within their school day with the least number of poses necessary to accomplish the goal.
Brain Break Sequence includes:
- Triangle – general movement lengthening and strengthening the entire body
- Standing V – the inversion allows blood flow to the brain which may enhance mental functioning and forward bends calm the nervous system
- Eagle – crosses the mid-line helping the two halves of the brain communicate through the corpus callosum (helping to coordinate skills being carried out in different parts of the brain). Eagle also stimulates the vestibular system (balance), stimulating the brain for new learning
- Sailboat – crosses the mid-line and twisting allows for additional release of tension
Note below: the color coding above each pose in the app screenshot: red, blue and yellow represent energizing, calming and neutral poses respectively.
Brain Break Sequence shown in Canvas. Press Play to begin video.
The Jazz up My Brain sequence within the Sing Song Yoga App is a longer version at 22 minutes. Teachers can throw poses out or add poses within the app within the sequence canvas and make it work for each situation. Sequences you create can be saved and named. And here’s another example of the app in use.
Thanks for stopping by! We intend to continue growing our posts dedicated to helping teachers enjoy the benefits of yoga in the classroom!
Until next time, Happy Teaching!
We would LOVE to hear from you – how you’re using yoga in schools or questions of how to begin. We are on Twitter @singsongyoga and Facebook and really look forward to connecting!
For more info:
Sing Song Yoga® kids’ yoga DVD
Sing Song Yoga® Kids’ Yoga App
Sing Song Yoga® school program
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 24th, 2015.
Posted in Benefits of Yoga, Education, Kid's Yoga Sequences, Sing Song Yoga, Yoga in Schools.
Tagged: app, children, childrens yoga, first graders, health, ipad app, iphone app, ipod touch app, kids, kids yoga, kids yoga app, kids yoga benefits, mindfulness, physical activities for toddlers, research, schools, sing song yoga, test prep, writing, yoga for kids, yoga in schools, yoga in the classroom, yoga poses
Yoga in Schools – Twitter Leads to Most Rewarding Visit Imaginable
Twitter is one of those things that I tried simply because I was told it was necessary for today’s startups — but did so reluctantly with little engagement. Then one day I received a twitter notification from a first grade teacher who was using Sing Song Yoga with her students. This gradually evolving connection not only inspired me to reach out to more yogis and educators on Twitter, but it eventually led to… meeting in person!! 
When you develop a program you hope that someone will find benefit in it, utilize the tools and share its value with others. But just because YOU love it and think it’s great doesn’t mean anyone else will find it valuable!
It was delightfully surprising to me how connected I began to feel with Mrs. Z. and her #firstgradeyogis on Twitter. They tweeted about their experiences with yoga in school and asked great questions (#ssykidquestion). We learned from, and encouraged each other and made continued Twitter connections – even with first graders in China! 
And last Tuesday my heart grew!! Have you ever gotten to know someone only online and then get the chance to meet? Well it’s just like in the movies! When you see their familiar faces and begin to chat it feels as though you’ve known them forever. The mutual excitement is tangible! Hugs and chats and hugs and chats! And then… the magic continues as our yoga songs fill the air. My songs have become their songs. My heart skips a beat the moment their voices join with mine and fill the room — with about as much love as a room can contain before bursting at the seams! As I write this I can still feel the expansion of my universe that occurred in those moments. 
Thank you Mrs. Z. from Michigan for not only providing the loving platform tying my heart to yours and your students’, but for providing your kids with the practical tools and benefits that kids’ yoga has repeatedly demonstrated. Your kids get a jump start on their learning each day because you have taken the time to learn what’s best for kids — and of course yoga is only one part of that!
Until we meet again… Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 
If you’d like to connect with @singsongyoga on Twitter or Facebook we’d love to hear from you…
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2014.
Posted in Benefits of Yoga, Education, Sing Song Yoga.
Tagged: childrens yoga, dvd, gifts, kids christmas, kids yoga app, schools, sing song yoga, testimonial, twitter, yoga benefits, yoga for children, yoga for kids, yoga in schools
Birthday Party fun with Kids Yoga
We had such a great time celebrating with Sing Song Yoga for kids at a recent birthday party for a fun-loving young yogi! Ages ranging from 3 to 11 melded together beautifully. The fun was managed through some classic Sing Song Yoga poses as well as games.
Our masterful yogis flowed through our Sunflower Sequence and incorporated yoga poses into games such as musical mats, tunnel of dogs and yoga freeze tag.
The room was divided seamlessly as a yoga space and a place to congregate to eat and celebrate further within the birthday party.
Thank you to the thoughtful parent for the invitation to Sing Song Yoga to join in on the birthday party fun!
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2014.
Posted in Parenting, Sing Song Yoga.
Tagged: birthday party, birthday party ideas, children, childrens yoga, kids yoga, kids yoga app, parenting, sing song yoga, yoga for kids, yoga poses