Posts Tagged ‘kids christmas’
Gratitude Before the Storm
I could barely utter the word seizure ever since a decade ago when my 30-something-year-old brother had an unexpected seizure, never having had one before. So recently when my 20-month-old little man had a febrile seizure it was scary to say the least. A febrile seizure is one brought on by a fever in very young children and are typically benign. It helped immensely that I was aware of this type of seizure and felt assured that he would be fine while going through the challenge. Frightening but manageable.
My husband and I, over the week or so prior to the seizure, had been increasingly forgetting to stay in the moments of gratitude with our quite active twin toddlers. We were tending to get wrapped up in the moments of chaos with things being knocked over, pulled down, dumped out, torn up and thrown over our deck. The chasing, redirecting, reminding and repeating were dominating our thought process as well as our conversations.
After the seizure that day we were more than grateful to see our little man coming around to being himself again. We were thrilled to say “yep, our little dude is back to himself” when he chucked a stuffed animal across the room to initiate a game of catch. I’d never been so grateful for the flinging of a toy!
As a whole we do strive to stay in the moments and enjoy this stage of life. We do stop and simply take in the moments much of the time. But often times we allow our mindfulness to dwindle, getting caught up in the busyness of life, until something forces us to remember to do so.
Not only is life precious, but it’s the tiny moments that make it so. Striving to live in gratitude and fully experience these little moments, in the absence of a storm, is fully worth striving for!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 4th, 2013.
Posted in Parenting.
Tagged: boys, children, childrens yoga, gratitude, kids, kids christmas, kids yoga, kids yoga app, mindfulness, parenting
Kids Holidays and Yoga: Five calming yoga poses for the holidays.
With the excitement of the holidays, combined with travel, visitors, schedule changes and a greater focus on material things, kids can sometimes find themselves overwhelmed and out of sorts.
Parents can encourage their children to enjoy some quiet focused time such as reading a book, listening to calming music or doing some yoga. Yoga has a special way of bringing our focus to our bodies and breath without necessarily trying. When this happens, even for a moment, calmness replaces our thinking minds and our stress.
So if you find that your children need a few moments to recuperate during the holidays, encourage them to try these 5 yoga poses for kids to help return them to a lovely calm!
Butterfly Pose
For Butterfly sit and touch your left and right feet together with your knees wide. Sit up tall, lift your chest and put your hands on your ankles. Relax your face and head while lifting your chest up, up, up!
Cow Pose
For Cow Pose sit with your legs outstretched. Bend your knees and have your legs apart with your feet flat on the floor. Slide one leg under the other, then line your top knee up with the lower knee (as in the photo). Now meet your arms behind your back with one elbow high and the other low. Sit as tall as you can! Hold the pose for a bit of time and then switch to the other side.
Turtle Pose
For Turtle Pose sit with your legs outstretched. Bend your knees, legs apart with your feet flat on the floor. Bend forward at the waist and slide your arms under your legs. You can either put your hands on your feet or back toward your hips (as in the photo). Relax your head toward your feet.
Child’s Pose
For Child’s Pose sit on your feet then bend and place your forehead on the floor. Relax your tummy between your thighs and your arms by your side. Try to relax your whole body.
Savasana
For Savasana (relaxation pose) lie down on your back with your palms facing up. Close your eyes. Relax your body from the top of your head to the bottom of you feet. Imagine your whole body melting into the floor. Relax in Savasana for a few minutes. Then sit up slowly and enjoy the rest of your day!
Namaste! (“The light in me honors the light in you!”)
For more information go to www.singsongyoga.com
This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2012.
Posted in Kid's Yoga Sequences.
Tagged: children, childrens yoga, christmas, dvd, health, kids, kids christmas, kids yoga, video, yoga poses