Funny Kids Yoga Story

I Guess I Should Explain
You may have noticed my old blog asks, “Have you every had someone pee on your yoga mat?”

Well, you guessed it – that question comes from personal experience. It happened with a group of toddlers I teach in a Montessori School. For half an hour each week we have our yoga session and it includes all the aspects of yoga including asana, deep breathing, meditation, and relaxation. Of course all of it is kids-style yoga.

If you ‘ve done yoga with kids between 2 and 5 you probably know, once they know you, they like to do everything whole-heartedly. In this class one of the little girls. who was just out of diapers, was participating in the class and really getting into it. She was pretending to be animals and having fun with the songs and the other kids. Then when it came time for the relaxation, she went straight to my mat and layed down and closed her eyes immediately to rest.

Resting Like a Peaceful Little Angel
Now, usually I don’t let the kids sit on my mat, mostly because then everyone wants to sit on the mat and then everyone is squished on the mat and no one is sitting on the carpet. But today all the other kids were already quietly relaxing on the carpet and she was the only one there, looking like a little angel, curled up, eyes closed, all quiet and peaceful.

I admired her from my place by the CD player while the soft music played and the moment of stillness and contentment lingered in the air. And I made the decision to let everything be as it was.

Then I noticed a dark circle forming on the mat by her little cherub bottom. At first I didn’t understand what was happening as waves of confusion washed over the stillness. Then she slowly sat up in the center of that dark circle and looked up at me with big, knowing eyes and said the two simple words so common and profound to a toddler:

“I pee.”

Yes, she pee alright. There was no question about it, no shame, and no victory. It was a simple statement of “what is.” A perfect moment of knowing and being. A profoundly real example of living without judgement nor expectation.

What More Could a Yoga Teacher Desire?
It was all these things and yet more! Immediately the world responded to take care of all her needs. The Montessori teacher jumped into action and took the little girl to the bathroom. Another one of the teachers came over armed with the dilluted bleach spray bottle and paper towels. And before you know it, we moved on.

This little incident was a beautiful example of yoga, union, and the fun of teaching children. I think everything I have learned helped me enjoy that moment rather than getting upset or angry.

As it says in one of my favorite books that really assists me in my life,

“Being concerned about results and being anxious about the outcome and worrying about the future is interfering with the work of your Consciousness. It is your minds desire to fail.

Knowing that whatever you intend will be done is the secret of success.”

My intention for teaching children’s yoga is to assist children in developing tools to enjoy life, with all the feelings that come with it, and learn the secrets of true success. I also want to be a model of what I teach. I don’t want to be concerned about the bumps on the way, like a little pee on my yoga mat! Enjoying the fun of that experience was a great success for me!

And by the way, in case your wondering, I never did use that yoga mat again. Although my yoga mat was sprayed with bleach and cleaned very well, I just had to throw it out. I couldn’t look at it anymore without thinking of pee!

Yours in Yoga!

Aruna Kathy Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com

© K. Humphrys