Getting to the Podium:
Try a little Partner Yoga for Valentine’s Day
A Gold Medal Week for Kids Yoga Themes
Those who work with kids know it can be a challenge coming up with themes for kids yoga classes. Often we turn to current events for ideas and this week we’ve hit the jackpot!
Not only do the 2010 Olympics start on Friday, but Sunday is Valentine’s Day.
The Olympics are pretty easy to connect with yoga poses. You can ask the kids about their favorite Olympic sports and how yoga could help them in that sport. Don’t forget all the concentration poses like archer below or tree pose. Work both the physical and the mental muscles.
I’ve posted in the past on the Summer Olympic Games:
- Olympic Rowing for Forward Bends including some partner yoga,
- a Rowing Game that builds Concentration (using a Caller like they do in the boats with a lot of rowers),
- Archery and Archer Pose
But now it’s time for the Winter Games and a whole new look at the Olympics:
- Rowing is very similar to the Luge so we could use the two ideas above again,
- Mogul Skiers would need to do a lot of squats,
- Try some partner yoga like in the picture above – it takes a lift to get to the podium! (one child in the base could represent the head, and one the heart – see below for details)
The Romance Between the Heart and the Head - A Valentine’s Day Twist
Now with the Olympics and Valentine’s Day coming together it is a perfect time to talk about the Romance between the Heart and the Head. How does the head – the logic, the mind, the calculations – come into play for an Olympic athlete training to shave a fraction of a second off their time?
How does the heart – the dream, the dedication, the quest – come into play? Why don’t those Olympic Athletes quit when it starts getting hard? How do they stay calm when the big day arrives?
Both the head and the heart are developed by a top athlete and we need to develop them too. Not only for a healthy body, but for our dreams, our aspirations, and our goals, which make a healthy life.
The heart leads the way to what we care about, whether it’s the kids we love, in our career, providing for our families, or in our hobbies. Then the head follows through on the heart’s desire to help us get to our goal.
They make a perfect pair! We marry both the head and the heart for a perfect Valentine’s Day – or a Perfect 10 in an Olympic Sport.
Aruna Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com
P.S. Please share your ideas for Yoga Poses for the Winter Olympics or Valentine’s Day in the comments. For a Valentine’s Day yoga game check out a game I use for a lot of fun in kids yoga. It’s called the Heart’s Hide and Seek and you’ll find it on the Yoga In My School blog.
Ok, that should read “the head and the heart” – gotta love typos
I love the connection you make between the head and the head. When I discuss this I refer to it as “passion and focus”. You need both to succeed.
For more Valentine’s Day yoga ideas visit
http://yogainmyschool.com/2010/02/11/kids-valentines-day-yoga-class/
My students loved the combination of breath work, asanas, games & meditation which examined opening the heart.