Contest: Win “Once Upon a Pose”

Once Upon a Pose

A Guide to Yoga Adventure Stories for Children
by Donna Freeman

For this kids yoga book review, Donna sent me two free copies of her new book: Once Upon a Pose: A Guide to Yoga Adventure Stories for Children.  One copy I’ve used for my kids yoga classes and one copy I’ll give away.  Leave a comment on this blog post between now and next Wednesday May 12, 2010 for your chance to win this book.

When I pulled Once Upon a Pose out of the envelope and took a look through it, I was amazed by how much guidance there is, especially for new kids yoga teachers.  There’s one page after another packed with information about kids yoga.   I e-mailed Donna to tell her this isn’t a book – this is more like a kids yoga course.  When Donna calls this a Guide, she isn’t holding anything back!

Here are a few highlights that make this book unique:

• Classroom Topics from pre-school to grade six that your yoga classes can support,
• 10 complete yoga adventure stories – with simple fun themes and scripts for teaching,
• Bilingual: the stories are in English and in French,
• Lots of Pictures: charming pictures of both boys and girls!

Donna Freeman is no stranger to Young Yoga Masters.  She has inspired us with a series on Character Development since last September.  In the interest of full disclosure – I think she is great!  However, Donna and I are not in business together (although I am an Amazon affiliate).  Investing in Once Upon a Pose (it’s under $20!) will provide a lot of time-saving guidance for those new to teaching yoga to kids.

For Any Parent or Teacher Who’s Ever Wondered: What Yoga Should I Teach Today?
Donna Freeman has poured her experience and passion into this guide.  Once Upon a Pose stands out  for any one who has ever thought:  What yoga should I teach the kids today?  With Once Upon a Pose you can open up to one of ten ready made classes and the fun can begin.

To win a copy of Once Upon a Pose: A Guide to Yoga Adventure Stories for Children
leave a comment on this post by Wednesday May 12, 2010. Good luck to everyone who enters.

Thanks again to Donna Freeman of Yoga in My School for providing the prize for this contest.

Kids Yoga for Disabilities

First off, take a look at this fun video of two Canadians, Rick Mercer (comedian/host) and Rick Hanson (Man in Motion hero/educator) blowing away all ideas of what one can and cannot do when one has a disability:

Pretty Amazing, Eh!

This Friday marks the beginning of the Paralympic Games  in Vancouver.   It’s another event that shows how ABLE all people are.  The first Paralympics Games were held in 1976 in Sweden and this Paralympics has  five sports:

• alpine skiing
• biathlon
• cross-country skiing
• ice sledge hockey
• wheelchair curling

Here’s a link to a whole page of activities from Official Website of the Paralympic Movement. I’m looking forward to reading this worksheet in my kids classes:  A Fairytale:  A Class Discussion of Inclusion it’s a great story with discussion questions included.

I also want to try the Sitting Volleyball Skills Sheet with a soft volley ball for younger kids.

When it comes to yoga, are there any limitations that could prevent a child from joining a class?  Considering that kids yoga is already so imaginative I think kids yoga can be done by all.

The best tip for teaching yoga to someone with a disability:  talk to the person to  find out what works and what won’t work for their particular situation.  They’ll be able to tell you what they need to make it possible, what they want to try and what they can’t.  Don’t make assumptions!

If you’re stuck for ideas – a simple Google search of “wheelchair yoga” produces over 400,000 results!

Finally, this book  Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross is recommended for discussing disabilities with young kids.  It looks like a great book that I’ve just added to my wish list.  Let me know if you’ve seen this book or if you have any other ideas for including all kids in yoga classes.

Contest: Win an Animal Yoga Book

Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I

book by Angela Faith Miller, illustrated by Susie McColgan

US $12 softcover, $18 hardcover

This book review comes with thanks to the author, Angela Miller of AnimalsDoYoga.com. She  sent me two complimentary copies. One I used in my kids yoga classes to see how it worked with real kids.  One copy will go to a random reader who leaves a comment on this post – so please leave a comment for a chance to win!

Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I is a beautifully illustrated picture book.  Eleven animal pictures go with the eleven yoga pose pictures.  The pics are big and bright and the text is minimal.  Click here to see a couple sample pages.

Animal Yoga is a Hit with Kids
Kids love animals so the theme is a winner especially with young kids.  I also like the full-page pictures for holding up in front of a class.

When I introduced this yoga book to my preschool classes I wanted to see how the kids would follow along.  I read it as written, without giving any extra directions. Most of the poses were easy for the 2 – 6 year old kids to do.   In the thirty minute classes, we got through seven or eight poses.  We also did a short relaxation/meditation at the end of class that was not in the book.

This book also has, what I consider for preschool kids, intermediate poses.  These poses take more instruction and skill to teach, which is not given in the book.  They also take time and patience for the learners and the teachers.  For example, it took me about 6 minutes to help fifteen 2 – 4 year old’s learn to hold Fish pose for a few seconds.  The pictures and text in the book don’t always give enough explanation to do the poses.

My Recommendations:
I recommend this book for Kids Yoga Teachers, Yoga Teachers with kids, and experienced Yogis with kids.  The themes of yoga and animals will surely inspire children who like picture books.  I think it would be especially fun to do as a family or one-on-one, and in situations where you have time to learn the Intermediate poses.

However there are no explanations of the yoga poses in the book.  Beginners may want more info on the details of the yoga poses.  I wish there was a short pose guide for beginners at the end of the book.

Once the kids learn the poses, I could see young yogis pulling out this book to do on their own.  Animals Do Yoga… and So Do I could be a catalyst for a yogic lifestyle, a lifestyle that many of us wish we started when we were kids!

If you’d like to win the book, leave a comment on this post.  Contest closes Thursday morning at 11 am (March 4, 2010) when I’ll announce the winner and do a post about Teaching Yoga to Preschool Kids.