Have you had a long day? Did you have to sit around more than you would have liked to? Do you need a bit of a wakeup? This is the perfect episode for you, because today we are going to get moving and exploring in this after school practice.
Let’s join Kathryn, our yoga guide, on a trip to the garden, where we’ll smell some flowers, squish through some mud, plant seeds, and observe the creatures of the garden. Below is a guide to all of the poses in this episode to help you along on your yoga adventure.
Parents, you and your kids can use this as a guide while you listen to the podcast. Or, try listening to the podcast first and going through the moves, letting your kids follow their instincts. Then, check back in here to see if their moves were correct.
Sun salutation
Mountain pose:
Stand with your feet planted on the ground. Take a big breath in, reach up really tall with your fingers, and wave to the bright sun for a tall mountain pose.
Forward fold:
Then breathe out and reach down for your toes and forward fold.
Plank:
Now put your hands on the ground. Try to hop or walk your feet way behind you. Ready? 1-2-3 hop. Wow! You are in a plank pose. Can you keep your knees up for 3-2-1? Good job.
Snake Pose:
Come all the way down to the ground on your belly. Can you make your body into a snake? Lift up your head and chest and make a “sssss” sound in snake pose.
Downward dog:
Now come back down, and we can come onto our hands and knees for downward dog. Push into your hands, tuck your toes under, and lift your hips up high. If you want you can lift one leg up high in the air, and wag it like a tail. Woof. Put that foot down and lift up your other leg up. Give it a shake! You can put that foot down.
Forward Fold:
Next let’s try hopping or walking our feet near our hands. Keep your hands where they are, bend your knees and hop your feet near your hands. 1...2...3...hop! You got it! Now straighten your legs and stay in a forward fold.
Mountain Pose:
Take a big breath in as we come all the way up and reach our fingers up to the sun. Breathe out as we bring our hands down beside us and we can stand strong and tall in our mountain pose.
Garden Sequence
Balance on One Leg:
Lift up one knee really high. Now straighten that leg so that it floats. Just like a balloon floats! Can you hold it up while standing on one leg? 1...2...3….Great! Now put your foot down. Let’s try it on the other leg. Lift your knee and straighten your leg in front of you. Let’s try to hold our leg up! 1...2...3….Great. Lift your knee and straighten your leg in front of you. Let’s try to hold our leg up! 1...2...3….Now our foot can come down.
Lunge:
Lift up your knee again and now put that foot down way out in front of you. And bend your knee. This is called a lunge. Can you reach your arms up high? Sometimes we call this “warrior” pose. Now lift up your back leg and bring it down/forward so that your feet are together.
Seed planting:
Let’s stand with our feet spread wide apart. Now reach down to one foot and dig a hole next to it. Come back up and reach down to your other foot. We can dig a hole there, too. Come back up and reach down in front of us and dig one last hole.! Remember to bend your knees if you need to.
Twist pose:
Let’s sit criss-cross on the ground while we plant these seeds. We need to twist to reach the holes we dug. Put one hand on the ground behind you. Now reach your other hand across your body and put the seeds in the hole. Really reach your arm! Twist and Reach. Then pat the dirt on top! [pat pat pat]. Come back to the middle. Let’s plant seeds on the other side now. Put your hand behind you on the ground. Twist and reach with your other arm to this side. How far can you stretch this time? [pause]Put the seeds in the hole and pat the dirt on top. [pat pat pat].Great! Come back to the middle. Now, let’s reach in front of us and plant the last seeds. [pat pat pat] Come back up.
Child’s Pose:
Sit on your knees and bend forward to put your forehead on the ground. Some people call this child’s pose, but we can call it “seed pose!” If you’d like, you can put your arms down by hands at your sides. Look! We are small and round, just like a seed! Reach one arm in front of you then the other. Wow, our seed is starting to grow! Can you stay on your knees and reach up high to the sky? Our plant is growing taller! Now, if you like, stand all the way up!
Bee pose:
Spread out your arms like wings and buzz like a bee! Maybe we can try to balance on one leg pretend we are flying! Lift up your knee. Bzzz! Bzzz! Oops! It’s ok if we fall-we’ll just get up and try again. Bzzzzz. Bzzzz Good job. You did it! Let’s put that foot down and try it on the other leg.
Rabbit hop:
If you’d like, try hopping like a rabbit! Let’s reach down and hop three times? Ready? 1...2...3! Great job! One more hop--really high this time!
We like to end our episodes with an affirmation. This episode’s affirmation is “I can grow.” Can you think of another affirmation? What kind words would you like to say to yourself? Try out your new affirmation today, and see how it feels!
In today’s practice, we explored the garden with our imagination. Is there a space nearby that you like to explore and move around in? Ask your parents to go for a walk around and make up your own yoga poses as you go!
Our affirmation for today is “I can grow.” What are some ways that we can grow? Maybe we grow taller, or we can grow in our mind or body by trying new things. If your little yogi is trying something that is tricky or hard-saying the mantra “I can grow” may be a helpful reminder!
For a vocabulary activity, you and your little yogi may also try to name as many things that grow as you can think of!
Teachable Moment
Sequencing: Understanding and telling a story in sequence (beginning/middle/end, or first/next/last) is an important language (and reading comprehension) skill! At the end of the podcast, we reviewed what we did on our adventure. Part of our adventure today was planting a seed and having it grow into a plant. You may talk through what happened first/next/last when planting/growing a seed, maybe even acting it out again as you do so. Sometimes physically acting things out can help us remember them. Example: First, we dug 2 holes and put a seed in each hole. Next we covered up the holes with dirt. Then, the sun shone and rain fell on the seeds. Last, the seed sprouted into a plant.
Descriptive Language: We saw a few different critters in the garden! For a fun game to work in using/understanding descriptive language, you and your little yogi may take turns describing one of the critters we saw in our garden, and see if you can guess what is is being described!