When do you feel strong? Would you like to harness your strength and grow it? Yoga is one way to make our bodies and minds even stronger. Today’s practice is going to help build our muscles!
Kathryn, our yoga guide, is going to take us on a safari adventure, deep into the jungle, where we are going to meet a bunch of different animals.
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:
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! Then breathe out and reach down for your toes and forward fold. Can you see your feet? Hi, feet. Now put your hands on the ground. Try to hop or walk your feet way behind you. You are in a plank pose. Can you keep your knees up for 3-2-1? Good job. 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. 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. 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. Now straighten your legs and stay in a forward fold. 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.
Parrot Pose:
Let’s stand in mountain pose with both of our feet on the ground. You can put your hands on your waist or your back.These are our parrot wings! Now we can bend our knees to perch on our branch.Flap your wings. Try bending your knees a little bit more to stay perched on your branches for 2 breaths in and out.
Gorilla Pose:
Stand both feet on the ground, breathe in, and reach your hands up the sky. As you breathe out, bend forward and let the tops of your hands come to rest gently near the ground. Bend your knees if you like! Swing your arms side to side, like a gorilla! Maybe you even make sounds like a gorilla!
Giraffe Pose:
Let’s start standing tall. As you breathe in, lift both arms straight up to the sky and clap your hands together over your head. Our arms made a long giraffe neck. As you breathe out, step one foot onto the ground in front of you. With both legs straight, lean your body and your arms forward just a bit over your front leg, like you are a giraffe reaching for some leaves on a tree. Stay leaning so we can reach these leaves on the tall branch. Bring your feet together and come back to center. I think we need a few more leaves. Let’s switch legs. As you breathe in, lift both arms straight up to the sky for our long giraffe neck. As you breathe out, lean your body and your arms forward again over your other leg. How far can you reach? Wow! So far! Now we can come up and bring our feet back together.
Elephant Pose:
Stand with your feet wide apart, clasp your hands together, and let your arms drop down in front of you like an elephant’s trunk. Breathe in through your nose and come all the way up. Lift your arms high above your head and lean back just a bit. Now let’s spray our water! Breathe out while you spray your water. Sway side to side to spray your water. We can take another big sip of water and spray our backs this time. Lean forward and let your arms drop down in front of you to get some water. Now come all the way up and lift your arms high above your head. Bend your arms to spray your back.
Tiger Pose:
Let’s bring our hands and knees to the ground. Reach one arm straight out in front of you, and stretch the opposite leg out behind you. Stretch. Now you can keep your leg touching the ground, or lift it up. Both your hand and leg are in the air. Put your hand and foot down and let’s try the other side. Reach the other arm straight out in front of you, and stretch the opposite leg out behind you. And lift it up. Make your hand into a tiger paw by bending your fingers.
Sloth Pose:
Lie down on your back, bend your knees, and hug them into your chest. Wrap your arms around your knees to give yourself a big hug. Hug your knees in for 3-2-1…..Now you can stretch out your arms and legs as wide as you’d like for our final resting pose. If you like, you can close your eyes, or you can keep them open. Maybe you imagine you are a sloth taking a nap underneath a shady tree. We might take a few long slow breaths.
In this episode, we went deep into the jungle on safari, and saw so many different animals! We breathed like lions, reached like giraffes, splashed with elephants, stretched like tigers, and relaxed like sloths. What was your favorite part of today’s practice? What animal did you like the most?
We like to end our episodes with an affirmation. This episode’s affirmation is “I am strong and brave.” Today’s yoga was all about making our bodies and minds feel strong and brave. What are some other activities that make you feel strong and brave? Draw a picture of you doing something strong and brave and send it in to us!