A few months ago, a friend volunteered (the idea and her time!) to do yoga while I told a story for the kids. I thought it had the perfect pieces for an early elementary program so we scheduled it into our monthly "Second Saturday @ the Library" rotation .
We chose the story the Lion's Whisker from Sydney Solis' Storytime Yoga: Teaching Yoga to Children through Story. The book has short tales and lists suggested poses to go with it. It also has suggestions for guided meditations for the final savasana pose to use with wiggly kids!
After a welcome, a few upcoming program ads and a bit about my own yoga journey, Rachel, my yoga instructor friend, took over. She introduced herself and her background in yoga and then asked the kids and parents to share their name and a favorite way they like to move. Some kids and parents had done yoga and some not but it introduced the concept of how great it is to move and stretch your body. That ice breaker was filled with movement and laughter and really brought the group together.
Rachel next talked about our minds being like monkeys that like to dart around so we put our monkeys on a leash when we are doing yoga. That calmed the group down and I shared the story once through. Then Rachel worked with the group to do poses associated with the story - tadasana, virabhadrasana I & II, utthita trikonasana, balasana .
Next, while I slowly retold the story with words, Rachel and the kids echoed it through the poses along with some free form emoting (after all, this is a story of a stepmother desperate to attain the affection of her stepson!). We finished with a soft meditation while everyone relaxed in savasana.
We all enjoyed the program and parents and kids asked if we would do this again. So we are scheduling a three week afterschool series later in spring.
I love programs that tap into community expertise and use the best of unprogramming to create value for participants, a way to focus on our collection (yoga and meditation) combined with easy preparation and a fun program partner!
As Marge's partner in crime on this project, I would encourage librarians to ask yoga instructors to collaborate on something like this. As a whole, we are a pretty friendly group who want to help our communities and share the joy of yoga.Look too if there are any yoga teacher trainings in the area (new teachers are very enthusiastic and need to get a certain number of hours early on to keep licensure and solidify training). The Yoga Alliance website has a directory so you can find licensed teachers in your area.
ReplyDeleteThis book really spelled everything out and I needed very little prep time. I had a great time too :)
We have it on our agenda. I am fortunate to have a co-worker who is a kids yoga instructor. When I was at the public schools for a storytime visit with their special needs kids they were doing a Me Moves series that was yoga like and really focused the children.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this idea. The recently new this fall Jumpin' & Jammin' program has taken off like hotcakes, the Zumba for Kids this summer was well attended, so this may be a great fit too.
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