Toddlers are fun and prove to be a great group to introduce yoga to, whether through yoga poses, relateable stories and sound. You can introduce sound through humming, chanting or singing. Toddlers main element is fire. Fire is the big energy that causes them to leap and bound, and to wriggle and squirm. When channelled this energy gives way to creativity, magic and storytelling. Everything we have to hand today came from somebody's imagination.
Sun pose is a power pose, that encourages kids to tap into their creativity with it's fire element orginiating from the sun. Sparking your child's imagination starts with play. Imagination is what fuels our desire to learn. Children imagine and create magic with exciting things like unicorns, fairies and magic potions. Pretend play like role play often seen in fairytales gives the child the chance to use their imagination, and to create their reality without limits or restrictions.
Beautiful boat pose with it's water element. Challenging emotions for water element types are fear and this fear can be balanced with courage through exploration. Rocking forwards and backwards in boat pose stimulates movement senses. Slow, rocking movements like forwards and backwards, along with sise to side movements can be soothing and quietening in preparation for stillness with mountain pose.
Mountain pose offers us the sanctuary of stillness, to be with our breathe, unmoving, peaceful and grounded. Moving into stillness fosters greater bodily awareness. Try feeling into the soles of both feet, lifting and wrigglying all tens toes, before 'replanting' them deep down into the earth. With a new breath travel your awareness up through both legs, strong and steady. Another new breath takes you through your core up to your heart space. Pause here. Your third new breath moves across your chest as you extend your arms like branches either reaching overhead orlengthening out to shoulder height. Wriggle each finger and thumb in turn before moving into stillness and allowing your gaze to soften. Remeber to repeat on the opposite side.
OM, OM, OM...
Finish with three Om's - Namaste
The human body is sensitive to sound, with sound having a powerful effect on the vagus nerve. This nerve controls a variety of functions, from heart rate and breathing and relays information from the digestive system to the brain. The sense of heaing is one of the first senses to develop in the womb and the last sense to leave before death. Not only do we hear sound through our ears, but we also 'hear' pressure waves through our skin. Humming on the side of a baby or toddlers head conducts sound through the skull directly to the cochlea. Chanting has been proven to facilitate feelings of wellbeing through the stimulation of the vagus nerve. It also helps to deepen the breathing and concentrates your focus.
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