There's a definite distinction between the poses you would do in an adult Yoga class and the poses I teach to my under 5's. Your adult class will concentrate on breathing, form and slow movement. As an adult the slower you move into a pose the more effective it will be.  With under 5's the emphasis is on fun first and form after. Very few of the poses I use in a class for under 5's are slow, complicated or held for a long time. They tend to be poses that are adapted to allow a child to move within the movement.A good example of this is Frog, for an adult you would twist your body to imitate the shape of the frog, for a child we would position ourselves so we can hop like a frog, lily pad to lily pad. Another example would be horse, in an adult pose this would be a standing to squatting pose, whereas in an under 5's class we would do Downward Facing Dog but kick our heels in the air to imitate the movement of the horse. All of my childrens poses are designed to help feed their imaginations. In this picture Georgia is in a cat pose, carrying baby ducks to safety. As an adult we would concentrate on our backs and tummys whilst doing this pose, Georgia is concentrating on balance and moving muscles she hasn't used fully since she learned to crawl. The other benefit to changing the pose to suit under 5's is that they have lively and imaginative ideas of what they think an particular animal is like. They teach me as well as learn from me. Look out for our new section on Childrens' Poses. |
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