A few weekends ago, my daughter went to Santa Cruz for a wonderful Girl Scout camp over. A wonderful opportunity for her to be with her friends which left me with 30 hours all to myself. At first I wondered what I would do - such a rare opportunity as an ONLY parent to have that many hours sans child. Then last week, I received an email from the original yoga studio where I first started my Vinyasa yoga practice. There it was - a weekend Kids Yoga Teacher Training intensive class on Friday night and all day Saturday. The timing was perfect. I have had on my list of to-dos (prior to turning 50 which is NOT this year, but in my near future! LOL) and one of them is to take Yoga Teacher Training. The 200 hour teacher training is a huge commitment both time wise as well as emotionally. This weekend class was 12 hours and would allow me to dip my toe into teaching - I have always wanted to teach children yoga - to give them the tools of breathing, movement and meditation - all of which I wished I had those in my youth.
Kids are incredible, non-judging and energizing creatures. I had a specific "target population" in mind - 10-12 year old little girls (as in my daughter and her friends). The "tweener" age is such a tough spot as I am experience with my own daughter. So many emotions, doubts, hormones, frenimies, hurt feelings all surging with their constantly changing physical bodies.
I completed my 12 hour training and feel energized to create a yoga class with my daughter for her Girl Scout troop. One of the activities I would like to do with them is to read the book "Moody Cow" to them and to create meditation jars which would allow each young lady to sprinkle (glitter) their troubles and vexing thoughts into a jar of liquid (think snow globe), seal it up, shake and breath slowly in and out while watching the glitter softly settle. A great help in learning how to focus your calming breath. The great thing about teaching kids is that we can get creative with naming our poses - Warrior 2 will be Catniss, the Sun Salutation will be Apollo's dance, Tree pose with be Thalia (who was turned into a tree), Goddess pose will be Athena, and perhaps we will call down dog - Cerberus (Hades doggie). Ah to find the time to design the class - so busy, I haven't painted in months! Haven't practiced yoga in months either!