In Kids Yoga, children stretch their limbs and imaginations. Pre-K teacher Julie Mathers is leading a
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Yoga for kids isn't adult yoga, although children do some adult poses. Kids also do themed animated po
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Kids are flexible.
One minute, they can be flamingoes. The next, burritos.
In a Kids Yoga class, children stretch not only their limbs but their imaginations.
Themed animated poses — complete with sound effects, like meows and howls — are the rule.
Kids YogaThanks to Julie Mathers, a Manheim Township pre-K teacher and instructor of Kids Yoga, children ages 4 to tweens get the chance to explore a new exercise frontier.
Mathers' Kids Yoga class launch over the summer, at Evolution Power Yoga, 447 N. Mulberry St., was so successful, she's starting a new session there, Tuesday, Oct. 7, for ages 5 to 9. On Nov. 1, the studio will relocate to the Champion Center, 398 Harrisburg Pike, No. 250, Lancaster.
In yoga, kids are limber enough to strike about any pose you can think of.
To become a burrito, they roll up in their yoga mats. To mimic a flamingo, they pop one knee up and one knee down.
Ally Messick, 7, and sister Carly, 5, the daughters of Abby Messick, Lancaster, like to scrunch one foot to one ear and talk into the foot.
The phone pose.
Class members can also play games — individually and as teams, with or without props. For instance, they can pinch blocks between their feet, bring the blocks overhead and build a structure.
This is yoga kids can claim as their own.
"It's much more developmentally appropriate than if you took your 4-year-old to yoga with you," Mathers says. "It is different than adult yoga, although many of the kids are doing adult postures.
"A child isn't a little adult. A child is a child."
The idea is to stimulate imagination and incorporate movement and breathing.
And the win-win is there's no winning or losing, right or wrong.
Yoga is social but not competitive.
Kids are having fun in a low-stress environment, and parents appreciate that.
"I love that they will be learning the foundation of yoga now, at such an early age, and grow with it as they get older," says Heather Spire, Manheim Township, whose daughters, Sarah, 10, and Caroline, 5, took classes over the summer.
"I also love that they are getting a chance to do something that is athletic in nature and yet not in a competitive environment."
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Mathers, 28, of Millersville, wasn't much into the gym or individual exercise.
But she did like the exercise-class atmosphere. So when she started taking yoga, she found the right fit.
"I fell in love with the confidence and the individuality it gave me," she says.
Mathers, a longtime teacher and now educational director/teacher of the Pre-K Counts classroom at Reidenbaugh Elementary, run by Owl Hill Learning Center, introduced yoga in her classrooms.
Kids loved it, she says.
Her growing passion for yoga was bolstered when her husband bought her a Christmas gift to go to Manhattan to receive certification to teach yoga for kids.
It wasn't long before she decided to teach yoga classes for kids in a studio, and she teamed up with Lisa Taylor, owner of Evolution Power Yoga.
"This is marrying my love of teaching and my personal love of yoga," Mathers says.
Nationally yoga for kids has gotten high marks from teachers and participants.
A 2007 survey/study by two university researchers found that yoga had positive effects on the academic achievement, general health, personal attributes and relationships of students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
That doesn't surprise Mathers.
"It relaxes the mind and body, and teaches (kids) to love their inner selves and builds self-esteem," she says.
Kids are naturals.
"They do it without fear, without any hindrances," she says. "They're willing to try anything."
Kids Yoga isn't for girls only, although girls may be in the majority.
Every class is different, Mathers says.
Carla Saylor's son, Andrei, just shy of 8 years old, wondered if he would be the only boy in Mathers' class, but in fact, he wasn't.
"He had a great time and at home began to demonstrate a few poses, like the eagle," says Saylor, of West Hempfield Township. "My son is very active and tends to be in motion all the time, and my goal was to introduce to him another way to just 'be.' "
For Lily Gould, age 4, Lancaster, "kids' yoga" was a chance to go with her mom, Lanie, when she takes yoga.
But Lily was able to find her own yoga moves in Mathers' class.
What better place for a 4-year-old to turn into a sandwich or howl at an imaginary moon?
KIDS YOGA
WHAT:
Kids Yoga, for ages 5 to 9
WHEN: to 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 7 through Dec. 9
WHERE: Classes will be held at Evolution Power Yoga, second floor, 447 N. Mulberry St., Lancaster, through October. On Nov. 1, classes will resume at the Champion Center, 398 Harrisburg Pike, No. 250, Lancaster.
COST: $100 for entire session; $10 per class. Children should bring a yoga mat and a bottle of water.
REGISTRATION: Call 391-1060, go to
www.evolutionpoweryoga.com or e-mail
info@evolutionpoweryoga.com.
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