Yoga – Inquiry5

I did Ashtanga flow again this week at the Mountain Life Hot Yoga studio and found that the class seemed way harder than normal and I was so tired during the practice. I was surprised to not feel excited for class this week even though I still felt really good after and still went, I was just so drained. This was a very busy week and we have lot’s of major assignments and presentations coming up so, now reflecting back I think it actually makes a lot of sense that my heart wasn’t in it. I am really glad I still went though. I think it’s even more important to make time for yourself when things seem chaotic and busy and like you have no time for yourself.

The new class I tried this week was a warm energy flow, and I liked it a lot. I especially liked the instructors consistent message “meet your body where it’s at, and don’t be frustrated if it’s not at the same place it was yesterday or during your last practice.” I love this message and think it really applies to working with kids in any way, life is not linear, don’t expect it from little humans.

Because I have been enjoying Ashtanga so much I found a youtube clip and have been doing the first fifteen minutes or so every morning (in addition to a weekly in studio class) and doing a timelapse as a way to track progress.

I think Yoga Pretzels is a great resource for classrooms. There’s different pose cards separated into categories as well as different activities to try as a group. The pose cards have the name and what the pose looks like on the front and on the back it’s broken down into steps to help kids be able to figure it out. I love how it’s broken down so it doesn’t seem as tricky!

I would definitely keep these in my classroom and maybe let the special helper choose a pose to lead the class through each morning or after lunch recess as a transition from lunch into a calm down/quiet time. You really could incorporate this anywhere, during morning meeting or beginning of gym.

I also love that so many of the cards are outside, you could give each child a card and go outside and make their pose beside the object of their pose. (Tree, rock, mountain etc).

I am still absolutely loving yoga and hoping to incorporate many of the things I’ve discovered into my future classrooms.