Coming from Psychology and Art fields I consider Art to be a perfect complement to Yoga. In any form, at every age, always. I believe it puts you in a meditative state, making you forget about everything else and enjoy the moment focusing on the task at hand, while sparking the creative areas in your brain.
That is why I include simple Art projects in my kids Yoga
classes, adapting them to their age and level. The results are always amazing, they
absolutely LOVE it. I try to take as much advantage as I can from a simple
project, using it throughout the class so it serves many purposes.
This project took place in a class about “Winter” with my 4
years old. I did some prepping beforehand because they are very young, and the
class is only 30 minutes long. I did the drawing and the cutting. They colored
it in, decorated and glued the handle and the “marshmallows”. It never seizes to
amaze me how much they are able to concentrate, focus, and enjoy it (they are
just 4 years old!!!).
Once the glue dried, we did a Pranayama (breathing) exercise
with it in circle time: we placed the mug close to our face and breathed in
through the nose very deeply, imagining that we were smelling the sweet and
warm cocoa. Then we exhaled saying “Yummmmmmmmmm”. We inhaled again very deeply
through the nose and the we blew out the steam of the cocoa - because it was
“very hot”. We repeated the cycle one more time and finally we pretended to
drink it. Mmmmmmm, what a delicious and
fun time to finish the class.
Namaste,
Paola
