Are you going to teach kids yoga and need some advice on how to explain yoga to the kids? We encourage our yoga teachers to exchange about their experiences in teaching yoga to kids in schools and we also develop material together with yoga teachers on how to teach yoga to kids. So, we have asked our yoga teachers, and other kids yoga teachers, how they would explain yoga to kids. This is what they what they told us based on their experiences.

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Different Approaches on How to Explain Yoga to Kids

Going through the answers we got from a lot of yoga teachers to the question “How to explain yoga to kids?”, we noticed that there are different approaches. In general, the yoga teachers do tell the kids something about yoga before they start with the first class because as a lot of kids probably have never even heard of yoga let alone practiced yoga in sports lesson in school.

We have found that most of the yoga teachers explain shortly what the purpose of yoga is or how it’s done (in a playful manner, for example, by imitating animals) and some tell them a little story mentioning the old yogis who imitated shapes they found in nature.

Then, there is another explanation which is the reason we offer yoga to kids in schools: Yoga practice encourages balance, support, mental and physical strength, peace, relaxation, connection to oneself and others, and can be used as a tool to improve ones’ performance.

We put all the answers we got from kids yoga teachers into different categories and please, feel free to get inspired for your first yoga class. In case you are a yoga teacher but not teaching kids in schools yet but would like to, please sign up here.

A huge thank you to all the wonderful yoga teachers who gave us their professional input! By doing so, show your support for Alduna.

Yoga is Balance / Support / Breath

• “Yoga is a technology which helps us in day to day life to keep balance and enhance performance”
• “I always tell my yoga kids that yoga is like a best friend! It helps us in every situation and does our body well! The children feel this every hour very strong! In yoga, the children can be as they really are. As with the „best friend“! Namaste”
• “Yoga is a practice that makes your body and your mind strong”
• “I’ve told my very little ones that our body is like a stick of pasta (the curly type). I show them the uncooked one first, then show them the cooked version! I tell them wen we practice yoga, our body & mind become nice & flexible just like the pasta!”
• “An 8 year old told me it was about being flexible and relaxed and I said ‚yes and strong too in your body but also your mind‘ Then I proceeded to explain how […] ”
• “Yoga is a game that you play with yourself and always win. It makes you calm when you’re too excited and makes you feel energetic when you feel tired. It helps you work out your brain by using your body and helps you to bring your mind back into your body when it wants to wander. It’s nothing special really, on its own at least, but what you do with it and where it takes you is.”
• “Yoga is a fun way to breathe and move and relax!”
• “Yoga is a combination of breathing exercises and movements that helps you to feel good in your body and mind.”

The Benefits of Yoga in School

• “From my experience I can tell that they love imagery and breathe cues rather then difficult explanation or pose names, it has to be playful with a good laugh and they love to do poses with a partner, animal imagery helps as well, less is more, let them close their eyes an focus on the noises, smells, sensations around, in savasana tell them you take them on a dream journey, tell them a fairy tale or story or take them to a nice, calming sunny place. To explain what yoga is, I‘d tell them what its good for in their daily life or the benefits for school such as dealing with difficult emotions after a fight, focus & concentration for a difficult task, or relaxation after a hard lesson, good memory and anxiety relief before an important exam and so on.”
• “Yoga makes your body & mind stronger for your favorite sports and easier to learn in the classroom”

The following screen shot was taken from our website and shows some more important benefits of regular yoga practice in schools.

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Yoga is Connection & Growth

• “Connection to self, other and community. By exploring, movement, stretching, breath work, Sounds and Play! And it is always with you, so you can connect anytime.”
• “Yoga is a way to connect our bodies to our brain.”
• “Yoga is a technology that connects you to yourself. That allows you to see what others are blind to.”
• “Do don’t have to explain much to kids, because they’re far quicker to open up to Yoga than us adults. When the question comes up, then I explain it like this: «You can picture Yoga as a big tree that grows right up to the universe. It connects the earth, with its strong roots and its crown up in the sky, with the sun and moon and stars. Sometimes a branch breaks off, but that’s a good thing, because it creates space for new branches to grow. And that’s also how we connect strength with silence. The sun with the earth, and the night with day. And because every tree grows a bit differently, every child takes its own path with Yoga. There’s no good or bad. There’s just you, and the path… and because of all those individual branches, Yoga can help you become a big, strong tree whose crown connects to the universe.”
• “Yoga is the connection/union of your mind, your body & heart. Yoga is the universe within you 🕉.”
• “Yoga means to yoke or bring together. It’s brings yourself together to be your biggest and brightest self! This can be with movement, breathe, meditation, even kindness! You grow to love and thank everything that touches you in your life, including plants and animals, because we all come from the same magical star dust.”
• “Yoga is a way to find relaxation and calmness in your body and mind. Sometimes being surrounded by all your friends, going to school and doing all different kind of activities can be amazing but also a lot of input for your brain. You get confronted by different expectations you want to fulfill or not fulfill. In order to become YOU it is important to find your own path in life. Yoga can help you to take some time for and with yourself, to recharge your energy and to find out what you really want to achieve in life. When you are able to stay connected with yourself you will be able to experience even more joy and life and new possibilities will open up to you just because you become open minded and more perceptive to the things happening around you. At the end of the day you will be able to experience what being in the present- so in the moment you are just in right now is happening.”

Yoga Encourages You to be Yourself

• “Yoga makes you strong. Yoga helps you be your own superhero. Yoga brings sunshine in your sad days. Yoga is like a wave in the ocean. Yoga teaches us how to love and be loved. Yoga helps you make right decisions.”
• “Yoga is a way of living in your life. Being kind, slowing down, moving, breathing, playing, relaxing. Being the best person you can be to yourself and others.”
• “Yoga is life and everything can be yoga as well. Every time you breathe, when you be yourself, when you listen to your body, then you are doing yoga. The movement is a tool to help us to live our life fully.”
• “Yoga is movement to understand yourself better.”
• “be yourself”

Explaining Yoga in a Playful Way

• “Yoga is being in your breath and being yourself. Then make really crazy animal sounds and movements.”
• “Traditional yogic texts prescribe yoga to kids only after 8 years of age. Playing is the best form of learning, all animals do it as well. I would join the kids in their play and introduce small things. When they are old enough, they will know what Yoga is. I would also encourage them to interact with animals, insects and dirt. Then we can start with Yama, Niyama.”
• “I use a little song with some yoga poses to help us explain how yoga keeps us strong and balanced. I am bright – Star shape I am kind – hands in prayer in front of our hearts I am brave – warrior pose I am balanced – tree pose I am me! – hands on hips and standing tall like the super hero’s we each are! I can’t take credit for the song, I learned it from YouTube but the kids love it!”
• “Simple: Yoga is FUN!”
• “Yoga is a fun way to learn about what your body and mind can do.”
• “How would I explain toga to kids… with simplicity, engaging language at their level, and lots of imagery. Create games, allow individuality and expression, then comes the calm.”

Yoga is Peaceful, Relaxing, Love & Happiness

• “Yoga is feeling totally relaxed and happy”
• “Yoga is be yourself: LOVE.”
• “I tell my students (ages 3 to 5) that yoga makes their body, thoughts and heart feel happy, strong and peaceful.”
• “I teach to children as well as adults. When I asked what they thought yoga was one child said “yoga is when you move peacefully, and that feels good.” I think that’s pretty accurate, if we can navigate life peacefully and in harmony with that which is around us those actions create more peace and harmony – and that feels good.
• „Yoga is a very ancient science that helps us to develop flexibility and strength in our bodies, and happiness and peace in our mind. Yoga is a practice and philosophy that teaches that happiness is our natural state. When the body and the mind are out of balance, we do not feel this happiness. With the help of yoga poses, breathing exercises, and focusing within, we bring back this harmony to our body and mind, and come back to this natural state of happiness.”
• „Because what we all really want to feel like is very happy and contented with our life, and the people we share it with, we can use our body to stretch and move in ways that help us to breathe really deeply and feel ready for a deep rest. That special rest teaches us to think, or meditate, on ways to make our world a happier place. We might have to make changes to how we behave or to how we feel. Whatever happens we are taking time to rest our bodies and minds for a few minutes and to help our bodies grow stronger while we enjoy some cool moves. That’s how I’ve explained it to some 7/8 year old kids!”

Yoga is exercise

• “Yoga is a way to exercise our bodies, mind and breath all at the same time. It helps us to feel so good! This is the explanation I use for little ones.”
• “Yoga is exercise for the mind and body.”

About the old yogis who imitated shapes in nature

• “I start telling them that before our times there were no TV, phones, even clothes.. there were people who will copy everything in nature. The mountains, trees, animals, etc. And then we start as seeds, growing into beautiful trees (they choose their own) then we go to garudasana as if it is posing on a branch of a tree… let your imagination go and be creative. They love stories, using all the senses and being playful. They also love working in partners and the sun salutations in songs!”
• “I’ve seen my sister ask kids to interpret a cat, cow, dog and eagle freestyle, then explain that in yoga there is a shape for all things, be it an animal, a tree, a mountain, that we can interpret by shaping our bodies. This way of moving came about when yogis, who lived in the forest and the mountains observed the animals and nature around them move in harmony. In an effort and with a desire to stay close to nature and supple, the yogis imitated the movements of the animals and created a series of poses or asanas, that reflected the trees and the mountains around them to create a wonderful art form called yoga, which is what we will learn together, so that we too can be supple, shapely, elegant, and show others.”
• “I explain them that a long time ago some yogi in India started to observe the nature. They observed the animal, the mountains, everything around them. And saw that everything was in balance and decided to imitate them. They imitated the lion, the butterfly and the mountain. By doing that they discovered that their body, mind and spirit started to be in balance. And that is yoga: the union of our body, mind and spirit and it helps us to keep them in balance while connected with the nature, our nature.”

Yoga is Magic

• “Yoga is a special magic. You cannot see it. It is inside of you. .First you must listen carefully inside your body and practice yoga. You breathe more and you look and listen carefully to what is happening inside your body. You will feel some magic. You must try first so that you know what this Yoga magic feels like. This is the path to yoga.”

OR: “Don’t explain- just do it!” 🙂

Note: Minor grammatical changes had been done and on the quotes and some to increase the readability but no changes had been done as regards to content.

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Janine Keller

Janine, Co-Founder of «Alduna», makes through her blog articles sure to keep you posted about developments, events & the yoga classes in schools. She is always happy to chat about anything related to Alduna, so feel free comment if you would like to ask, discuss or recommend something. And don’t forget to deeply inhale and exhale from time to time. Namaste.