Winter Animals Yoga Adventure

Today in Radiant Child Yoga we learned about what different animals do when Winter arrives. The class named animals that live in Colorado and worked together to decide whether that animal migrated, hibernated or adapted. Our migrating animals were duck, monarch butterfly, and elk. Rabbits, ptarmigan, and people adapt to Winter and snakes and bears hibernate.

With that decided, we circled up, sat tall and tuned in with "Ong Namo Guru dev Namo" and began our Winter Animal Yoga Adventure.

"Let’s head to the mountains and see if we can find all those animals…"

• Camel ride
• Bicycle ride- go slow as we climb the hills!
• Walk with crossing hand to knee
• Climb- reach over your head and pull yourself up.

"We reached the top of the mountain! Let’s be the mountain. Plant your feet and bring your hands together over your head."

• Mountain pose

Then we practiced our animal poses. At the bottom of the mountain we saw butterflies and sang the Fly Like A Butterfly song. On our walk up the mountain we saw rabbits (Rabbit pose), we saw ptarmigan, ducks (follow the leader), snakes, bears and elk.

The most popular part of class by far was our yoga game where we put all our newly learned yoga poses to good use!

One wall is North where it’s cold!

The other wall is South where it’s warm.

When I say North, run to the North wall, when I say South, run to the South wall. When I say butterfly and stand in Tree pose at the South wall, run and crowd around me like monarch butterflies in Mexico. When I say, Snake, Rabbit, or Ptarmigan, do that pose. When I say duck and name a leader, migrate following the leader. When I say Elk or Bear walk that pose to the other wall. End with Butterflies around the tree.

Awesomeness!

Then we switched gears and started hibernating.  First we were snakes...

• One person lays down on back and the next person lays down with their head on first person’s belly, repeat until everyone is laying down. If you have enough kids you can place them in a circle. You are snake in a Hibernaculum (a pile of hibernating snakes in an underground den)! Hibernating snakes are so still mice aren’t afraid to tiptoe around them. Breath deeply into the belly and lift your friends’ heads up and down with your breath.

Then we were bears...

• Get up and lumber as slow as you can around the room and back to your yoga mat. Your mat is your cave. Climb in and lay down on your back. Imagine you have a full tummy and your fur keeps you warm and snug. You fall asleep. 
• Now imagine fresh white snow covering everything. Take 10 steps through the snow.. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10 Something catches your eye in the forrest. Watch it quietly until the bell rings.

After Savasana we sat up for Meditation, singing Sa Ta Na Ma and ending with two interactive songs: Coo Coo and Ba Ba Bluebird

Closing with our traditional goodbye song, Long Time Sun. I hope to see many more faces next Thursday at Vida Yoga in Boulder at 3:30. Until then...

May the long time sun shine upon you

All love surround you

And the pure light within you

Guide your way on...