Our Experience at Story time Yoga

Last week Annabelle and I went to our first mommy and me yoga class. It was at Free People Yoga in North East Portland and it was “storytime yoga” aimed at kids 3 and older. Annabelle just turned 3 last week and I was a little worried about her attention span for the one hour class. I had high hopes that this would be a class we would do together regularly.

It started by having us all get into a circle with our mats and introduce each other. I introduced Annabelle and she introduced me and we told the class something that the other one did really well. From there the instructor read a book called Pezzeto which happened to be a great book that I’ll be adding to my library. It’s about how we are all our own person and should be happy with who we are instead of wanting/needing someone else to make us happy. The teacher showed to kids the pictures and there was a yoga pose related to every page.

The older kids did great, the younger, and tired kids didn’t do quite as well. Annabelle was more interested in running over to the teacher and looking at the pictures on the book than actually doing the yoga poses and then she wanted me to hold her during the poses instead of actually doing them herself. I do have to say that it wasn’t a regular day for her- she was a little tired and pretty cranky. I think the actual yoga would have held her attention better if it had been a shorter class that did yoga the whole way through instead of reading a story that distracted her with pictures. That’s the opposite of what I’d initially thought that the story would engage her and make her want to try the poses. You live and you learn.

I loved the end and it’s something I want to incorporate into our daily routines. We did a kindness meditation where we sat in front of each other and said affirmations about ourselves and then about each other. That was my favorite part of the class.

It’s a once a month class so I might go and try again- hopefully on a day she’s not so cranky. I do however want to try a different format, maybe without a story time and maybe not quite so long. But until then I plan on pulling out the yoga mat at home from time to time and just having fun with it and practicing a few yoga poses. She loved taking the mat out and loves ‘exercising’ and the mindful meditation of yoga is something I really want to instill in my daughter, and myself.

Do any of you practice yoga or mediation with your kids? What have you found to be the best ways to do it? I’d love to hear advice on how to make it a regular, and fun part of our lives!