Mini Minds Yoga!

Mini Minds Yoga!

On Friday, Boo and I were invited to take part in a taster session of ‘Mini Minds Yoga’ with Alison. Being a Yoga lover myself and understanding the benefits of the practice, I was very much looking forward to seeing the approach to toddler yoga.

Alison was welcoming and warm and clearly enjoys her work. Her personality allowed a clear and honest delivery of an appropriate session for younger ones, combining story telling, activities and props with lots of yoga poses and movements.

Starting with a short warm up encouraging thoughts about breathing, meditation and help with being calm, it was great to see the little ones sitting cross legged on the mats engrossed in her explanation of ‘owl eyes’ and the link to meditation and positive energy poses.

The salutation to the sun was not something I had considered that children could access, but they most definitely can! It was wonderful to watch Alison walk through the different movements, encouraging sound effects for the cobra helping the little ones with the positioning gently where necessary. It was also lovely watching the grown ups joining in too! Being 7 months pregnant it wasn’t the easiest thing for me to do, so Nanny came along and joined in and it was great fun watching them both.

I particularly enjoyed the use of bubbles to teach children about calming breaths. Bubbles are so much fun and using them as an educational tool was very thoughtful and allowed a range of outcomes with big and small bubbles.

Due to the nature of yoga having positions named after animals, using cuddly toy animals and a game which everyone could join in with was another ingenious way of allowing the children to access the practice. The parrot, the monkey, the elephant, the cat, the list goes on and each one was explored through the appropriate yoga movement.

I also enjoyed finishing with a ‘story’ and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was a great way to conclude the session, using the space to explore the story, movements allowing the children to really move and expel energy. It was great to see the product of the movements they had learned and how they culminated and concluded the session. Something different for a Friday afternoon and even though Boo was a little bit young having only recently turned 2, she has still spent the weekend talking about her ‘yoga’ class and breaking into downward dog and tree pose very often!

I would recommend contacting Ali for a taster session! Classes run at the following venues:

Wednesday 5pm-5.45pm

6-11 year olds

Old Arlesford

Friday 4.30pm-5.15pm

3-6 year olds

The ARC Alresford

Introductory rate of £5 per child

More about Ali:

‘As a lover of yoga myself, I know first hand the benefits for body and mind. It was whilst searching for an activity for my 8yr old son (that does not involve staring at a screen exercising his thumbs) that I stumbled upon an advert for children’s yoga. As a child who is not particularly sporty or competitive and struggles with anxiety I thought it would be perfect for my son.  When I couldn’t find a class locally I decided to train to be a children’s yoga teacher myself and I am loving it!

I am passionate about giving children a chance to breathe.  They are growing up in a fast-paced, pressurised, online world.  Yoga gives children a chance to “unplug”, teaches them to relax and be in the moment.

If they learn these skills now, they can be carried all the way through to adulthood and we can hope for a well balanced, emotionally healthy next generation’

Testimonials

‘Absolutely amazing class for kiddies, so much thought had gone into it and it worked so well combining story telling with yoga! Will def be back thanks Ali’

‘My daughter absolutely loved her first session. Yoga but made fun. Bubbles, feathers, masks and music but also lots of yoga combined. Thank you!’