Toddler Yoga switches gears faster than any power flow class I have ever taken. Two year olds have the attention spans of gnats, literally. The instructor must not only have a game plan but also Plan B, C, D...
The lovely
Leigh Fisher allowed me to sit in on her 10 am -11:15 am Toddler Yoga class at
Kula Yoga. When I arrived, no kiddos had shown up except for Leigh’s little girl, Luella, aka Lulu. Lulu looks like Tinker Bell with huge blue eyes and wispy blonde hair. Lulu is very, very articulate for a two year old. I could understand most of what she said.
At 10:05 am, the second of our two students arrived. Ash’s mom dropped him in the toddler class so she could enjoy the concurrent vinyasa class in the next room. Ash, also two years old with big brown eyes and sandy brown hair, was a bit more reserved than Lulu.
Leigh and I chatted while Lulu and Ash explored the huge chest of Kula’s toys. There were a couple of the usual clashes over the toys but for the most part everyone was happy.
At 10:15 am, we got down to yoga-ing. We put the toys away except for a chicken Lulu had grown quite attached to. Leigh set four mats into a square and eventually we got the kids to take their seats. We coupled breathing exercises with flapping arm movements like birds. We did torso twists and hooted like owls. We mooed and meowed in cat/cow, hissed in cobra and barked in downward facing dog. We jumped around doing Kundalini frogs and shouted, “Ribbit, Ribbit!” We made hugging trees, climbed the walls and did handstands.
Leigh grabbed a bunch of foam blocks and spread them on the floor. Ash and Lulu pushed the blocks around the floor and built them up just to knock them down. Eventually, we practiced our balance by lily-pad jumping from block to block. Again, there were irrational clashes over the identical blocks. Lulu wanted the blocks Ash was playing with and vice-versa. Reason and logic was completely lost on these two. Leigh explained that the two year old brain is a rapidly growing crazy mess. Their mood swings are a result of the brain cells firing off in all directions and roller coaster hormones. All of this brain and hormone activity goes through a similar phase during the teenage years, which explains a lot.
We put the blocks away two-by-two and moved on to coloring. Ash was more interested in taking all of the crayons out of the box and scattering them on the floor. Lulu was more interested in coloring on Ash’s yellow paper than her blue sheet of paper. We moved on to playing with bouncy balls. The kiddos dug the bouncy balls but time grew short.
After the bouncy balls were put away, we returned to the mat for some chanting and singing. We sang, “Be Happy! Be Good! Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Sat Nam! Waheguru, JI!” The chant very roughly translates to, “Be Happy! Be Good! I am truth! I am truth! I am truth! Life is great! WOW!"
Things began to wind down with story time. Leigh skillfully read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. The kids lied down on the floor with pillows and blankets for final relaxation and guided meditation. Leigh quietly led the kids from a green grassy meadow up into the sky on a puffy cloud to imagination land. No sight is quite as wonderful as blissed out two year olds. It was freaking awesome.
The kids came back to life and returned to the toy box. Life is good. The experience was fascinating, educational and fun. Every instructor should take the time to be two again and truly live in the moment like Ash and Lulu. I can’t wait to play again soon. ~Namaste
