Many adults are well versed in the benefits of a regular yoga practice, from improved strength and flexibility and stress reduction to better sleep and a greater sense of well-being. But recently, there’s been more attention paid to how kids can reap many of these same benefits, and more, including improved mental focus and a boost in self-confidence. In fact, government leaders in Nepal are so convinced of the rewards children can gain from the practice that in 2020 yoga was added to the country’s public education curriculum for all students in grades 4 to 8.
While most U.S. public schools have yet to embrace yoga as fully as Nepal has, at Mountain Yoga Sandy kids are introduced to yoga in an atmosphere of playfulness, creativity, and lots of fun through Mountain Kids Yoga. This popular four-class series, offered to 6- to 10-year-olds in the studio’s not-hot Little Cottonwood Room, is led by Jayme Vetz, a former kindergarten and elementary school health teacher and current parent to a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. “I love getting to give kids the tools to find their own empowerment. To learn how to use their breath to become more self-aware and at peace,” Jayme says. “Tools that, if they use them enough, they learn to take with them off the mat,”
If you’re thinking that yoga is the last thing your active grade-schooler would want to or could do, Jayme assures that kid’s yoga is very different from adult yoga. “In an adult class, poses are held for longer and there’s more building and more focus on strength and flexibility. Kids’ yoga is more about allowing kids to explore their range of movement and body awareness while we dip a toe into mindfulness.”
Each kids’ yoga class begins with the students greeting Jayme and one another by making eye contact and offering the Sanskrit salutation, “namaste.” Jayme explained that this individual check in not only helps the kids build community with each other but also helps her tap into the group’s collective energy as they enter the studio. “If they seem like their energy is high, I’ll take them through some warmups with lots of movement, like the beginning of a P.E. class. But if they seem like they’re dragging a bit, we’ll spend some time doing some more fluid movements, like cat-cow, to gradually ease them into the class.”
Once everyone has either worked out their yayas or has become more invigorated, Jayme then leads the students through the heart of the class: a series of games and activities, most of which are familiar to kids—including Night at the Museum, Red Light-Green Light, Grandmother’s Footsteps, and Simon Says—all modified to have a yoga theme. Other activities include creating a story with yoga cards, either individually or with a partner; Yoga Jenga; Yoga Dice; and a riff on Musical Chairs where the students freeze in a yoga pose when the music stops. “I’m also all about using props,” Jayme says. “We use all the props in the Little Cottonwood Room—the bolsters and blankets, in particular. And then I’ll often bring in other props like essential oils, pom poms, and scarves.” Broader themes and concepts—like compassion for self and for others, gratitude, and strength—are also incorporated into each Mountain Kids Yoga class. “Again, I look to the group to determine what those overall themes end up being,” Jayme says.
Each Mountain Kids Yoga session ends with savasana, or relaxation pose. “They love savasana,” Jayme says. “I think most kids are always moving from one activity to the next and they seem to really crave that relaxation time.”
What’s more is that MYS offers an adult class in its Big Cottonwood Room at the same time as all the kid’s yoga classes are held, allowing parents an opportunity to get strong and feel restored at the same time their kids are being exposed to the profoundly life changing benefits of yoga. For more details and to register your visit mountainyogasandy.com/mountain-kids-yoga-program.
By Melissa Fields _ August 2024
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