Read more about Yoga for Teens

Please note:  Liz currently has a morning and afternoon block available to teach at your child's school- please call for more info: 206.660.2321

Leading yoga for kids has transformed not only Liz's personal practice, but the way she teaches adults. Liz found that with kids everything is so magical and innocent, and as adults we take things so seriously, we often lose touch with the FUN! Yoga for Kids is about helping, with play and games, the children flow through movements that incorporate both fine and gross motor skills, balancing as well as spatial awareness - all are led by imagination, songs, verses, stories and games. So what is the difference between the Yoga Circle and a regular movement class?

In Children's Yoga, we draw a variety of postures and basic principals from Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga was developed thousands of years ago by ancient Indian yogis. There are postures, breathing exercises and concentration techniques designed to support the solar/lunar (active/receiving) energies of the body, cultivate the overall well-being of the person, and foster inner equilibrium, self awareness, and a sense of peace and serenity. Yoga works wonders for children of all ages. The practice increases flexibility, strength and muscle tone, and helps to develop proprioception (awareness of one's body in space), spatial orientation, body awareness and balance. It aids motor coordination and concentration - in fact, it stimulates all aspects of a child's development. On another level, it serves to promote a child's inner harmony.

In this time and age, children can often feel overwhelmed by academic studies, and the competition among peers. Even as adults, we can not help but feel bombarded with advertising images, and pressured by our fast paced life style - children experience these stressors early on in life, but are not yet equipped intellectually and emotionally to deal with them. Our yoga classes provide them with a space to learn how to breathe, relax, and have fun, and interact with each other in a non-competitive environment.

For example, we learn eye exercises and balancing poses to achieve inner focus with poise but without a sense of rigid control. As children begin to find out that they can be quite strong in holding warrior poses for a few breaths, they gain a glimpse of their own inner strength, and their ability to sustain their concentration, and that gives them a great sense of self-esteem and inner resource. Children are fascinated by the wonders of nature; therefore moving through poses that truly resemble animals and nature elements is something that they love to experience. Above all, they are in awe when they realize their body can be much more flexible and creative then they had ever imagined.

Over time, the children learn the ability to self-calm, and a final relaxation is always crucial at the end of our circle. This is the time where the body begins to assimilate all the benefits from the practice. It is also the time when children learn to relax and to claim this space for themselves - a space where they can let go of all worries and thoughts, and all the weight that they carry on their shoulders. Even teenage students plead for this moment of deep, long, relaxation time.

Liz is available to bring her popular classes into your child's classroom, as well as for private parent-child yoga sessions.

Read more about Yoga for Teens