Family Connections/Private Sessions
What is the family connection to wellness?
Wellness begins at home. The quote “learn how to share your best self with your child and your child will learn to share his or her best self” suggests that incorporating yoga and mindfulness in the home supports the entire family. The use of yoga practices and techniques facilitates wellness by providing a way for families “being together” rather than just “doing together.”
Parents whose children participated in Yoga Calm classes reported improvement in the following areas:
- Self calming skills
- Anxiety reduction
- How to release anger and other feelings
- Tools to focus
- Bedtime relaxation techniques
1000 Petals helps families integrate these techniques at home through individual family sessions and family yoga classes. Contact Kathy to schedule a private in-home family yoga session
Testimonial
Integrating Yoga Calm into the Home
Through yoga-based techniques, we are promoting the following building blocks and skills for a child’s healthy emotional development:
- Unconditional positive regard
- Quiet time (at least a 15 minute period of quiet time or routine that calms on a regular basis)
- A way to release tension
- Self-regulation
- Self soothing practices
- Healthy expression of emotion
- Positive self talk and outlook
- Practice, structure and routine
For more information on Building Blocks to Healthy Development visit The Search Institute.
Self-Regulation: The Key to Successful Students (education.com)
Self-Regulation: The Second Core Strength (scholastic.com)
Self-Soothing a Developmental Task (childrenssleepproject.com)
Positive Self Talk (consistent-parenting-advice.com)
Practice at Home
Practicing mindfulness and yoga-based activities at home can be easy and fun. Below are several poses that can be used in the morning to wake up and focus and at night to wind down from the day and facilitate a good night’s sleep. Taking the time to join your child in these postures gives both of you the benefits of the postures and time to be together.
Pose for Focus: Eagle
Eagle Pose is used to integrate right and left brain.
From a standing position bend your knees slightly as in Chair pose. Press down your left foot and lift your right leg off the floor and cross your right knee tightly over the left knee. Hug your foot into your shin and hook the toes of your right foot behind your left calf. Spread your arms like wings and take them overhead. Bend your elbows and hook your right elbow under your left elbow in front of your heart. Point your thumbs toward your nose and grab your left palm with your right hand or place hands together. Lift your elbows up and stretch your fingers toward the sky. Repeat with other side.
Pose for Sleep: Legs up the wall
Bedtime is often a difficult time. It is important to make sure children have at least a half an hour of slowing down before going to bed. This could include turning the lights down low, having a warm beverage, drawing or writing. Legs up the wall is a great posture to use together to unwind from the day and begin to release any tension in the back, legs and feet. The health benefits of inversions include: blood flow returns to the heart with ease, nerves are soothed, and thyroid and parathyroid glands are bathed in blood.
To set up this posture, begin sitting either on the floor against a wall or on your bed perpendicular to the wall or headboard. With your seat against the wall, slowly begin to bring one leg up the wall at a time. Make sure your seat is against the wall or headboard. Begin to breathe in and out slowly. Saying to yourself I let go and relax or I am relaxed. Stay for 3 minutes.
