REMINDER: The second session of Lakeview Family Yoga is this Friday at 6:30 and 7:15 pm.
These sessions are held in the school gym and are FREE!!
Friday, May 4th – 2 special sessions, each for a specific age group:
- 6:30 – 7pm: For families with Kinders to Grade 2
- 7:15 – 7:45pm: For families with Grades 3 to 6
Notes:
- Please bring yoga mats / foam mats / towels. Blue mats at the school may be available but quantities are limited.
- Don’t forget your water bottles!
- Children must be school age to attend sessions and accompanied by an adult at all times
- CHILD MINDING will be available during the May 4th sessions for Lakeview families that have children in both age groups. Children must be school age for this service. Quiet activities will be held in the library.
These sessions are made possible by your Lakeview School Council and the Provincial Ministry of Education PROGRANT fund.
More about yoga & kids and our instructor
Why do Yoga with Children?
Children and yoga are a great combination. Yoga poses provide fertile ground for the imagination as children can become birds, dogs, lions, crocodiles, airplanes, bicycles, anything you can imagine. Yoga gets bodies moving and stretching and spends some of that endless energy kids seem to have. Yoga is a great way to get children and adults in touch with their bodies and emotions.
Using Stories to Teach Yoga and Discuss Emotions
In my classes, I tell a story and participants “act it out” through yoga poses. For example, if there is a tree in the story, we become the tree by doing tree pose. The stories keep children interested and provide opportunities to engage with children on subjects that don’t always come up naturally in everyday life, such as how to deal with difficult emotions like guilt, fear and anger. When we encounter certain situations in the stories, I ask the children how they would feel if they were in this situation. During these conversations, we focus on what kind of sensations may arise in the body given a certain situation and do a practice together designed to work with those sensations in a positive way.
The Instructor
I am Heather Cross, a mother of two young boys, a lawyer, a yoga teacher and a mindfulness instructor. I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training at the Rama Lotus Yoga Centre in 2006 and have taught yoga at various studios, workplaces and community centres since that time. I completed my mindfulness instructor training at the Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic in 2014 and have taught at the Clinic since that time. This year, I opened a small yoga and mindfulness studio in Alta Vista called the Here and Now Studio.
If you have any questions about Family Yoga or want to learn more about the Studio, please visit www.hereandnowstudio.com or contact me at hereandnowottawa@gmail.com.