Having trouble finding time for your own yoga practice while your kids are home this summer? Rather than missing out on your OM time, why not include them in what you are doing? Serious yoginis know yoga builds flexibility in our bodies and in our lives, so deviating from what you may normally do in a formal class shouldn’t interfere with the results you get from doing your practice. You probably won’t do 45 minutes of sweat-inducing, heart-pounding vinyasa while a couple of toddlers are in the mix, but the benefits you bring to your family are priceless. A willingness to be open to a new sort of yoga experience may be the start of a whole new paradigm for you and the children in your life.

     Although I had been doing yoga for many years before my son came along, it wasn’t until I started practicing with him and my nephew (and eventually the whole Montessori school) that I actually began being a yogini. Practicing with kids demands your presence in a much more dynamic way than when you practice alone, or in a class setting. You are required to demonstrate the pose, teach the pose and keep an eye on the children for safety, but it must be done from the perspective of a child. Doing yoga with children enhances your own learning curve within the sphere of yoga, and also brings a whole new dimension of creativity to your asana (postures). There is no longer a sense of rules for sequences or duration. It doesn’t matter which comes first: inversions or balances, twists or backbends. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know bhujangasana is cobra; the kids will just call it “snake.” Vrkasana is quite simply tree. Dhanurasana, or upward bow gathers momentum and … please click here to read the rest of this post! Namaste!