I'm so excited to introduce you to children's book author, Lakshmi Gosyne. She wrote a book about kids yoga, and you can check out her post on why you should read these types of stories to your kids and then read my review. Welcome Lakshmi!
Why
you should read Your Child Yoga Stories
Yoga
brings to mind extremely flexible, thin supermodels that drink
wheatgrass and believe in chem trails, I know, but yoga has some very
practical benefits. Lately, the focus has been on bringing these
benefits to kids around the world.
So
what are these benefits you say? Here are 3 benefits of yoga for kids
(and adults):
- Increases Focus: A child focusing on a task helps them get their homework done faster, answer test questions and concentrate on where the ball is during their baseball or soccer game.
- Increases Body and Mind Awareness: This gives children the skills to control their emotions so less outbursts in the playground and fewer tantrums for the parents, physical and spatial coordination (great for sports) and they also learn that the more effort they put into something the better they get at it
- Increases Attentive Listening Skills: This helps with listening to the teacher and instruction an important skill for achieving better grades. Listening skills also help with social interactions, and social skills, something invaluable when they start work, meet their life partner and have kids of their own.
There
have been studies that have shown a regular yoga practice results in
these benefits for both adults and children. But why yoga stories?
Well, the truth is yoga for adults doesn’t work for children.
Children are more flexible, but their attention spans are shorter. I
would never recommend having a child just hold downward dog for 30
seconds. However if you add a story into the mix things change fast.
I don’t mean that a yoga story will get your child to stay in
downward dog for 75 minutes, but telling them a story will give them
a reason to get into the pose in the first place.
The
Power of Stories
Stories
are amazing things. They use both sides of your brain. The left side
is activated with language and sequences and the right brain is
activated when things are creative with visualizing the story as it
takes place.
Stories
aren’t just for children even adults can let their imagination
“sweep them off their feet” if the story is good enough.
In
my many years of teaching, telling a story is a great way to start a
discussion about a topic and many different discussions can start
with just one good children’s book. Stories also help children
remember concepts and ideas, deal with emotions, and become creative
thinkers.
But
why Yoga stories?
You
add the power of stories to the power of yoga and boom! You get
something amazing. After I read my book “Jungle Walk” with
children, teachers have reported more calm, more playfulness and
incorporating the poses into play in their classrooms.
You
can find some amazing yoga stories for kids, videos or even get
really creative and do actions to one of your child’s favorite
picture books! It really will make you and your child feel good.
Lakshmi
Gosyne is an author, illustrator, web designer and teacher. She
worked as a preschool and primary school teacher for 16 years before
writing two yoga story books: Jungle Walk: A Yoga Story for Kids and
Waiting for Dad: A Yoga Story for Kids. You can find out more at
www.ayogastoryforkids.com
About
The Author:
Lakshmi
Gosyne is an author, illustrator and designer. She worked with John
Wiley and Sons, Canada as a graphic designer before working full-time
with children and getting her Master's Degree in Education.
Her
15 years of experience with children and teaching as well as her love
for yoga converged into two Yoga for Kids books: A Jungle Walk and
Waiting for Dad.
In
fact, Jungle Walk was originally a yoga workshop for children in
Child Care Centers.
Lakshmi
is an avid traveler and has lived in Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto,
Canada, New Zealand and Thailand. She currently lives in Koh Samui,
Thailand with her husband Jonathan.
Genre:
Children's Picture
Book with Yoga Poses
Publisher:
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Release
Date: December
12, 2012
Book
Description:
Rob
is the last child to be picked up by his father from school! He
starts to imagine what his dad might be up to.
Maybe he’s
in a jungle? With pirates? In outer space?
This
book uses fun yoga routine that energizes your
child. Imagining pirates, tigers and aliens can make things exciting
for children especially when they can
roar or
call out “Ahoy matey!”
This book
uses traditional yoga poses in a flowing and fun sequence. Children
will increase their body awareness, strength and fitness and most of
all, have fun.
Excerpt:
If you're looking for a great way to connect with your kids then this is the book for you. It's full of imagination, awesome illustrations, and has a great storyline.
Waiting for his dad, who's running late, Rob imagines all kinds or reasons for his dad not being there on time. With each imagination story, Gosyne gives a Yoga pose that kids can do that goes with the story.
It's such a cute story that I am marking it a must-have for anyone with young kids. It will be a great way to get them moving while enjoying a story and you can do it with them.
Thanks for stopping into my corner of the world Lakshmi :)
ReplyDeleteI think this book would be a great help at getting kids interested in yoga. It's good to start them young. My aunt did yoga and I remember doing it with her as a child in the summer when we were at her cabin. They are very fond memories!
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