Hello Sun! A Yoga Sun Salutation to Start Your Day

So excited to share my new picture book Hello, Sun!

Available to buy from bookstores worldwide

Mindfulness Mondays - Braver, Stronger, Smarter

Mindfulness Mondays - Think, Believe, Dream, Dare

Mindfulness Mondays - You Are The Sky

Yoga Bug Competition

You have the chance to win a one of a kind,  signed and customised print of your favourite bug from YOGA BUG with your child's name included.

The competition is open to all children from 0 years onwards, so they are allowed a little help from a grown up.

Colouring is a great way to introduce mindfulness to children.  It is a great way to calm and relax kids after a day at school or divert any negative emotions by taking their mind away from a situation that has caused them to be over-excited/angry/upset.

Benefits include:

1. Being in the present - just enjoying the moment - Letting go of thoughts of the past or future and focusing on the now
2. Stress relieving - creating a sense of calm 
3. Self-expression and creativity- to just add colour without fear of doing it wrong 
4. Taking a break - turning off from technology and having a brain break
5. Managing feelings with a positive action
6. Having a break away from screen time and technology.
7. Having fun

Competition 

Children are invited to use their creative talents to colour in one or both of Yoga Bug's colouring pages.  There is no need to copy the colour from the original illustrations unless they want to.  If you would rather you can always do your own illustration/drawing of one of the characters in the book or any mini-beast or bug practicing yoga.  A few are featured on my website

You can download the colouring pages from here: 

Click on image

 If you have any difficulties I can send you a copy by email

Be as creative as you like.  Use crayons, pencils, pens or you may want to add a bit of sparkle with glitter or add a 3D element to it.  Once complete you can submit your artwork in a few ways:

1. Take a photo of your artwork or you holding your artwork and ask a grown up to post it online - on Facebook/Instagram and be sure to tag me in on it using @sarahjanehinder #sarahjanehinder #yogabug  or share it on my Facebook page
2. Send your artwork to me by email
3. Share it on your blog or website and send me a link to your page.

Rules

Create art mindfully - Ask your child to take their time and think about how they feel as they are colouring in. Think about the five senses - 

• Talk about colours, what colours make them feel happy/calm/energised
• Maybe they can listen to relaxing music or colour slowly in time with the musical flow. 
• Focus on their breathing... nice calming long inhales and exhales.
• Think about the other sensations - the air on the skin or the aromas surrounding them
• Say something kind about themselves - positive affirmations

HAVE LOTS OF CREATIVE FUN

Please ensure you submit your child's work by October 31st and include their name and age and their favourite bug and yoga pose.

The winner will be notified a week after the final submission

There will also be a few runner up prizes of a Yoga Bug poster

Remember it's all about the journey and not the destination and the biggest bonus of all is you have some beautiful artwork to display on your wall from your child too!

Yoga Bug can be purchased from all major book stores and online stores

Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk

Yoga Bug - The Official Book Trailer

So excited to see that all my hard work has paid off and dreams can come true.  I am officially an author/illustrator and Yoga Bug is now available in bookstores and AMAZON worldwide!

UK  USA  Spain  France  Germany 
 
The book is aimed at babies and toddlers but any age can use the book as a little yoga practice.  The flow incorporates pranayama, forward folds, back bends, core strengthening poses and of course a twist.

Hope you enjoy!

***NAMASTE***

6 Breathing Techniques to Calm Kids

Illustration created for Gina Bates Brown, author of Zen and Bodhi's Snowy Day©

Pranayama is one of the eight limbs of yoga and is one of the most fundamental parts in any yoga practice.

Learning breathing techniques can help children to manage their emotions, develop concentration and gain the ability to calm and focus the mind through breath. 

Most of us breathe very shallowly into the lungs and don’t give much thought to how we breathe. Pranayama exercises focus the attention on the breath learn how to use the full capacity of our lungs. Using full yogic breath benefits the entire body; giving us more energy(prana) and oxygen to all our essential organs and blood, calming the central nervous system, which has both physical and mental benefits.

These activities and games will help children to develop deep breathing skills will become the foundation techniques of meditations and relaxation strategies as they get older. They will learn the tools to express their emotions in a more controlled way resulting in a more balanced, focused mental and emotional health of a child in the present and an adult in the future.

BUBBLE BLOWING

Tell the children to imagine they are blowing bubbles. Take in a deep breath and slowly blow out bubbles in to the room. As they blow out the bubbles, ask them to imagine that the bubbles are magic bubbles that fill the room with calm.  

Alternatively, for older children, use actual bubbles.  Maybe have one or two bottles and ask the other children whilst they are waiting for their turn to watch the bubbles.  To look at the colours and what happens to them.  To then explain that this is what thoughts do too. So when they are angry or sad or anxious, they too will disappear and can be replaced with new feelings.

BALLOON BREATH

This will encourage children to develop deep and regular breathing skills. Ask them to imagine that they are blowing up a big balloon. Take in a deep breath and blow into the balloon slowly and mindfully. Tell them to breathe in deep from their tummy, imagining the balloon getting bigger and bigger on every slow breath out. Then imagine the balloon is floating away into the sky. 

Explain that they may be feeling angry or anxious, blowing up the balloon can help him to feel calmer.

FLOATING FEATHERS

Ask the children to sit quietly on their mat and give each child a feather. Tell them really look at the feather and think about how amazing a feather is. What is a feather? Who has feathers?  What do feathers help do? Then tell the children to place the feather onto their hand and take a nice big breath and then blow it up into the air.

BREATHING BUDDIES

Ask the children to lie down on their mat and place a stuffed animal or another object on their bellies (plastic butterflies or ducks are cute). Tell them watch how their Breathing Buddy moves up and down as they breathe in and out. Do they feel any other sensations as they breath nice and slow big breaths? Tell them to imagine that the thoughts that come into their minds turn into bubbles/butterflies/clouds and float away. Their Breathing Buddy helps the child focus and makes the meditation more fun and accessible. Quiet time can be fun too.

A BIG YAWN AND A HUGE STRETCH

Ask the children how we feel when we are feeling angry, anxious or scared? How do you think we breathe? Tell the children that we tend to take short shallow breaths when we feel this way. Yawning forces the body to relax by taking a deep breath and slowing down your breathing. Stretching helps them to stop feeling tense/tight/stiff in response to stress. Explain that that when they are feeling this way that they can yawn and stretch to help calm themselves 

Demonstrate a big silly yawn and an over the top stretch. Ask them to join in.

Classroom Management Tip:

When you can see a tantrum developing, begin to do a silly yawn to remind them to calm themselves back down.

PEACEFUL PARTNERS

Ask children to sit criss cross legs with their backs resting against each other. Placing their hands on their knees ask them to feel their partner’s breathing through their back.

Begin to notice how the breath feels. Tell the children to begin to have one partner breathe out as the other breathes in and feel how you become connected to each other.

This is a great little exercise to promote calmness, being connected, non-competitive and respectful to each other.

***NAMASTE***

Sarah Jane Hinder is author/illustrator of the book - YOGA BUG and illustrator of Good Night Yoga and Good Morning Yoga. Sarah Jane is also a yoga teacher 200RYT with Sun Power Yoga and children's yoga and mindfulness teacher with Chrysalis Kids