This last Yoga Garden Kids session was really special. The idea of it was born of their curiousity about Yoga Garden’s puja. Why was it there? What were all the things on it for?
We discussed together about how having a sacred space of their own for practicing their yoga and meditation could be really good for focus and that if the objects in that space were special to them, it would have more meaning.
The kids in my class are ages 5-9 and as they are not my own and I am not a worship leader, we talked more about the physical objects than the spiritual worship of a Puja. In the first class, I gave them permission to explore the space. Some were more drawn to the incense, some to the statues of deities.
The objects that we place in our Sacred spaces to help us meditate can be taught easily to kids by aligning a meditation to each of our senses. We also talked about how they could create there own space at home.
Sight: our personal sacred spaces are typically pleasing to the eye for US. Through art, crystals, candles… the objects we SEE can focus our mediation and make us happy.
Sound: maybe the kids favorite? We listened to different music, thought about what different music made us feel. They also had the opportunity to try using a Singing Bowl and finger cymbals.
Taste: food may not be the best thing to have on a child’s puja, but mindful eating is a wonderful way to meditate for them. Take a bite, chew slowly, think about the taste, the feel, maybe where the food came from and finally swallow. We had fun trying some different foods in class. Only one enjoyed the brusselspout… go figure.
Smell: incense, oils and candles. Smells can brings so many memories forth and make us feel different things. For our smelling meditation we used blindfolds and I had them smell different strong scents. Hazelnut syrup, fresh basil, lavender and lemon.
Touch: for our final meditation of the session we held crystals and touched pencil to paper to color mandalas.
It was fun. I will definitely be teaching this session again!
Yoga Mama in Minneapolis 