Kids Yoga Pose of the Week! Pose #1, Chair.

A fan of our blog recently reached out to me with an amazing infograph created to bring more awareness to kids yoga, and help parents connect with their children. I love the little yoga characters in their images, and have always wanted to create a "pose of the week" posting for you! So a BIG thank you to www.afterschool.ae for making that possible by providing these adorable kids yoga cartoons.

Without further adieu, here is our first Pose of the Week posting! Stay tuned every Friday for the new additions to this collection. 

Chair Pose

Aka: 3-2-1 Blast off, rocket ship, reach and pull, water skiing, sleigh riding, & anything else your imagination can create.

How to:

1. Start from standing, feet together.
   
2. Inhale, reach your arms up to the sky.
   
3. Exhale, begin to bend your knees and sit into your chair. Do you best to get your thighs parallel with the floor, as you do, your belly will lean slightly forward over the thighs. 
   
4. Keep your tummy tight by imagining a vacuum sucking your belly button back towards your spine.
   
5.  Keep both feet pressing firmly into the ground, with your weight towards your heels. Now you are stable and solid like a fine wooden chair!
6. Take 3 deep breaths in and out through your nose!

Thank you to www.afterschool.ae for providing this fantastic image!

Fun variations:

1. You can pretend to eat, draw, have a conversation, or do anything else someone might do while sitting in a chair.
   
2. Once sitting in your chair, you can blast off into space! Inhale reach up, exhale bend your knees a little more – do this while counting backwards….3-2-1…then BLASTOFF by jumping up into the air and bringing your arms back down to your side.
3. Turn it into a breathing exercise by reaching up to stand tall on your inhale, then pull your arms down by your sides (elbows bent) while making fists as you exhale to sit.
4. Instead of reaching up to the sky, reach your arms straight forward in front of you. Imagine you are bouncing down a snowy mountain, or maybe on the waves behind a boat.
   

Benefits:

• Strengthens the ankles, thighs, calves & spine
• Stretches shoulders and chest
• Stimulates abdominal organs, diaphragm and heart

Connections:

• Turn your chair into a double chair with a partner! Grasping your partner’s wrists/hands/forearms, slowly begin to lean back and sit into your chair – feeling each other’s weight. Let your hips sink down into the full chair pose as you counterbalance together. To come up, pull your partner’s arms towards you as they do the same!

SO many fun ways to play in chair! I hope this posting gives you a fresh perspective on a timeless posture. Please comment with any other ways that you love to practice chair with your little ones! 

As always, let your creativity & light SHINE! Be your brightest, boldest, you-est self you can be.

In love,

Vanessa