This Wednesday I have something a little different for you – a special lockdown family yoga class!
We’re all getting a little restless in this lockdown stage, and I know most of us were expecting schools to return a little sooner than what was announced. So this yoga class is one for the whole family to enjoy! A bit of fun, with all the yogic benefits of a standard yoga class š
Please let me know if you enjoyed this video and you would like to see more. Family yoga classes are something I’m considering offering in the community towards the end of the year, so I’d love to hear your feedback and know whether this is something you’d be interested in.
Below the video I’ve included a little description with the benefits of some of the exercises and movements we do during the class.
Lockdown Family Yoga Class
Breath Work
We’ll start the class with some deep belly breathing. Deep belly breath is great as it uses and strengthens the diaphragm. It can help to reduce blood pressure, lower stress levels and help with different bodily processes, one being the moving lymph (toxins) to the lymph nodes.
Next is Humming Bee breath (or as I refer to it our Bumble Bee breath). During this breath we lengthen the exhale in comparison to the inhale, this has a calming affect as our ‘fight or flight’ (sympathetic nervous) reduces. The vibrations from the humming noise also can create a soothing sensation.
We combine the Humming Bee breath with the use of the Lotus flower mudra. In yoga the lotus is a symbol of personal growth, purity and kindness. As next week is Mental Health Awareness week and the theme is Kindness, I thought it seemed quite fitting. As well as it fitting nicely with the bumble bee.
Asanas (Poses)
From here we moving into the asanas (poses) starting with Butterfly pose, to open up the hips. Moving into a few Cat and Cow poses, to warm up the spine. Next we have Gate pose, where we paint rainbows through the sky. This pose stretches and strengthens the side body. Finally we move into Downwards Facing Dog – a pose disliked by many, but great for both stretching the back body (especially the hamstrings and calves) and also for building strength in the upper body.
We make our way up to standing, moving into Mountain pose. This pose may appear as a simple pose, but it’s an important foundation pose in yoga, which can really help with posture and balance. Five Pointed Star helps to stretch out the body and create space. This is followed by our Warrior 1 poses – building strength in the arms and legs, as well as stretching the hip flexors. From here we make our way back to the mat, for our final pose, a gentle twist.
Guided Meditation
We end in either a seated or lying (Svanasana) pose, finishing with a rainbow visualisation meditation. If you are in to chakras, you may notice that we move through the colours associated to each of the 7 chakras, starting with the root chakra (the colour red) and finishing above the top of the head at the crown chakra (the colour pink). If you’re not into colours – this is still a fun visualisation meditation. Visualisations (and meditations in general for that matter) have loads of benefits, which I might talk about in another blog post. This visualisation can help encourage creativity and imagination š
I hope you and the family enjoyed this class. I’m very interested in any feedback or suggestions for future classes, so please drop me a message.
And if you enjoyed this class and are looking for more, you might like to check out my 30 day morning yoga challenge. Just 10 minutes of yoga a day for 30 days – long enough to reap some yogic benefits and short enough to keep the kids engaged with the practice too.
Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your week.
Kelly X