Today’s story is set under the ocean and the children practice back strengthening poses and poses that massage the abdominal organs.

For the children though, the treat is hearing about a pirate looking for a hidden treasure and meeting a mermaid. Zoe calls out, “and the lion!” because last week she loved her new lion pose they learnt in a story deep in the jungle about a monkey who had lost his way. Her yoga teacher says, “we’ll see” and the children practice a gentle, relaxing backbend as they swim like a fish to the Three Little Fishies song. The story and yoga poses progress, but Zoe doesn’t give up. She calls out again and again, “The lion! The lion!” and suddenly, the ocean is transformed into a magical ocean where a magic lion can swim under water, just for a moment, just for Zoe! Everyone thinks that’s fantastic, and they all become a swimming lion! A quick 90 degree turn, and they are back on track, practicing their balance with sea horses, and walking along the ocean floor as crabs. The mermaid leads the pirate to explore and experience the wonder of the deep blue ocean. The children practice dolphin pose, mantra ray pose, and beautiful coral pose.

Earlier in the class, they have been mummy and daddy dinosaurs, and baby dinosaurs too. Their imaginations are thriving through this oral storytelling yoga practice, and their bodies and minds are being stretched, strengthened and relaxed. 

The pirate learns that the treasure under the sea is actually the beauty and peace of the ocean itself. He has a new appreciation of nature and all it has to offer. He leaves the rubies and diamonds behind. It’s row, row, row your boat time and by this stage, Mikayla has been joining in with added enthusiasm since we met the butterflies on the deck of the pirate ship. 

Back on shore, the children imagine they are sitting on the sand looking at the lapping waves as they breathe in and sigh out “peeaaaaccceeeee”. The teacher observes Aiden, and how deeply meditative he looks whilst doing his peace breath. The week before he had difficulty breathing in the middle of the night with croup, and his mum in desperation asked him to practice some yoga breathing and this is what he did. He calmed right down and was able to settle back to sleep. 

Imogen jumps off her mat to show her teacher her “yoga teacher dolly” that she has named after the yoga teacher. The class taps their feet together to send a message to their brains to relax and prepare for their relaxation time. They do “crossing a bridge pose”, then give their spines a gentle, healing twist whilst lying down singing about a very special rolly, polly bear. 

The lights dim, every toddler, including Mikayla is lying down on their mats now, and the eyebags are handed out. Chloe wants a pink eyebag, and Jarod chooses a froggie one. Zeya already has his eyes closed so the teacher gently places a butterfly eyebag over his eyes. She drapes the silk play scarf over the children, and leads them on a creative visualisation where the ocean water washes away all their worries with every breath out. When the song has finished and the Tibetan Bells have chimed, the children slowly come up to sitting and join a circle. They sing a Goodbye Namaste Yoga song, remind each other of what yoga poses they did and can practice before next week, thank each other and say goodbye. 

The children offer their help rolling up the mats.  Kara, Monique, Kate and Roan call out after the yoga teacher, “Bye Yoga!” as she watches the children bounding outside to play.

They are Little Yogis, every one of them, and a true inspiration.