A week of yoga play

MOUNTAIN:
Picture a mountain in your mind's eye.
When you imagine or see a mountain, consider its characteristics. When you stand or sit in mountain, don't just put your body into the pose, put the qualities of the mountain into your body, your mind and your heart, too. You could even imagine you are a mountain when you are lying down. Try mountain pose whenever you need to feel strong and confident, solid, magnificent or majestic.
Benefits:
Mountain is a pose of alignment and strength. It strengthens muscles throughout the body (and mind) and creates good posture. This helps build confidence, self-esteem, focus and concentration.
Affirmation:
I am like a mountain. I am solid, majestic, magnificent and confident.
To Do:
You could research mountains. Find pictures or draw pictures. You could discuss the qualities of a mountain and consider how you could embody those qualities.

POSE AT A GLANCE:
1. Place both feet solidly on the floor. Keep your arms at your side or place hands in Namaste (Prayer position) at your heart centre.
2. For Mountain with Peak, keep your feet solidly on the floor and take your arms above your head, hands parallel or together in Namaste.

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Mountain

Mountain with Peak

IT'S IN THE DETAILS:
1. Stand with your feet placed side by side, solidly on the ground. Your arms may be at your side or your hands may be in Namaste (Prayer position) at your heart centre.
2. Breathe in, allowing your head to float towards the sky. Feel your spine lengthen. Breathe out and feel solid and stable. Soften your knees (don't bend, just loosen them).
3. Your spine, the bumpy part on your back, is made up of vertebrae. Each vertebra is like a building block. Breathe in and imagine you are placing each of your vertebra (building blocks) one on top of the other. Breathe out and feel them stacked carefully in a tall, strong line. Be careful not to zig zag your vertebrae blocks. To build the strongest tower, it is important to stack carefully.
4. Breathe in and raise your arms above your head, stretch up tall with your hands parallel or in Namaste to make Mountain with Peak. Breathe out and relax your shoulders down from your ears.
5. Feel tall, strong, confident and magnificent. Feel like a mountain.

BREATH PLAY:
Think of your nostrils (nose) as a mountain. Breathe in taking your breath to the top of the mountain. Imagine there is a castle there and you pause to visit. Breathe out and imagine your breath is coming down the mountain. There's a lake at the bottom of your mountain. Pause to watch the ducks swim. Then repeat. Breathe in, taking your breath up, up, up. Pause at the castle. Breathe out, bringing your breath down, down, down. Pause at the lake again before you start up again. Be very mindful (aware) of your breath as it causes your belly to move UP (as you breathe in) and DOWN (as you breathe out).

BOOKS:
A Boy and A Bear (Lori Lite)
Walk on the Wild Side (Nicholas Oldland)

SONG:
Teach your child the Bear Goes Over the Mountain song and have fun all day long!
The bear goes over the mountain,
The bear goes over the mountain,
The bear goes over the mountain
To see what he could see....
To see what he could see, to see what he could see,
The bear goes over the mountain, the bear goes over the mountain, the bear goes over the mountain, to see what he could see.

 A RELAXING JOURNEY INTO THE IMAGINATION: (speak slowly and softly, pausing to evoke calm)
Help your body get comfortable by lying down on your back with your arms and legs loose beside you. (If lying on your side or your tummy is better for you, then do that.) Close your eyes and pay attention to your breath. Feel it coming in and going out, in and out through your nose. Just relax. Let go of anything that might be bothering you, any thoughts, any tightness. Now in your mind's eye (your imagination) see a garden gate in front of you. This is your gate so it can look any way you wish it to. When you are ready, open the gate and walk into your imagination. There is a path before you and you begin to walk along it. There is a stream to one side and a meadow on the other. Your path is in between. Soon you are in a forest. Smell the scent of the pine trees. Listen to the sound of the water tripping over pebbles in the nearby stream. Leaves and sticks crunch under your feet. Woodland animals are scurrying about. Your body begins to feel warmer as a splash of sunlight shimmers along the path between the trees. Suddenly you realize you are walking up, up, up. The path is taking you higher. You are on a trail leading to the top of a mountain. There are no longer trees around you. Just clear, clean blue sky. The air is fresh and crisp. You feel it on your skin. You feel it going in an out of your nose. You hear a wind chime in the distance. You are so relaxed. When you come to a place that looks just right in your imagination, sit or lie down and feel the warmth of the sun on your body. Breathe in. Breathe out. R E L A X. Feel your breath going in and out. See your breath as a colour or anything that seems right to you. Listen to the sounds of the mountain. What do you hear, a waterfall, a wind chime, birds, whispering leaves? SILENCE. Feel the energy of the earth and the sky, the warmth of the sun, the rippling breeze, the soft grass or smooth rocks beneath you. R E L A X. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out......Now it is time to continue your journey in your imagination. Slowly begin to walk down the path through the scented forest, down the path beside the bubbling brook, all the way back to the garden gate. When you are ready to leave this place of peace and relaxation you may open the gate, knowing when you do so you will be back in this room. But you can bring the feeling of peace and contentment with you. The mountain with its peace and contentment, strength and confidence live inside of you. You can go there anytime you want. Now slowly begin to wiggle your fingers and wiggle your toes. Wiggle your shoulders and wiggle your nose. Stretch and roll over to one side and rest there for another moment until you are ready to sit up tall feeling so calm, so peaceful, so relaxed.

MINDFUL MOMENTS:
Take a moment to listen to the sounds around you. List them, write them down or just bring them to each others attention. Make a practice of being aware of the sounds around you. Set a clock or your phone or other device to chime at random times or every hour or whatever you are able to do. When you and your child hear the sound, stop what you are doing and just breathe. Take 2 or 3 deep breaths through your nose and then resume your activity.