Fly Like a Butterfly: Yoga for Children

I am a mother and a child care provider. I have been interested in yoga for a long time and have purchased some books for myself. When one of the children in my care (5 years old) saw one of my books, she wanted to try some of the postures. I decided to look for a book that would be more appropriate for children. After speaking to the parents about it, I began integrating a little yoga practice into our weekly schedule using this book as a guide. The kids love it! Especially the animal postures! It is easy to follow and fun for them to do. They even like the relaxation and meditation parts of the workout, which I had my doubts about at first (the children in my care are quite active!) I would suggest parents read the book before starting to practice with the kids so that they can help them perform the postures better. Then they can read the book to the kids and follow it with them. The postures are great for children and adults. I love this book. It is simple, to-the-point, and fun. I would reccomend it to anyone who has children or works with children. No prior experience with yoga is necessary. As the 5 year old in my care says: It's really, really easy!

I've been doing yoga with my daughter since she was 3 years old, but this book brought our yoga sessions to a whole new level. She loves doing the yoga out of the book and we can now spend up to an hour picking out our favorite exercises. Shakta's stories really motivate children to work hard and have fun. I strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to begin or improve a yoga practice with children.

I was raised practicing yoga as a child, but was unsure how to incorporate it into my preschool classroom as a teacher. After receiving Shakta Kaur's book as a gift, I decided to try it out. The children LOVED it. Daily yoga classes became so popular that we had to move the class to a larger room. Children 2 1/2 to five participated and learned so much. Postures, breathing techniques, and meditation are all covered in an easy to read and then do way. Parents reported that their children were teaching then yoga at home, proving that in addition to being great for little minds and bodies, yoga also gave the chilren an area of expertise to share with their families. Children of all personality and body types enjoyed the class. High- energy children to quiet ones found a sense of calm and balance through doing yoga from this great book. The correlation made between the poses and animals/transportation/ plants gave every child a visual and sensorial image to connect to the kinesthetic experience of the yoga. A must for any child or classroom!

As a fellow Montessori teacher and yoga lover I was delighted with this book. I have strongly believed that yoga and meditation have an important role to play in children's development and this book re-enforced this for me. The pictures are lovely, with the children dressed in similar white clothing so that the focus well and truly remains on the poses. The descriptions are clear and simple so that they can be easily followed. I am looking forward to trying out the poses and meditation exercises with my students as well as passing them on to friends and colleagues in different places. I would firmly recommend the book to anyone involved with children who would like to broaden their children's spiritual awareness.

I started a yoga class several months ago. To help explain where I was going at night to my 3 year old, I bought this book. The story lines incorporating fun yoga poses tailored to kids has absolutely captivated her. She and her two cousins (8 and 5) were fighting over the book after several hours of "playing yoga." I'm ordering two more!