Beijing: November 21 – 24, 2019

Workshop at Iyengar Yogashala, Beijing, China.

Adho Mukha Svanasana. Work this way to roll the tops of the inner thighs back, draw the anterior lumbar spine back and up, and release the posterior lumbar spine down. This is extremely helpful for those with low back compression or pain.

Adho Mukha Baddha Konasana with Three Blocks. This is the biggest hip opener ever!

The wide leg poses access space in the pelvic region, facilitate mobility in the hip joints, and supports health for women’s reproductive systems.

Half Padmasana with a figure of eight belt holding it all together.

Nirlamba Sarvangasana is particularly helpful for women. It reduces hot flashes, helps relax a tense throat and stimulates the thyroid.

The Chinese Translation of Watch Me Do Yoga! The English text is retained along side of the Mandarin.

Ming’s nieces practicing their version of Padmasana.

Tadasana with attitude – practicing along with my book.

Kids the world over love Lion Pose!

Yoga for Breast Care – Chinese translation!.

The Chinese students are enthusiastic about selfies, and will stop at nothing to get their picture taken with the teacher.

This Chinese “mudra” means love, I think.

My favorite pic of all time. This young student took my entire workshop in that outfit.

 

© 2020 Bobby Clennell.

Not Only Kidding

It can be quite serious work doing yoga, but these kids are up to the challenge.

Sit up straight and concentrate. Ava Tyler sent this photo with the caption “An apple doesn’t fall far far from the tree.”

Ellen from Swanage, Dorset, UK stretches her legs and pushes against the floor with her hands.

Two trees growing tall. Iyengar yoga teacher Amy Van Mui’s daughter — and a friend — know that it’s important to maintain focus when you attempt Vrksasana.

When Annie Beatty’s kids were young, they worked hard making triangles in the yard.

Iyengar yoga teachers Matt Dreyfus and Michelle LaRue’s daughter has been immersed in yoga all her life. “6 years old — just decided to get some props and do a little viparita dandasana…”

Concentrated study: Ellen, granddaughter of Carlotta Barrow from Swanage Dorset UK,  is using my book as a text.

A bolsters helps open 3 year old Kori’s lungs as she breathes deep while practicing Baddha Konasana. Her grandmother Kiha Lee is a Int Jr 3 Iyengar Yoga teacher.

Now a teen, Annie Beatty’s oldest attends a teen class “which often involves lots of laughing in between some good work and some great relaxation.”

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve forgotten your child’s name, or the parent or grandparent who sent in the photo, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

©2018 Bobby Clennell.

Hanging around with the kids

A yoga studio can be like a playground to young yoga practitioners. Their imagination can lead to some interesting set ups.

2-year-old Charli Jane came up with this set up all on her own. She likes to check out the ropes and props in her grandmother’s home studio, Toronto based Iyengar yoga teacher Brigitta Ortner.

Martín hangs out at Natural Yoga in Bogotá, Colombia.

Vickie Ewell’s granddaughter Marley likes to use the rope wall when she stretches. Vickie is director at The Yoga Loft in the Village in Sheffield, Ohio.

Balance with a wall, grab a brick, or hold a rope. It’s all fun. Kelly Biondo teaches at Namaskara Estúdio de Yoga in São Paulo, Brazil. Her young friends, Cauê (3), and brothers Noah (5) and Gabriel (6), all have moms who teach Iyengar yoga. What a great start.

Charli Jane has found a fun way to use the ropes, too.

Even relaxation can inspire an elaborate set up…

…but sometimes all you need is a folded blanket under your head.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve forgotten your child’s name, or the parent or grandparent who sent in the photo, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

©2017 Bobby Clennell.

Kids Love Yoga

Yoga is fun to do all by yourself…

Six-year-old Marley, daughter of certified Iyengar Yoga teacher Vicky Elwell, expresses the sheer joy of tickling her toes with her hair: Rajakapotasana (King of Pigeons). Vicky’s studio, the Yoga Loft, is in Sheffield  Village, Ohio.

Playing on the ropes in the big kids playroom Adho Mukna Svanasana on the Ropes (Downward Facing Dog Pose).

… or with friends

Will these trees sway in the breeze: Vriksanana (Tree Pose)? Or be strong and steady, like a triangle: Uttitha Trikonasana? Helena and Irene Ortiz practicing with me at Natural Yoga, Bogota, Columbia. Photo by by their mother, Ilse Bedolla.

Curl up and around, or stretch up to the sky: Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana (Upward Facing Interlocked Fingers Pose) from Sukhasana (Simple Cross Legs Pose).

Didi Hall’s grandson has an exquisite sense of balance. And his tree (Vriksanana) grows in unusual soil: Kurmasana (Tortoise Pose)! Didi teaches at The Yoga Center Toronto.

Stand tall like a tree, with your roots in the ground and your leaves reaching for the sky.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve forgotten your child’s name, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

© 2017 Bobby Clennell.

Yoga, Kids and Play

For kids, yoga-time and play-time are sometimes indistinguishable.

Adho Mukha Svanasana – Downward Facing Dog Pose. Hey, who put this floor down here? Sonalli Kurlekar sent this photo in of her daughter.

This is Martine from Bogota, Colombia. How much fun it is push into Upward Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana) on a soft, furry rug.

Dandasana – Staff Pose. I see ten toes!

This is one of the original pencil sketches from Watch Me Do Yoga.

Now this is what I call a real Tree Pose (Adho Mukha Vriksasana)!

Madeline Cook is only two-years-old, but she has yoga in her blood: both of her grandmothers are yoga teachers.

Here is Madeline’s older sister, five-year-old Amelia. Amelia loves looking at books about yoga, and likes to learn (and pronounce) the Sanskrit names of the poses she copies from the illustrations. Recently, her grandmother Leah Bray Nichols (Evergreen Yoga, Memphis) found her “reading yoga books to Madeline. Looks like teaching yoga runs in the family!”

Neither of the girls has been to a kids class. Just reading, playing and doing. Leah says that when she cleans her studio,” I take them with me and they play on the ropes and make-up poses and make forts with the props.”

Here is Francesca, daughter of Lara Warren who teaches at the Iyengar Yoga Institutes, of New York, and Brooklyn. The exuberance of this pose says it all! The rope wall was installed by Lee Christie-Irvine.

Vicky Ewell’s five-year-old granddaughter Marley lifts her chest high and moves her dorsal spine in as she pushes up into a a backbend (Urdhva Dhanurasana) in front of her pink princess tent. Vicky’s studio, the Yoga Loft, is in Sheffield  Village, Ohio.

Fern likes to create her own poses. This one was sent in by Suzie Dodd, “I call it Fernasana!”

These knees are sure to please. Halasana – Plow Pose.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve forgotten your child’s name, or the parent or grandparent who sent in the photo, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

©2017 Bobby Clennell.

Starting Small — Kids and Yoga

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve forgotten your child’s name, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

Push, push, push up into Chaturanga Dandasana. It’s good to start young.

This little girl is trying to touch the sky with her toes. Her grandmother, Iyengar teacher, Vickie Elwell says, “my girl joined me in my yoga practice today.”

Daniela De Nicola took this photo: Even toys love to do headstand.

Here is Michelle from Jakarta pushing up like a wheel…

…and practicing Full Arm Balance with legs wide. What fun!

While her little sister reads Watch Me Do Yoga and thinks about which pose she should practice next.

 

Child’s Pose looks interesting…

… but maybe I’ll practice Savasana, just like Teddy.

© 2016 Bobby Clennell.

new kids love yoga blog

Kids getting inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga.

Amber and Webber from Taipei, Taiwan. We’re excited!

Let’s get started.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose).

Roar like a lion!! Simhasana (Lion Pose).

Let’s be tortioses…

…and pull our heads into our shells -Kurmasana.

Cool down in Adho Mukha Virasana (Child’s Pose).

Savasana: Time to relax…

…like Teddy!

 

And here’s the advanced class using The Woman’s Yoga Book as a reference.

“Ivan decided he had practiced yoga for kids quite enough and turned his curious mind to Bobby Clennell’s brilliant The Woman’s Yoga Book”, says his Mother Julia Zabrodina from St. Petersburg, Russia.

Parsva Swastikasana…

….with Head On A Chair.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in. I try my best to correctly credit all the photos, but if I’ve fogotten your child’s name, please send it to me, and I’ll update the post.

Kids Love Savasana

Savasana (Relaxation Pose) is not just about lying around

We will begin with a few restorative poses. These setups were all done by the kids themselves.

This is 4½-year-old came with her mother to a morning class at the Iyengar Yoga Center Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv taught by Gabi Doren. “She was amazing! I asked her to be my assistant and she took it very seriously. She demonstrated all the poses.” Here she is in Supta Baddha Konasana.

Next up, Chair Sarvangasana (shoulder stand). Make sure your hips are secure on the chair seat. Notice how this young student holds the chair legs to stop her sliding off the chair.

Donna Pointer’s granddaughter.

Bhishmasana, it’s  sort of like savasana on stilts.

Is everybody ready for Savasana? Place yourself very carefully in the center of your mat. Let your arms become limp and floppy, like perfectly cooked spaghetti.

Here is Eleana, daughter of Michelle la Rue and Matt Dreyfus, who both teach at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York. Photo by Bobby Clennell. She set herself up with the legs elevated, and a bolster just touching her head.

Completely relax your legs.  Covering the eyes can help you become still and quiet.

Sue Fazoli’s daughter loves going to Mom’s classes, at the yoga studio in Chile.

This little girl at a restorative class at Natural Yoga, Bogotá, Colombia, was not quite in the center of her mat.

Close your eyes and let the head feel soft.

This little boy interpreted, very much in his own way, how to use a mat for Savasana. The class took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

……shhhh.

Galia Yogawalla took this photo last July on her yearly visit to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI), Pune. Here are her twins Amitai & Leela, 8 months at the time, in the asana hall.

See if you can find Savasana in my picture book Watch Me Do Yoga.

© 2014 Bobby Clennell

Kids Love Yoga

Learning…

Hmm… where to start? I think I’ll look for a new pose.

Stella at the 1st Yoga Open Health Fair sponsered by the local news stations in Denver, reading Watch Me Do Yoga. Photo sent in by Iyengar Yoga Denver.

…and Doing

OK. Now that we’ve hit the books, let’s get started!

Barbara Harris says of her 7-month-old great-granddaughter Ava, “She doesn’t know that this is Triang Mukhaikapada. She just knows her body does it.” Barbara teaches at the Boise Yoga Center in Idaho with Vickie Aldridge.

 

“Jo did this all by herself this afternoon. Unrolled the mat and went straight to downward-facing dog,” says Alexis Lombard Niceley of this photo taken by her mom, Janice Irwin.

And what do kids always do next? They raise their leg in the air! This is 劉庭安 (Amber Liu), from Taiwan. Photo by her father 劉威志 (Akko Liu) from Mix & Match Your Day.

Here’s Bonnie Yonker’s daughter Maya proving my point: Downward Facing Dog Pose with the Leg Raised. Bonnie runs the Yoga Sanctuary in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Ardha Chandrasana (Half-Moon Pose). She’s good!

Fern in one-handed Urdhva Dhanurasana. Photo by Suzy Dodd

6-year-old Acelin in Roxbury, upstate New York has found a novel way of working with props…

…and his sister, 2-year-old Elsa raises a block.

The Queen of Hearts.

Pamy Lieu sent this photo of 2-year-old Aiden from Kuala Lumpur. “Spidey boy loves the ropes!”

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos of their kids who were inspired by my book, Watch Me Do Yoga; please keep sending them in.

© 2014 Bobby Clennell.

Theory and practice

Step one: theory

Kids really love books. They don’t just read them. They study them. They look at the pictures. They trace the words with their fingers. And they do it again and again, until they know them by heart.

Ilene Cohen sent this photo of her niece studying Tree Pose (Vrksasana).

Author and editor Jessica Berger Gross sent in this photo of her son Lucien studying the relative merits of Upward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana).

Finger pose helps you read!

Step two: practice

Reading only get’s you so far; there comes a time when you must do.

Nepal (8), Shaked (11) and Thohar (11) all practice yoga at the Iyengar Yoga Jerusalem Center. Their teacher, Shirli Nada Michalevicz, had this to say about teaching them:

As adults, we rarely do what we are taught to do since we are so stuck in memories of past pains or fears of the future. The girls teach me what real intelligence is through their capacity to be PRESENT. It has been a real gift of learning to teach them.

Thanks to everyone who has sent photos of kids doing yoga, and kids with my book, Watch Me Do Yoga. Please keep them coming.

© 2013 Bobby Clennell.