Joy, Laughter, Relaxation and Sparks of Creativity: Results You May See From Mindful Little Yogis
by dana dyksterhuis
Mindful Little Yogis
In our mission to bring the benefits of mindfulness to households, it has been incredible to connect with Nicola Harvey here in London, the founder of Mindful Nicstars and author of Mindful Little Yogis: Self-Regulation Tools to Empower Kids with Special Needs to Breathe and Relax.
Nicola has been an incredible advocate, mover and shaker when it comes to helping children from all walks of life through mindfulness, and we are honoured to have found her.
We also have a copy of Nicola’s book, “Mindful Little Yogis” and want to share how wonderful it is with as many people as we can. It’s a beautiful book that parents, aunts, uncles, caretakers and teachers can read, in order to learn how to integrate fun, mindful activities into the lives of children.
The chapters include (but are not limited to) “Take a Breath” with guidance on Sensory, Animal Breathing and Shape Breathing, with guidance on Sensory Yoga, Emotional Intelligence and LEGO Based Therapy. Also, Positive Strategies, Reflections and Resources.
“Mindful Little Yogis Is For Everyone!”
Mindful Little Yogis is truly for everyone. Any family, classroom and household can utilise these techniques. The tips and guidance even work great for every day parenting situations such as calming down time before bed, times for when you want your child to “Please listen” and many other situations including when you just want to bond and need fun activities to do!
Animal Breathing Mindfulness Techniques
Here are some “Animal Breathing” examples with my son! He absolutely loves doing these. So much so, he invented his own animal breath, “Penguin Breath” as seen below. One thing is always consistent… Yoga and mindful activities like these that I do with him are never a chore and the funny (and great) thing is, is that sometimes when I’m feeling stressed out, he’ll come to me to say we need to do some breathing. He’s only 4-years-old, but he recognises that I need to breathe and helps me with it… How great is that?!
Lion’s Breath
“Release pent-up energy, including stress, anxiety and anger from the upper body.
Fish Breath
“Take a big, deep breath, puff the cheeks like a fish, and slowly exhale with short bursts making ‘bloop’ sounds like a fish!”
Dog Breath
“Pant like a dog to release negative emotions, stimulates the senses, alerts the mind and body.”
Whale Breath
“Cup your hands and place a ‘whale blowhole’ over your head to breathe through. Releases tension in the neck and shoulders, calms and refocuses the mind.”
Penguin Breath
A new technique created by my son during our “Animal Breath” activity! Mindfulness and yoga encourages creativity and here’s just one example as to how!
There are so many wonderful benefits to mindfulness and yoga, including learning how to breathe, having fun and connecting with your loved ones. Mindful Little Yogis is a wonderful book to give inspiration and guidance, and we look forward to more from Nicola!
To read more about what we do at HERE, click on the button below!
Dana and Jen x
