Dad/baby Tantric

[Guest guest]

Dear Sat Sangeet

 

My daughter, 2 years 10 months joins me in yoga every day.

 

When she was only 6 months old she was doing the breath of fire. I would

practice yoga, and she would join in with the breath of fire.

 

One time Sunder Singh Khalsa was here in Bangkok teaching a teacher training

couse for 15 students in my apartment, and he started the class with a

mantra where everyone held their arms at 60 degrees and chanted. My

daughter was also there, and for the next few days, she would also go sit on

the couch and cross her legs and put her arms up and try to make the sound

of the chant.

 

Mostly she likes the yoga for the sake of a ride on my back, for example, if

I'm doing a series of life nerve stretchs, especially holding the toes,

spine straight and going down and up, or going from cobra to cat to pranam

to cat to cobra. It's a kind of baby/Dad Tantric.

 

There are a number of postures she will join in on as well, such as a life

nerve stretch with one foot against the thigh, or recently standing on one

foot, ending the other leg at the knee, grasping the ankle and leaning

slightly forward, while stretching the leg back. Sometimes she'll join in

on stretch pose, raising her legs, arms and head and doing the breath of

fire. Recently she joined in on an excersize to open the heart center,

where you sit cross legged, spone straight, lean back slightly with arms at

about 45 degrees in front, then lean forwards leading with the chest (heart)

and throwing the arms back, very easily inhale forward, exhale back to the

music of Ra a Da Sa Sa Say So Hung.

 

She also figured out one day how to do Venus lock, just from watching, and

uses it all the time in various exersises

 

Other times, when I'm doing some pranayama, she just sits on my lap, or she

lays down and takes a nap, as the pranayama may last some time.

 

She also likes to join in on long "Ek Ong Kar" and others.

 

All this to say that it may be that when you let your children join in as

and when they want, then they will want to join in more and more.

 

The light of consciousness that pours out of all of us, pulsing with the

sense of "I as I" is also known as Love. The love for one's child has no

conditions, so when you practice and your baby joins in, you discover that

the pranic energy you generate becomes suffused with love, and shakti

converts to bhakti spontaneously.

 

Children have a clean slate, like a camera that is looking for images to

imprint. If you are practicing yoga and your children join in in any way,

then they have an exceedingly happy experience, as do you, of yoga and

satsangat.

 

Pieter

-

<Kundaliniyoga>

<Kundaliniyoga>

Friday, January 17, 2003 7:41 PM

Digest Number 1407

 

 

Message: 8

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 22:57:48 -0000

"satsangeetkaur <satsangeetkaur"

<satsangeetkaur

Children's Yoga??

 

Sat Nam,

 

Can anyone share their experience teaching KY to children under the age of

11?

 

I got my feet wet teaching children for about a 9 month period in the form

of a family class, but what I found was that the mother's had pretty much

dragged their kids there in an attempt to spend time with them doing

something they enjoyed.

 

The kids didn't really resonate with the postures,even modified, they found

them vary challenging and had a hard time settling down, until Long deep

Relaxation.

 

But! the children enjoyed the chanting! which the mother's didn't (too self

conscious, and every other resistance people come up against when they begin

to chant, when it's foreign to them).

 

So I found myself constantly doing this dance between mother's looking for

deep relaxation time and kids ready to take off at any moment. It was a

large gap to bridge.

 

Any advice on what works more effectively?

 

Should kid classes be just that, kids only?

 

Please contact me off line with any advice,

 

Sat Sangeet