Cluvenhagen – “The children have already asked: Shall we say Namasté again today?” Says Gudrun Waschwill. But they are guaranteed to say Namasté again today in the Cluvenhagen day-care center. Tuesday is yoga day in Cluvenhagen. You read that correctly: the children are doing yoga here. Since mid-October.
However, not the entire kindergarten goes to the mat once a week, only the group of girls and boys who will be five years old in this kindergarten year. “Our middle ones. These are the yoga children now, ”says the daycare manager Waschwill. On Tuesdays, not all 16 children come to the large hall of the daycare center at once, but a maximum of six. “In between there is long and extensive ventilation,” reports Sandra Reinhard. She leads the yoga classes (with the support of Gudrun Waschwill) and was trained in a seminar over several weekends in the summer. The community supported the project, accepted the seminar as advanced training and covered the costs.
The kindergarten bought yoga mats from its budget, the colorful meditation cushions were made by a daycare colleague in her home office. Of course, the daycare team considered: “Are we even allowed to do that?” So do yoga in Corona times. Four to six children, two adults, all stay on their mats the whole time and, as mentioned, airing takes place in between. This works out.
Sandra Reinhard started the whole thing with a project week after the autumn break. “The children should be able to try it out: do they want that? Don’t you want that? “
Sandra Reinhard and Gudrun Waschwill both do yoga privately. That’s how they came up with the idea. “At first I couldn’t even imagine: How does it work with children?” Admits Waschwill. Now it works really well. Also because children’s yoga differs from adult yoga, the structure of the lessons is completely different. There are stories for the children in which the exercises are packed. Or the hour is running with songs and music. Many positions for youngsters also differ from those for adults.
“Children aren’t that top-heavy either. You don’t have to explain so much, ”says Sandra Reinhard. “They do it easily and always correctly.” Because, after all, children’s yoga is not a competition. Among other things, it is about movement, breathing and perception exercises, asanas (body positions) and relaxation. Not to forget: fun and wellbeing.
More self-confidence and more self-love, more creativity, better communication skills, a promotion of attention and concentration, a strengthening of all body systems, an increased awareness of nature and the environment – they promise a lot from children’s yoga.
Which, by the way, doesn’t mean more practice time. The yoga class is designed to last 20 minutes, okay then it often turns out to be 45 minutes. “We noticed that it was good to be together,” says Gudrun Waschwill. The children need to exchange ideas with one another, and sometimes someone drops out of the program for a short time. It’s good when you have two teachers. Even if they admit that they had a guilty conscience at first. Two supervisors for four to six children – what an unheard of luxury.
“But then we saw how good it is for the children,” says Sandra Reinhard. Children’s yoga is definitely not something for a guilty conscience. “It’s exactly what we have to do.” The girls and boys are enthusiastic about yoga, perhaps because they are allowed to be “tigers” and “lions”. One of the children has never said: “I don’t want to today.” On the other hand, the question has often come up: “Sandra? When will you pick us up for yoga? “
From Jens Wenck
–
