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"Namaste, Mommy."
That's how my daughter Alex came home from her preschool one day last fall. She placed her hands in prayer position in front of her, and bowed deeply.
"Namaste," I responded, following suit. As I stood again, I asked her, "Where did you learn that?"
"From school," Alex answered. "Ms. A taught us."
Alex goes to a very multinational school, and her teacher, Ms. A, is from India. "Do you know what 'namaste' means?"
"Umm.... 'I love you'?" She responded. Close enough, I thought.
Our conversations in the days that followed showed her interest in all things related to Indian culture. She came home and taught me dances she'd learned in school. And since I'd practiced some yoga in the past, I added what little I could to the conversation.
"Mom," she'd say. "Look at my Indian dance moves."
"Those are cool," I said. "Hey, can you do a tree pose?" I'd add, trying to bend my very stiff body into some semblance of Vrksasana. "Like this?" Alex would respond, doing it perfectly. "This is cool. What dance is this?"
"It's yoga," I said. "It's sort of ... exercise, with meditation added. Like praying."
"Cool!"
"Ummm..." I hesitated ... "Would you like to see if I can find a yoga class we could both do?"
"YES!" came her immediate answer. "Mommy! Yes! Let's do yoga together!"
I have to admit, I was so excited about the prospect of doing yoga with her, I immediately began searching for classes online. I loved the idea of doing something that was both physically healthy and meditative with her. In addition, even though we not regular churchgoers, I do teach Alex about faith, and we pray every night. Yoga seemed like another lovely extension to practice our "faith" together, too.
Sadly, my search didn't lead to much. The classes I found in and around our home did not include classes for kids. The classes a little farther away included kids, but started at 6 p.m. or in the middle of the morning during the week -- Alex's bedtime is 7 and she attends preschool, so that wasn't going to do. I did find one that might have worked with our schedule, if it didn't require an hour commute. We have yet to go to a formal class.
Still, we often practice some of the positions that I remember from my classes of yore, and we do try to meditate together every once in a while (although with a 5-year-old, meditation doesn't last for much more than a minute -- 2, if I'm lucky). But I would like to do some more formal yoga training with her. I may be forced to find some sort of DVD that might do the trick and keep her interested, until we can find a formal instructor who can give us more in-depth study about both the physical and spiritual aspects of the practice.
I'd be interested to hear your experiences, though: have any of you ever done yoga with your kids? How old were they? Did you find they had any effect?
Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can read/see more of her work at Chookooloonks.
