Class Plan
Title / AgeTheme on the Energy Centres of our Body. / Yoga’d Up 8-12 Years
Additional Resources
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Breathing and Warm Up:
Select some breath work and a warm up from the manual provided at your training.
Theme:
The ancient sages, who studied the philosophy of yoga, believed that the energy of the body is controlled by seven energy centres or chakras. They are located through our spine to the crown of our head. They represent doorways to our awareness and consciousness. When these centres work together we feel balanced, happy and at peace with ourselves.
It is our job to awaken the serpent energy that sleeps in the base of our spine and allow it to rise up through our body to connect with our mind. Each chakra corresponds to a mantra or sound that creates no image in the mind. You may like to ask the children to repeat the sound mentally to themselves three times whilst holding the pose. You may choose to link each chakra with a Vinyasa of Dog, Plank, Up Dogand jump or step through between the hands to sitting or standing.
1.Muladhara Chakrais the centre for instinctual energy - what we need to eat and where we are going to get it! (Not from Sainsbury)! It represents our basic needs for food safety and shelter. It is located at the very base of our spine.
In order to awaken this energy we can lift ourselves off the floor from lotus position. By dropping down on the seat, it is believed we stir the serpent from her sleep. Seated forward bend too is believed to stimulate the energy in the Muladhara Chakra. The mantra for this chakra is Lam.
2. Svadhisthana Chakra is located three fingers below our navel and its energy is for creation and relationships.
Head toKnee pose and lying Half Hero pose are believed to stimulate energy in this area of the body.
The mantra for this chakra is Vam.
3. Manipura Chakra is believed to be the centre for digestive energy. It is where our true identity is meant to originate.
The sound for this chakra is Ram.
4. Anahata Chakra is the centre for compassion, love and understanding. We become less self centred and look more to helping others. This is our centre for transformation and supports the heart, lungs, respiratory and circulatory systems.
Postures that work on this centre are all linked with the back arching poses.Camel, Bow,TriangleandWheelall have a powerful effect of opening the chest and heart centre.
These postures should be counter postured with child pose or lying on the back and hugging the knees/rocking side to side and backwards and forwards.
The sound for this chakra is Yam.
5. Visuddha Chakra is the centre for the energy of communication. It represents our seat of intellectual understanding.
Postures that stimulate this centre are those used in the shoulder stand sequence. It is however important to tell the children not to turn their heads whilst in the posture and to use the wall for support if they are at all uncertain. (There is some controversy as to whether girls should do inverted postures when they are menstruating. In order to avoid them feeling embarrassed, suggest an alternative pose of taking their legs up the wall). Those that would like to can do Plough pose and then takes knees to ears. (If some children are very stiff in their hamstrings they can either rest their legs on a chair or take a wide legged version of Plough.
The mantra for this chakra is Hum.
Ajna Chakra is the centre for intuition and perception and is located between the eyes.
The posture that works on the energy for this centre is headstand. Once again this should be approached with respect. The most important rule is where the weight should be on the top of the head. One of the best ways to identify this is to follow a line up from the tip of the ears. It is at that point on the head where we focus our balance. Headstand should not be introduced in the early classes and this theme would be suitable anyway to a class towards the end of the course. Children can be helped to understand the dynamics of the pose by using the wall initially to support themselves and by taking the weight of their legs on the elbows. (Three point headstand). Once they come down the children should rest for about 10 breaths in Child pose.
The mantra for this chakra is Om.
Sahasrara Chakra is the centre for enlightenment.
This is believed to be when the serpent reaches the crown of the head and becomes a thousand Petalled Lotus Flower.
Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose):If the position of the front foot is incorrect in this posture, the balance will be affected and the hip will push out and the posture will look very untidy and unbalanced.Take the children from Vira 11 into Ardha Chandrasanana and emphasise the importance of pressing firmly down into the big toe and the little toe and heel. Children can practice this posture together using a wall if possible or alternatively supporting one another from the hip area.
Repeat on the other side.
Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend): Although this posture is very straight forward, if you lean back into your heels it puts un necessary strain on the lower back. The weight should be evenly distributed between the ball of the foot and the toes and the heels.Demonstrate how bending the knees to 90 degrees and leaning over the thighs takes all strain out of the lower back and is a deeply restful posture.
Virasana (Hero Pose): Children can work together on this one and if necessary they can sit on their heels if they are unable to sit between them with their knees together.Carefully demonstrate how to get into the posture and the importance of parting the calf muscles to ensure that the knees are properly protected at all times.
Ask the children to interlace their fingers as one of them extends their arms in line with their ears.Their partner can stand behind and squeeze their elbows together to create extension in the arms whilst gently pressing a knee between their shoulders.
Repeat with hands interlaced in the other grip and then change for other child to take part.
Flying Ustrasana (Camel): Partner one has their knees hip width apart facing away from their partner and partner two lies on their back and places their feet on their partner’s shoulder blades (see manual for further instruction). Partner two takes partner 1’s arms and tries the pose with palms turning out and palms turning in to see how this works and aligns the shoulders.By placing the heels at the base of the shoulders you can lift the chest as you gently draw your partner’s arms towards you whilst lying on the floor.Notice how by lengthening the spine through the heels, you increase the arch and stretch.Repeat with other partner.
Partner Janu Sirsasana (Head to Knee Pose): Children can change partners (move around to the right or stay with the same one).Seated opposite one another, they mirror image one another with knee bent.The advantage of doing this pose together is to find length down both sides of the body and to bring the shoulders level and into alignment. You as the teacher could demonstrate what tends to happen when we practice this posture on our own.Ensure that you repeat on both sides for about 8 breaths.
Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend): This posture can be performed together as a partner sequence emphasising the pressure on each other’s feet to engage the thighs or alternatively solo.In either case it is vital to identify the position of the feet with toes flexed to the ceiling to ensure thighs work together to support the lower back. Show variations in foot positioning and how this affects the pose.
Relaxation and Visualisation:
After the children have been prepared for relaxation the chakras can be used for visualisation of colours, like those of the rainbow with muladhara being red, svadisthana being orange, manipura being yellow, anahata being green, visuddha being blue, ajna being indigo and sahasrara being voilet. The children can visualise the energy of these colours flowing through their bodies.
Postures that stimulate this energy centre are seated spinal twist (arha matsyendrasana). The combining effect of the breath and the twist helps to massage the internal organs and improve digestion. Cow head and two fists pressing into the solar plexus area, as the child does a forward bend over their knees, can also aid digestive function.
Game: 10 mins
Choose a game from the games manual.
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Theme on the energy centres of our body Class Plan