and reconnect with their body, breath and sense of peace.
Self-love and acceptance are cornerstones of Katie Hardin’s yoga journey. She’s spent 15 years teaching yoga to people of all ages with the intention of helping each person release judgment and competition while bringing strength and stability in to the mind and body. Recently she has helped Three Trees Yoga partner with Community in Schools to bring yoga and mindfulness to the “littles” doing school in front of a screen.
Imagine your elementary school aged self taking this journey with Katie .
“I focus the first half of the class on getting out the wiggles and supporting the posture after they sit all day at the computer.
We start every class with wiggle wiggle TA Da!sana! It’s a silly way to self express and strike a freeze Tadasana when I say the word. Even the teacher Amelia loves it.
Then we do some more letting go of our emotions with what I call Ganesha breath. We find our soft knees in a wide legged standing squat, create a trunk with our hands together while folding toward the floor. Then we inhale as we lift our trunk to the sky and exhale with a trumpet toward the floor. It’s very cathartic.
Next we go on a little themed yoga asana adventure taking different modes of transport like paddle boats or warrior 3 planes. Along the way we meet some friends like squeaky monkey or his uncle gorilla who beats his chest (improving his immune system) or we pretend we are hissing cobras or roaring lions.
After we sufficiently have opened our silly hearts and lungs and unwound our bodies we spend the last half of class doing a pranayama like alternate nostril breath or 5 finger breath with the mantra I –Am- At – Peace.
We end laying down with our stuffies on our belly giving them a hot air balloon belly breath ride off to an imaginary island where we meet creatures like butterflies or lady bugs who land on our body parts one at a time wishing us peace. We spend time listening to the present moment and having a felt sense of now.
We end it all with a community connection Om and a bow to the love in our hearts.
What could be a more fun way to spend a half an hour?”
Three Trees thanks Katie sharing herself in this much-needed way for our kids learning from home.
