Welcome to Yoga Sprouts! Child & Caregiver Yoga Adventures.  The Yoga Sprouts method is designed to share the benefits of yoga with young children and their caregivers.  As an off-shoot of Lotus Roots Kundalini Yoga, Yoga Sprouts reaches out to our youngest yogis.  These classes are geared toward children ages 2 and up, but even younger yogis will have fun with the animal poses, songs, and movement that Yoga Sprouts offers.

This website is designed primarily to highlight and celebrate the joy and benefits of yoga for young people.  Please visit the Photo Gallery to see pictures of blissful children and adults from various classes over the years.  Teaching our youth is a great joy to me, and I honor and respect everyone who has attended a Yoga Sprouts class in the past, present, and future! For more information please contact us or visit Lotus Roots Kundalini Yoga homepage. Thank you!

Katie Marie Muschlewski teaches Kundalini Yoga to all ages and abilities in the Madison, Wisconsin area.  She founded Lotus Roots Kundalini Yoga in 2005 and launched her Yoga Sprouts! Child & Caregiver Yoga Adventures in 2007.  As a mother, she finds yoga to be an important part of her family's life.  Teaching our children relaxation and stress-relief techniques will help them throughout their lives.  Yoga has so many benefits on our internal systems.  We can balance our metabolism, stimulate the nervous system, expand the respiratory system, and so much more!  Yoga is calming, and it helps us tune inward to explore who we really are.  For this reason our mantra in Kundalini Yoga is Sat Nam or True Name.  We hope to inspire you to share yoga with the children in your life.  Plant the seed let your Self blossom! 

Yoga Sprouts! Child & Caregiver Yoga Adventures Book 1

Our fist yoga manual was completed in summer 2009!  Here is a sneak peak!

Excerpt from:  Yoga Sprouts! Child & Caregiver Yoga Adventures  by, Katie Marie Muschlewski 2009

Garden Adventure

 

Do you have a garden?  Many wonderful plants and creatures live in gardens.  Plants and flowers are very important.  They remind us to stay rooted in the earth, connected and grounded in all that is.  They also remind us about the importance of the breath.  Flowers and all plants help us breathe by recycling the air we breathe out and turning it into oxygen for us to breathe in.

 

Flower Pose

Sit comfortably with the legs crossed and the spine straight (fig. 2.1).  Lift the lower back, and lift the chest.  Roll your shoulders back, and relax the muscles in your neck and shoulders.  Pull your chin in with the head level.  Great job! This is Flower pose or Lotus Pose.

 

  

Figure 2.1                                                     Figure 2.2

 

Imagine you are a beautiful flower planted in the cool earth, and you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face.  Smile at the sun.  Feel a little breeze tickle your cheek (parents or caregivers can softly blow on the child’s cheek).  Take a deep breath in and hold it in gently.  Good!  Now let that breath out, and hold it out gently.  Relax.

 

Belly Breathing

Place your hands on your belly (fig. 2.2).  Breathe in deeply through your nose; feel your belly push your hands away from your body.  Good! Gently breathe out through your nose as you pull in your tummy.  Continue this long, deep breathing.  Close your eyes.  Feel your body relax as you breathe in and out.  Listen to the breath, feel its rhythm as you breathe in and out, like the waves of the ocean rolling up onto the shore and pulling away again.

Tuning-In

Sitting in Flower Pose, let’s bring the palms together at your chest, elbows up and out at the sides.  Close your eyes.  Press your hands to your heart and breathe in deeply with belly breathes.  After three deep breathes sing the letter “O.” (Or you may sing the Yoga Sprouts Name Song.)  This tells our body that it is time to do yoga.  Sing “O” three times and then sit and listen to your belly breathing.  Now rub your palms together and slowly open your eyes.  Well done!

 

Let’s Go on an Adventure!  Today we are going to explore the Garden!  I love gardening in the sun.  Have you ever planted a seed and watched it grow?  When we do yoga, we are planting seeds inside ourselves to live out our truth today and every day!  Let’s get started!

 

Seed Pose

Let’s plant a new seed in our garden.  Sit on your heels in a kneeling position.  Take in a deep breath, lift your arms up overhead, and stretch up with your spine.  Good! Now bend forward at the waist and lower you forehead to the ground as you breathe out.  Slide your hands back by your feet, palms up.  Relax the breath.  Imagine you are a baby seed buried in the earth.  Feel safe and secure in your dirt home.

 

I hear a thunder cloud rolling along the sky. (Parents clap.)  A soft rain is starting to fall.  Feel the raindrops falling on you, giving you strength and nourishment to grow. (Parents gently tap the children’s backs with a light, rhythmic touch of the fingertips.)

 

The rain is falling harder now, soaking the earth. Bring your hands out in front of you and pat the floor.  Hear the pitter-patter of the raindrops; as they fall faster, pat faster. Excellent! The rain has stopped. 

 

Sprouting Pose

Still in our seed pose, stretch the arms in front of you, stretching the shoulders and upper back.  Your seed is sprouting!  Feel the warmth of the sun awaken the little seedling.  Slide your hands back by your knees and slowly push your self up as you rise up out of the earth.  Stretch the arms up high, breathing in, and lengthening your spine. Breathe out as you sweep the arms down.