Yoga: Fit for a Princess

“I don't go by the rule book...I lead from the heart, not the head.”

                                                                            ~Princess Diana
                                                                                   

I had the pleasure yesterday of being invited to teach yoga to a group of young ladies at  "Princess Camp" sponsored by  Serenity Health & Fitness/ Juli Kell's Dance Zone. 

Serenity's Princess camp is designed for ages 3-6, and includes dance, (facilitated by Juli Kell) music, art, games & yoga fit for a Princess! I had planned a story, yoga, games & art!  What a wonderful day we all had!

We began with the question of what is so cool about being a Princess? The answers I got were awesome: 'You get to wear pretty clothes",  "You can ride in a carriage", "You can stay up as late as you want", and "You get to help people". We talked about the many ways we can help other people and all of the ways for us to help ourselves too by staying healthy and taking car of our bodies. This was a perfect opportunity not only to teach compassion, but also self care &  self reliance along with Strength, Character & Confidence!

I led these beautiful "Princesses in Training" through a Princess warm up: We pantomimed the actions of putting on stockings and "glass slippers" (and ballet shoes); then we put on our ball gowns & helped each other "zip up" in the back of the gowns-(this brought squeals of laughter from each one of them, and became a brief  tickle fest). We 'put on' gloves, earrings, lipstick and sparkly crowns. (The crowns were real.) We even 'brushed our teeth' and talked about healthy foods and snacks. I told them that a Princess needed to be strong and healthy and take care of herself so that she could be able to help others.

Then we practiced the all important Princess waving-back and forth, left to right , with just fingers, just hands and out whole arms. (We even practiced waving with our feet.)

With our body's warmed up, we then did a posture & breathing exercise-breathing in & reaching up to the stars-grabbing one out of the sky-and reaching down to place it the ground while breathing out.

Then our yoga story began. It was not a story about any princess they would be familiar with at their young ages. It was the story of the beautiful & great huntress and athlete, Atalanta. Originally a Character from Greek Mythology, this story came to life as re-told by children's author  Betty Miles in "Free To Be You and Me". 

The re-told story has a beautiful message of inspiring a sense of self, and breaking free of stereotypes. As I told the girls an age appropriate version of this story, and as we practiced yoga movements along with the story, they lit up and began sharing little parts of themselves and the things they like to do.

We played a movement game, similar to "Red Light Green Light" called "One Two Three Princess Crowns for Me" In which they had to sneak up on me and "capture" my crown. It was actually a game designed to focus attention and to enhance auditory processing. They were so cooperative with each other-taking turns,giggling the whole time,  making sure everyone had a turn and working together to help the more shy players along &  then finally teaming up to "overthrow" me!

Our story ended with quiet music, relaxation, and with each Princess selecting a beautiful Rainbow Star to make a wish: one for themselves and one for another person.


The Princess Camp then went on to include art, a Princess lunch and other fun activities, fit for a princess! To learn more about Serenity Health & Fitness or Juli Kell's Dance Zone, click here.

To learn more about creative movement or to book children's classes by BodyLogique for your camp program please contact Barbara:

Barbara@bodylogique.com