If you have good thoughts they will always shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. --Roald Dahl

Parenting these days has often become a Type A endeavor. In a quest for their kids' "happiness," parents leave no stone unturned to help their children acquire the skill set needed to be ready for they know not what. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Supreme Court Justice? Trying to be the perfect parent causes so much stress that it actually gets in the way of being a perfect parent! That's why teaching yoga to kids begins with teaching yoga to yourself!

Yoga provides a type of education and activity that goes beyond any Ivy League education. The greatest gift we can give a child is a set of tools for greatness that yoga helps to cultivate. These include discipline, creativity, and learning how to learn. Kids are taught many things in school but there isn't a lot in their curriculum about the working of their own mind or who we ultimately are and why we're here. Kids want answers too and they know when they're being patronized. That's why when we explain the meaning of life it has to resonate with our own experience.

We get so many e-mails, etc. to the tune of: 'What poses are good for kids?' 'What are the rules for teaching Kundalini Yoga to kids?' As they probably say in acting school: It's all about the delivery (and the intention!).

The only Kundalini Yoga techniques contraindicated for kids is Breath of Fire (before age 16) because it prematurely stimulates the pituitary to produce sex hormones. The application of various Body Locks (Root Lock, etc.) are also contraindicated.

One fabulous and fun way to teach Kundalini Yoga to kids is to pick a kriya and then create a story to go along with it. In our Teacher Trainings we ask Teachers-to-be to create a narrative around a Kundalini Yoga kriya. Here's a story from one of our graduates, Mataji Graham. She wrote this as a fun way to experience the set called: Kundalini Yoga for Flexibility and the Spine.

A DAY OF PLAY

It is a beautiful summer day. As you open the back door you feel a warm breeze and there are beautiful puffy white clouds in the deep blue sky. You run up the hill to start your day of play. As you run through the trees you see a pine cone high on a limb. You are an archer (1 Archer Pose). You pull powerfully back on your bow and take aim. You toss aside your imaginary bow and look up at the sky.  You drop to the grass and float on your back on a huge ocean (2 On Back legs up two ft.). You open your eyes and one of the clouds reminds you of a dolphin.  You roll over onto your stomach and imitate a dolphin diving deep into the sea. You lie on your stomach with your hands under you and your feet up in the air (3 Locust Pose). You are diving deep in the ocean like a dolphin. You look back to the sky. Now you are a skydiver. You grab your ankles and you sail through the sky (4 Bow Pose). You feel the breeze and decide you are a strong and powerful windmill (5 Alternate Toe Touches). Your arms become blades slowly rotating in the wind. They reach up, over and down. Now you feel the sun on your face and you are a beautiful sunflower (6 Forward Bend). You reach up with your arms and then bend down. You again feel the breeze as you raise your hands up over your head. Your arms sway in the warm wind (7 Side Bend). As you giggle you fall into the lush grass, your nose is a bee and your toes are flowers you buzz back and forth to gather some golden pollen (8 Sitting legs wide bends). You think wouldn't it be fun if you can create rainbow bubbles. You bring your feet together and grab your toes and move your body like opening and closing a book. (9 Ballistic movement Stretch) imagine that you are creating bubbles of every color. Giggling you end up on your back. You ease your feet back over your head and wiggle your toes in the grass (10 Plow Pose). Still laughing you roll back to the ground and raise your feet high in the sky (11 Shoulder Stand). This is fun so you do it a few times letting your toes touch the horizon, grass, the horizon and the sky (12 Continuous Plow). You now decide to be a rocket blasting off into the atmosphere . You sit on your heels and raise your arms over your head. Your arms hug your ears, your hands are clasped and your index fingers are pointing to the sky (13 Sat Kriya). You smile as you are ready for takeoff. You lower your body forward, head on the ground, your arms still extended with your palms together (14 Gurpranam). As you sit up you see a magnificent eagle flying overhead. You raise your arms up over your head and then lower them to the side (15). You become the eagle flying through the deep blue sky. You stand and think of the oil pump you saw in a field yesterday. You squat down (17) and stand up pretending to be the pump. You think of animals you saw on a farm and fall on to your hands and knees. You make sounds like a cat and cow-Moo, Meow (18 Cat/Cow). Suddenly you are very tired so you rollover on your back and relax (18). After you have rested you skip down the hill back to your house. You slip into the back door thinking what a wonderful day of play you had.

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The gong can also be a highlight for kids at the end of a Kundalini Yoga session. Tell them that they're going to take a trip on the rocket (gong). Then discuss where they'd gone to. The Moon, Las Vegas, and Heaven are some of the popular destinations we've heard!

What matters most in teaching yoga to kids is that we want to give them good associations so that later in life when it's time to get serious about a Spiritual discipline they will look back on their initial experiences with yoga and want to relive those pleasant memories.

When teaching kids trust yourself. The most import aspect of kids yoga is not the quality of your kids practice, but yours. Kids are sensitive antennas. They immediately pick up on hypocrisy but they deeply respond to authenticity. A friend of ours told us a story that took place when he and his brother were very young. They'd stayed with an elderly relative for three weeks. This man would get up very early and do yoga and prayers. Our friend and his brother, being the little terrorists that most 9/10 year olds can be, thought that this was the most hilarious thing they'd ever seen. They made relentless fun of their housemate's yoga practice the whole time they were there. But, 30 years later, our friend has become a very committed yogi and Teacher of Kundalini Yoga himself, and guess what? He cites that elderly relation as one of his 3 most important yogic influences!

We've given so many classes in which there's that one person who is fidgeting the whole time, can't keep their eyes closed for more than five seconds, and who spends most of every exercise not doing the exercise. And after we finally decide "Oh well, we'll never see that person in class again!", they come up to us afterward and say, "That was an amazing class. I feel incredible." Kids may spend much of the class giggling, trying to get attention from or talking to their friends. But in spite of that, theyou're taking it all in. Have no expectations but know that you are planting seeds that will turn into beautiful blossoms!

We have a slightly different format for our ques- tions this month. We asked you on Face- book to let us know what you would like the main article to be about. Well, kids won, but we don't want the rest of your excellent questions to go unanswered so here is Part 1 of our brief answers. Part 2 will be published in September!

Yogi Bhajan said that those of us who live in an urban environment should do Breath of Fire 31 min. per day. If you have adrenal fatigue then it would probably be best to substitute Long Deep Breathing for Breath of Fire, otherwise, there is no maximum time for Breath of Fire. The most important thing to remember is to keep your diaphragm relaxed and let the breath breath you!

There is a psychological component to the breath. When we have difficulty holding the breath in it can indicate deservability issues and when we have trouble holding the breath out it usually signals fear issues. We suggest that you continue to practice the "Minute Breath" (inhale 20 seconds, hold 20 seconds, exhale 20 seconds) and start with 5 and then 10 seconds per segment. Over time you can work up to 20 seconds. With practice this will get easier, and as you master this technique the underlying issues will resolve.      

Chakras please, more information on chakras and what parts/ aspects they influence.

The first chakra relates to the elimination system. The second to the sex glands. The third to the adrenals/solar plexus. The fourth to the thymus gland. The fifth to the thyroid. The sixth to the pituitary. The seventh the pineal. The eighth the aura. The chakras are multi-dimensional crossroads where the physical,metaphysical, energetic, and emotional cross-reference.

Is energetic / meditation work as efficient as asanas? Could i skip the physical part if i do the other side right?

All of the physical work in yoga is meant as preparation for the meditative work. In the context of work on ourselves it's important to do what we're most attracted to and also what we resist. Everyone has elements of the work that they are most in sync with, and can focus primarily on that, but overall it's important to leave no stone unturned.  

There is much misconception and wild surmise about what the definitive Kundalini experience is like. At various times on our Path we will experience energy moving through blocks and waking up various areas of our physical and metaphysical anatomy, but this should not be confused with a Kundalini experience. Most dramatic energy experiences are actually the result of energy hitting blockages. When Kundalini rises, it's not so much about what's happening inside, but what's happening outside, in our lives. We can recognize the Universe and its Grand Design. Our life is a living flow. Creativity and consciousness merge in us. A Kundalini experience is not something that happens once. We do Kundalini Yoga so that kundalini, the energy of our higher potential can rise every day.

Yogi Bhajan's vision is alive and well. He saw that as we move into the Aquarian Age there is going to be a tug of war between the old and new models. The old models are no longer viable and people desperately need guidance for new ways of being. In the organization that Yogi Bhajan created there were many people with many agendas but those who have done their practice and who live their lives to honor Spirit are fulfilling their soul's purpose: using their gifts to heal, uplift, and inspire. Yogi Bhajan's goal was to create a cadre of committed people to usher humanity into a time of great enlightenment. This project is beyond urgent because everything hangs in the balance. Many of you reading this are meant to be important leaders in this great work. There is no higher vocation. If you would like to leave a legacy that will live forever, close your eyes, strengthen your resolve, open your heart, and say to the Universe: I'm ready! Opportunities will be forthcoming. Our job is to be with people where they're at so that we can inspire them to go where they've never been.     

Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine. Your hands are at upper sternum level with the fingers interlaced, forearms parallel with your palms facing down. Your eyes are 1/0 open looking down and in towards the tip of your nose. Your thumbs point straight back with thumbprints meeting. Inhale deeply and chant twice per breath: Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Hari Ram, Sat Sat Sat Sat Sat Sat Nam. Pull your navel at intervals to accent these sounds. 

Comments: When Yogi Bhajan taught this on March 27th, 1978 he explained that it was taught to him on his fifth birthday by his Grandfather, Bhai Fateh Singh. These seed mantras are among the primal sounds of Creation and are used in many ancient practices. As you do this Meditation the inner nectar will start flowing and you won't want to stop. When this experience informs our lives we become free beings because no desire, dark habit, or duality will ever take precedence over the sweetness of this deep resonance. Consider that your children are only young in linear years. They may be ancient souls who are here on a mission. When you teach them techniques like this you are providing them with tools to help them activate their souls' DNA so that they can remember who they are. Then they can help us all to remember who we are too.