Did your brother or sister bug you this week? Let me guess: yes. Stress knows no age. Upsetting things happen, like fights with siblings, not getting on a sports team, or having to eat something yucky for dinner. It’s really important to learn how to control your feelings of being mad or anxious.
Yoga is a great way to do this - it helps you get over being upset or annoyed. It also helps you focus and strengthen your body so you can do school work and sports better. People have been doing it for thousands of years because it makes them get stronger, heal faster, and relax.
Child’s Pose in Westport can teach you how to do yoga! The best part of this class is that you won’t know you’re learning coping skills or equilibrium exercises (ask your parents what that means) because Carly Walker, “Miss Carly,” makes it so much fun. First of all, the studio is really clean with a cool coastal vibe. I realize this isn’t a gating factor for you, but - trust me - it is for your parents. Second, it’s full of toys! Like the beloved Meddy Teddy who can do interesting poses, a bag of adorable (clean!) stuffed animals, piles o’ pom poms, and darling little birds with curved beaks.
You’ll think you’re having a special playdate with amazing toys, but you’ll actually be learning how to breathe and align your body in important ways. For instance, you’ll reach your hand into the bag… after you’ve washed them… and pluck out an animal. Each animal has its own “yoga pose” such as the peacock, the downward dog, and the cobra. The last pose isn’t as scary as it sounds and her stuffed snake is sparkly and smiling so you’ll forget that real cobras are deadly.
These poses help you focus on stuff other than being mad at someone and also teach you balance which helps strengthen tendons. Tendons are in things like ankles, so it gets the ankles stronger and you can be better at running and jumping.
You also do things like seeing how long you can balance a plastic bird on your hand while you walk on a wobbly surface, and blowing pom-poms over a bump. It’s all helps with the super important mind-body-breath connection.
You can take classes, camps, even birthday parties! Because even though it teaches you something, it’s way fun to do!
Now I have to write stuff for your parents.
Carly is an Ironman racer and marathoner. Her 3-times-a-week yoga routine is essential to “undo damage that racing does” and keeps her body “aligned and injury-free.”
For year she’s tried to convince adults to take yoga. But adults can be stubborn. So she turned to the kids, “If I can get kids to love yoga, that’ll make me happy.”
She got her certification in kids yoga and 200 hours of adult yoga and opened Child’s Pose during the pandemic. The charming studio is tucked behind the Little Barn. So parents can find restorative peace in a Chardonnay or two while Miss Carly is “helping these tiny humans to master the ability to quiet their minds and bodies and tune into how they are feeling emotionally and physically.”
Win-win.