Turn off Teletubbies and hand your children a yoga mat

Turn off Teletubbies and hand your children a yoga mat because Wai Lana’s Little Yogis is sure to capture their attention. Through Wai Lana’s gentle style of instruction, kids learn the Butterfly, Warrior Pose, and simplified yoga technique. There is even a giant elephant to help teach different movements. Teachers who want fun ways to build strength and flexibility for the creative movement age levels will find this video handy.

—Dance Teacher magazine, December 2003

Top Pick

We can all benefit from some techniques to reduce tension in our lives—even our kids. The recent popularity of the timeless art of yoga is proving itself to be more than just a fad. Wai Lana, a master yoga instructor who has her own PBS series, teaches children some yoga basics in Wai Lana’s Little Yogis, a mesmerizing video that has proven very fashionable with our kid testers. We’ve owned the video for approximately a month, and my own children pop it in almost daily after school. They love learning the different poses, especially the ones in which they “become” animals.

The video’s customized yoga exercises are explained and demonstrated by Wai Lana, and a group of children follow along. Happily, the kids are quite natural and don’t always perform perfectly—they look like they are having fun. Animations, and often songs, introduce each new activity and pose, such as Making Cake, Relaxation Pose, and Daydream Pose. Kids trumpet like elephants, blow an imaginary flute, and roar like a lion as they learn to get in touch with their bodies and their minds. There are plenty of opportunities to practice balance and coordination. The camel vignette begins with a special stretch as Wai Lana discusses camels with the kids. The Roly-Poly Bear pose involves lying down on the back and rolling slowly from side to side. Kids pretend to be a bear getting ready for his big sleep—hibernation. This exercise would be an excellent pre-bed exercise for kids—it allows kids to stretch and relax as the pose loosens the neck and strengthens the stomach. Helpful tips for better living are included in addition to general suggestions for getting the most out of yoga. The video is available as a stand-alone product or in a kit along with a sponge yoga mat, video tote, and a colorful poster.

The basic yoga poses help children (and any adult following along!) release tension, strengthen their growing bodies, improve their balance, and develop coordination. We are thrilled with the video and feel it belongs in every family’s home. Both the physical and musical backdrops create a relaxing mood and setting, although the video is not without its share of fun. Children can do a yoga dance, roar like a lion, and bake an imaginary cake, for example. Outstanding!

—EdutainingKids.com, November 2003

Top 15 Toys for Kids

Something for everyone on your list

With so many toys to pick from at this time of year, it is hard to know where to start. Do we buy the latest fads, or do we encourage our children to fill their lists with the kind of toys we think will last long past the Christmas holidays and into the new year? A good combination of the two is the way to go—especially if the “fad” is a toy you know will still be in the mix the day after Christmas.

To help you find some of the best toys of the season, we played, we talked, we listened, and we explored. The result is a list of toys we think you will find helpful. Not only are many of these items heirloom toys that are meant to be played with, but toys to encourage development and family fun.

And now for the 2003 Canadian Parents Online Top 15 Toys for kids …

The Little Yogis Kit

Even though yoga has been practiced for the past five thousand years, its popularity has been exploding during the past few years. So it makes perfect sense that children are turning on to yoga too!

Wai Lana, the Number One yoga teacher in the world, has created a one-hour exercise video called LITTLE YOGIS specifically for children. The Little Yogis Kit includes the video, a foam floor mat, a poster showing various simple asana poses and stretches, and a colorful tote bag with shoulder strap.

Age: Children

Parent Talk 
Our daughter received the Little Yogis Kit for her birthday. She was so excited to have her own tape and mat. The quality of the mat is better than the one I use, and the tape provides a lot of good instruction, at a child’s level. – Janice

—Canadian Parents Online, November 2003

This video is full of magic

My 6-year-old daughter had no interest in any of the yoga videos I purchased for her in the past—that is, until Wai Lana’s Little Yogis. This video is full of magic with Wai Lana’s lovely personality, fun songs, and cartoons. It is unlike any other children’s yoga video I’ve seen before. Now she loves doing yoga as long as she can do it with Wai Lana!!!

—A viewer from Burlington, VT

The video combines informative information with all-out fun

Wai Lana is a master yoga instructor who has had her own PBS series for many years. In this video she teaches kids yoga basics that will help your child stay fit and also provide them with a means of relaxation they can use for the rest of their life. The video is full of animations and songs that assist in demonstrating the various yoga techniques featured. Through these poses kids can practice being a multitude of different animals, which will not only engage their creativity, but also provide a fun way of practicing balance and coordination as well as releasing tension and strengthening their bodies. The Roly-Poly Bear pose will be especially helpful for those times when parents have difficulty getting their kids to bed. Kids will be able to pretend being a bear going into hibernation, which allows them to stretch and relax so that they can get the most restful sleep possible. The video combines informative information with all-out fun activities that will keep your child entertained for years to come.

—barebabies.com, November 2003

The Searcher & Faithist Journal

Kids will love Wai Lana’s hour of pure fun. With her warm, personable style, Wai Lana inspires kids to play with yoga. By pretending to be different animals like cobras, bears, and butterflies or balloons, bridges, trees, etc., kids stretch and strengthen bodies, sharpen minds, and improve coordination and balance without knowing they’re exercising.

—The Searcher & Faithist Journal

The Next Generation of Yoga Practitioners

Wai Lana, host of the PBS series Wai Lana Yoga, has released the Little Yogis Kit specifically designed for children ages 3 to 8. Fun, safe, easy, and convenient, the kit provides everything a “little yogi” needs to get started on the path to a long, healthy life. The kit features a 60-minute video with the warm and personable Wai Lana and several “little yogis” pretending to be cobras, bears, butterflies, bridges, trees, bows and arrows, and lots of other fun things as they perform various yoga asanas. The kit also includes a yoga mat, yoga mat bag complete with an extra pocket for water and snacks, and poster with 21 yoga exercises.

Wai Lana’s yoga kit engages children while simultaneously helping them to stretch and strengthen their bodies, sharpen their minds, and improve their balance and coordination.

“If kids are going to watch TV, they may as well watch something that’s good for them …” says Wai Lana, “and with child obesity a growing worldwide problem, what better way to get kids exercising than making it fun for them? You truly are helping them develop healthy habits that will continue benefiting them for the rest of their lives.”

Yoga is becoming a fun, bonding, and de-stressing activity for both kids and parents. This thought was echoed by Elayne Blythe, president of Film Advisory Board, in presenting Wai Lana’s Little Yogis video with its Award of Excellence for quality family/children’s entertainment. Ms. Blythe said, “This tape is great for children—but adults who are newcomers to yoga can benefit from this video as well! Great exercises for all ages!”

—Positive Health (U.K.), October 2003

The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval Winner, Spring 2004

Wai Lana, one of the pioneers in the world of instructional yoga, has brought her skills to the younger set with this all-in-one kit. Bundled together are a yoga mat, an instructional video, and a poster that illustrates positions and exercises. Testers really liked the feel and texture of the mat and were eager to get started. Wai Lana is accompanied in the video by children who appear to really be enjoying themselves. This enthusiasm rubbed off on our testers, who picked up on the instruction quite rapidly.

—The National Parenting Center, Spring 2004

The Grand Rapids Press

Children pretend to be cobras, bears, butterflies, and bridges as they stretch and strengthen their bodies, sharpen their minds, and improve their balance and coordination with this 60-minute video. It’s a playful way to get children into healthy habits.

—The Grand Rapids Press, September 28, 2003

The Benefits of Encouraging Children to Try Yoga Exercises

A frightening new trend in modern society is obesity in children. Youngsters who are spending more and more time in front of computers, video games, and television also face the possibility of retarded muscle development, inadequate blood flow, and poor bowel function. An increase in any type of exercise is crucial, but some children are not interested in competitive sports. Recently many families feel they have found a solution in an exercise regimen that has been around for more than five thousand years! They are trying yoga.

Even Entertainment Weekly magazine has written in a recent issue about “schoolkids doing yoga.” Children need and love yoga exercises. Picture a little three-year-old rolling around on top of a giant purple yoga ball; a child who is five on a colorful foam mat, bending and twisting his or her body to make it look like different animals; or a ten-year-old taking pride in holding an asana pose for the full count given them by an instructor. Yoga helps youngsters stretch and tone their muscles, keeps their blood flow and internal organs in a healthier state, and assists them in learning relaxation techniques.

Wai Lana, who is considered to be one of the best known and most popular yoga instructors in the world, says, “Yoga is so versatile that anyone of any age can do it. Small children can begin simply by watching and imitating others who are doing it. They will also benefit greatly from the calming influence of yoga sound meditation. Older children can be challenged by the more energetic yoga exercises that strengthen and build growing bodies. I have three children. From the time they were born, they have been vegetarians and practitioners of yoga.

“The real goal of yoga is not how well you do a pose physically, but how much you are getting out of the exercises that you do. Are you learning to breathe more deeply? Do you feel your muscles releasing? Do you feel more calm and content inside? Children learn from what is around them, and if they grow up around yoga, they will have this valuable knowledge to use as teens and young adults. Think of how much closer families would be if they all got together in the morning or the evening to do yoga together!”

Wai Lana points out that yoga is one of the few exercises that the entire family can do together, whether the group includes small children, teens, young adults, parents, and even grandparents. It also is an exercise that can be beneficial even in short time slots, whether it is ten minutes in the morning before work and school, or fifteen minutes in the evening after the last TV show. Adults are doing a bit of yoga on their lunch breaks, and many schoolteachers are incorporating yoga exercises into their classroom teachings. Of course, yoga can be done virtually anywhere, especially on the lawn or any carpeted surface, with no direct instruction. But many practitioners like to have a yoga mat to kneel or lie on and prefer having an instructor, whether from a television show, video, or CD. Wai Lana says that getting into a regular routine is one of the most valuable aspects of doing yoga, because it is a “good habit” instead of a “bad habit” like snacking on junk food between meals or wasting time channel-surfing TV with no specific purpose.

According to Wai Lana, “Yoga brings great pleasure and satisfaction. We learn to relax while developing a stronger and healthier body. We learn to let go of mental stress. And through yoga meditation, we begin to feel fulfilled within. With yoga you can relax, stretch, tone, and strengthen your body, while at the same time you calm your mind. It helps you lose weight, increase circulation, build flexibility, relieve stress, avoid injuries, breathe better, and renew energy. It is important for people to take time for themselves and to improve their body and mind.

“Yoga is about uncovering and discovering the beauty and pleasure and contentment that is already there. For example, our bodies know how to feel good and be healthy, and yoga asanas help to bring the body back to its natural state of health and relaxation. This is important for anyone at any age, but what could be better than to introduce the benefits of yoga to children at a young age, in hopes that this is something they can continue to use their whole lives to make them look and feel better.”

Through her internationally acclaimed television series (on PBS), plus videos, musical albums, and books, Wai Lana regularly assists millions of people in utilizing yoga to improve their lives. She has expanded her yoga instruction to specifically assist children with the just-released Wai Lana’s Little Yogis video. Her products are available in stores or at www.wailana.com. ln her videos and on her TV show, Wai Lana is known for her method of following the stretching portions with uplifting dancing and then a time of meditation.

—Family Connection, January 2004