Get great educational tools – streaming of a course with animated yoga and adventure
Doing yoga for kids online creates unity, gives pedagogical freedom and the opportunity to observe both the individual child as well as group dynamics both actively and passively.
As a result of my work with children and teenagers for more than two decades, I have been around the block a few times, and I have experienced a thing or two. Personally, I am a great supporter of diversity, innovation, and immersion in all areas of my work and use it frequently in my communication of what I think are the best tools you can give kids to be able to better cope with life in the present and the future.
As an experienced sports/social educator and physiurgic massage therapist, I have seen and experienced stressed children firsthand, and the evolution in the children’s daily lives from then till now is frightening, to say the least. Diagnoses, medication, obesity, anxiety, and depression have multiplied in children and teenagers in these past twenty years, and the WHO’s predictions that stress is the biggest public disease in 2020 hit the nail on the head, in my opinion.
Stress is a killer and costs our society a lot of money. For this reason, it would be beneficial to already implement preventive measures at the smaller grade levels.
What does stress cost society?
- 1.5 million extra days of absence due to illness annually due to stress
- Sick leave due to work-related stress costs Danish society 27 billion DKK annually.
- We spend 14 billion DKK annually as a society in the shape of sick leave, early death, and expenses for the healthcare system due to stress http://www.stressforeningen.dk/stress-og-statistik/
That is why I went all-in on creating a universe for kids with bodily and sensory immersion as a main focus. A preventive countermeasure to many of the gloomy tendencies and a pedagogical tool with many benefits and variability.
In order to be effective and grab the attention of everyone in a course, you need proper teaching materials and an online version that does not detract from the purpose of the concept. Despite my willingness to do so, I cannot single-handedly instruct thousands of kids on the mats in front of me and spread Zen on a larger scale than I have done up until now.
The challenge was not to lose the closeness yoga and storytelling gives in a group of children when you, as an adult, suddenly are no longer the “performing” artist.
We solved this through a fun 3D animation for yoga for kids and with some help from the actor Kasper Leisner for the dramaturgic reading of the adventure.
The yoga stream for kids is not just entertainment but also a tool to teach.
If we choose to try streaming yoga for kids, there will be pedagogical benefits that we can make use of. When I passed the mantle in the form of my yoga mat and the control to my 2 animated monkeys, it suddenly gave me the freedom to look at things from a different way and to find out where this could take me. My focus moved from being the controlling party to becoming a participant or an observer.
As a participating yogi, I am now a part of the crowd and get both the benefits of the yoga as well as the shared experiences you get by participating alongside the kids. I no longer need to be the one controlling the proceedings. I simply follow along and enjoy the ride with the children.
I can also choose to step back and simply observe and plan future pedagogical strategies for the group as a whole or consider individual issues that require pedagogical support and effort.
These points are especially some that I benefit from as an observer in my pacified role:
- Observation of individual difficulties with gross and fine motor skills
- Observation of group dynamics and understanding in the collaboration exercises
- Observation of the children’s state of stress during the storytelling
- Subsequent existential talk about the dilemmas and themes of the adventure
Yoga streaming gives me the opportunity to learn where I can help the most in a pedagogical sense
- I can organize new courses to develop motor skills for the child or the children who need it
- Group dynamically, I can initiate measures or pair certain children consciously in the cooperation exercises, to promote friendships or reduce bullying
- Therapeutically, I can help children in a cognitive sense if they have a difficult time concentrating, keeping focus, or remembering
- In terms of education, I can work with group issues by creating frames of reference for the adventure’s plot, themes, and lessons.
Incorporating yoga for kids via streaming does not necessarily have to mean that the adult participating is uninvolved. On the contrary, it creates new opportunities to get other tools that can be used in your pedagogical and didactic practice. Following an organized course plan will give you both the knowledge and the know-how that is included as well as the possibility to press on the buttons you find appropriate for the children.
In my opinion, preventive counterbalances to stress are essential to include in any course. If the trends are to be broken, then early action is crucial. We should give our children the best tools when it comes to dealing with stress in any way, shape, or form.
My pedagogical “call to action” should not go unheeded. We should get as many children to do yoga as possible. Yoga streaming or not, exercise and mental health need to be prioritized more than ever before.
Have fun with the kids out there; let your heart rate go up and down on the mats while being in complete control.
Namasté <3
