Namaste Parents,
Yoga Bharati is pleased to share our report of our Summer Kids Camp (I) from June 14th to 24th 2021. It was an exhilarating experience for the faculty and kids alike. It was yet another coming together of eager young minds thirsty for more! A lot of activities were packed into the 2 hours and 15 minutes of online class. Children were separated into three different zoom session, based on following age criteria:
Ages 6-7 (Instructors: Amita Vartak, Kalpana Thiyagarajan)
Ages 8-9 (Instructors: Anjali Garg, Jyoti Patil, Priya Kaarthik)
Ages 10+ (Instructors: Vivek Garg, Vaishali Dedage, Ashwini Surpur)
The Daily Schedule included
Yoga Session
Gita Chanting
Games, Stories and Discussions on various yoga and lifestyle topics.
Yoga Sessions
The children were taken through a variety of Yoga postures and its uses, amidst a lot of fun. They got to know how a dog pants(swana pranayama) or lion roars(Simha Mudra) while also learning how to breathe properly. Abdominal breathing was gently emphasized in the breathing exercises. Children were highly amused to crow-walk, frog-walk and even baby-crawl, and perform active and dynamic Surya Namaskars. Various yoga asana poses were introduced which the children took on with high interest. Last but not the least, was the final relaxation(cooling) and Bhramari pranayama (meditation using chanting)
Throughout the yoga sessions, a healthy attention was brought to the relaxation, between poses and towards the end. This enabled the children to spend a moment with their energetic bodies in silence and figure out which body parts had a good workout. The focus here was to help the children bring their attention back towards themselves, in a way, creating muscle memory for triggering their parasympathetic nervous system.
GITA Shlokas
Just as the Yoga sessions before the break were delightful, so were the shloka sessions after. The syllabus covered the first few shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita(chapter 3). The young minds were wonderfully challenged and eagerly took on to learning the new words and diction with a lot of enthusiasm. In fact, the kids aged 10+ were able to cover 8 verses. By the end of the camp, all the kids were proficient in a few verses of the Gita. Some of them were even able to recite them from memory. A few kids shared the following sentiments about this class: ‘I loved learning Gita verses’, ‘The best part for me, in the camp, was to learn Gita’. This was the icing on the cake for us at YB!
Games, Stories, Discussions
This part of the camp was both entertaining as well as educational. The Yamas [Satya (truth), Ahimsa (Non-violence)] and the Niyamas [Tapas(self-control)]) of the Ashtanga Yoga system were introduced to the children both as part of games and stories. Healthy discussions ensued on what the children thought about these values and how relevant they were to their daily lives.
Games were played throughout the entire session keeping the children engaged. Extempore and prepared quizzes helped the kids revise whatever they had learnt, thus cementing their new found knowledge. Discussions on sustainability were held. For instance, ideas about saving water and other natural resources were talked about.
Mantras and Chanting
Every session began with the starting mantra (Sahana Vavatu) and ended with the closing mantra (Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah). The Surya Namaskar mantra(Hiranmayena Pathrena) was also chanted before the classical Surya Namaskars were practiced.
Apart from the above mantras, syllables like A or M were chanted during asanas and during relaxation to impart an additional degree of relaxation. Brahmari chanting making use of ‘N’ sound was routinely followed.
Final Day Activity
The last day of the camp had an eagerly awaited activity, for which the children had fervently practiced. The kids in the younger age group played a mini-skit bringing out the concepts of Breathing and Mindfulness, in a simple way. Some of them elaborated the feelings and energies they sense when they get into certain asanas, while others brought out their Gita proficiency with select verses from what was taught.
The kids in the older age group enacted a very enlightening conversation that was held between Vivekananda and Ramakrishna. Everyone came together as the Guru and the disciple in this 10 minutes role-play. They also displayed their Gita expertise and rendered Vivekananda quotes using experiences from their own lives.
We, at YB, thank you parents for giving us this beautiful opportunity to share wonderful moments with your children while imparting Yoga education and its value system. We endeavor to provide this timeless wisdom with due honor and respect to our Gurus. We look forward to more delightful moments in Camp II.
Regards,
YB team
Few pictures from the camp 1
