Following the Sun: a Couple Sanity Tips from the Kids’ Yoga Tradition
Written By Miri Gindin
Friends, my family is pretty well-positioned for this pandemic.
My husband and I are both self-sufficient introverts who can work flexibly from home.
Our one child is school-aged and we’re both educators.
Possibly most helpful is the fact that we’re both diehard existentialists so on some level, we’ve been preparing for this all along.
However.
Having a strong-willed kid filled to the brim with beans and opinions around 100% of the day can be trying indeed.
Nevertheless, it was Z. (aged seven), who decided after two weeks in quarantine with his parents that enough was enough.
After yet another argument about his human right to read comic books vs. putting away the cutlery, this morning Z. announced he was running away from home.
“I’m following the sun,” he said defiantly as he packed his wrestling costume, devil sticks, and goggles.
Aren’t we all feeling a little bit that way these days? How can I get the heck out of here, like?
Here are a couple of Covid-friendly ways to follow the sun, inspired by the kids’ yoga tradition:
SuperSonic or SuperSilly SunSalutes
Some children have very wiggly bodies and need to move a lot. Help them by doing some traditional sun salutations, but at supersonic-speed.
Or: give the instructions, step by step, and then, every so often say, “supersillysalute!” and everyone strikes the silliest pose they know.
2. Explode like a volcano! (not quite the sun but hot and fiery nonetheless:)
“Do you ever feel mad???” I ask my students. “I do sometimes!”
I raise my hand right away and then the kids always start raising their hands too. It’s ok to feel mad. Everyone does sometimes.
“If you need to explode you can be a volcano!”
Squat down if you are standing or hunch your shoulders if you are seated, bring your “prayer hands” to your chest, and explode up and out! Explode big! Explode loud!
Squat down and do it again! Repeat 10 times at least!
***
Friends, our little firebrand is — mercifully — still with us.
“Maybe you should take something to remind you of home?” I had said, like a parent in a 1980’s after school sitcom.
Z. looked momentarily startled then chose a small beaded wolf figure from his windowsill that we had bought him (the wolf, according to Z., is his spirit animal). His eyes filled with tears.
“I’ll maybe run away later,” he said, his voice smaller and softer.
“It’s ok sweetness”, I say, trying to sound unsmug after my rare parenting masterstroke. “I’ve got some ideas of fun things we can do to cheer up at home.”
“Me too,” he said, suddenly recovered. “Tackkkkllllle!!!!”
Let the wrestling begin. Yet another time-honoured way to release tension, if not quite from the yoga tradition.
Friends, what are you and your kids doing these days to follow the (metaphorical) sun?
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*This article was originally published on Medium.