Children's Story Yoga in the Park

What is Story Yoga?

Story Yoga uses carefully crafted, complementary stories and yoga flows to encourage and build children’s balance, flexibility, coordination, self-confidence, curiosity, imagination, patience, persistence, mindfulness, attention, and self-awareness. Children build all of these skills by moving through the yoga flows while engaging in the story. Most importantly, they have fun!

Who is it for?

Recommended ages are 4-8 years old. Though, some children as young as 3 and as old as 11 have enjoyed the stories!

What is included in the ticket?

1-3 yoga stories, depending on story length and how attentive the children are that day. The class will begin with a gentle warm up of inhales and exhales with flexion/extension of different parts of the body. (This is to help the children calm and "fill up the story balloon to story land"). After the stories, depending on time, we will likely play one or two yoga games to either teach the children pose names or focus on mindfulness.

What is the layout/timeline of the event?

First, the event will begin with briefly going over the rules for Story Yoga:

1. Stay on your own mat

2 . Keep hands and feet to yourself

3 . Listen quietly while teacher/host is telling the story

4. Keep mat flat on the ground

After briefly going over the rules, the teacher/host will tell the group what the first story is about (ex: a hero saving the kingdom, magic glasses, etc.).

Next, the teacher/host will lead the breathing warm up (this is what blows up the imaginary balloon to take us all to story land)

Then, the teacher/host will tell the story or stories (depending on story length) while demonstrating the yoga poses.

After the stories, depending on time, we will likely play one or two yoga games to either teach the children pose names or focus on mindfulness.

What will the yoga be like?

The yoga poses flow with the story, so the duration of a pose depends on how long holding the pose makes sense in the story (usually anywhere from a brief moment to 30 seconds). The poses themselves will be a mix of beginner and intermediate levels. Even though some of the poses are "intermediate level," no yoga experience is necessary! The intermediate poses are a fun time to challenge the self/body without the need to "get it right."

While pose correction is sometimes given, the focus is more on introducing children to yoga poses and encouraging them to associate new movements with the fun of stories!

What will the stories be like?

The stories all have some element of fantasy in them (talking animals, personified monster trucks, etc.), and many of them are silly! Anything from a rainbow to a ninja turtle could appear in a story! As for story duration, and individual story can range anywhere from 3 -15 minutes. There are currently over 40 stories. Each event will start with a new story. Returning participants can then request a favorite story they have heard before from me.

Also, a few of the stories are available in book format to take home! These books are available for purchase on site.

What should we bring/wear?

- comfortable clothes that you can move in well

- any sun protection you feel you might need

- water

- a mat for each participant (unless you plan to share a mat with your little one!)

- yourself and your sense of fun!

What is expected of me?

It is required for you to stay with the group for the duration of the event. Hopefully, you will enjoy the story and yoga just as much as your child! It is expected that you will help gently remind them of the rules if needed as this helps allow the teacher/host to smoothly tell the story.

What is expected of my child?

The only expectation is that your child will follow the four rules listed above. The point is to have fun!

What is NOT expected is for your child to perfectly mimic the yoga poses. The hope is for them to feel safe and confident enough in themselves to attempt the poses. If at any point, though, they would rather sit down, lie down, or do some other pose (assuming they stay quiet on their own mat), then they are absolutely welcome to do that! Like in typical yoga, this is their practice, and it is important they listen to what their body needs.

Who is the teacher/event host?

Hello! My name is Autumn Trimble.

I have been practicing yoga for over 15 years and working with children outside of yoga even longer! I am a 200HR certified yoga instructor with an additional 30HR certification in children's yoga. It is immensely fulfilling for me to see children learning how to master their bodies while building confidence and having fun! That is exactly why I created Children's Story Yoga.

I started creating children's yoga stories in 2020 as a passion project. Since then, Children's Story Yoga has grown more than I had imagined! I offer it for private gatherings and regularly provided it to academic daycares. Now, I am happy to make it available to you!

What about weather?

If within 2-hours of the event rain or storms are predicted to take place during the event, or if the temperature is expected to be over 90 degrees during the event, the event will be cancelled. If this happens, email me at [email protected]. I will get your ticket transferred to a different day.

Teacher/Host Illness or Injury

If I, through illness or injury, become unable to host the event, your ticket will be refunded.

What else should I expect/know?

The event will be held at Crockett Park in Brentwood just over the bridge between the soccer fields and the playground. See images below for exact location.

A day or two before the event, I will send you an electronic waiver for you to sign. This is required to participate. In case of technical issues, I will also have physical copies of the waiver available for parents/guardians to sign for the children.

The event will begin promptly, so please arrive to the park a few minutes early to allow time to find a parking spot and connect with the group.

Other questions

If you have any other questions not answered here, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

I look forward to seeing you!

Host or Publisher Nashville Events Yoga