In this week’s Kids Yoga classes, we take a journey through the human microbiome.
"Explore Your Gut" (download the class plan here) is a kids yoga class for children inspired by the book A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut by Masha D’yans.
Using a garden analogy and props (flowers, a blanket as soil, have stuffed creatures like bees and worms etc.), kids learn that the gut is like a garden where the good bacteria are everything helpful to the garden (plants, soil, gardener, water, light, bugs) and the bad bacteria are pests, pollution or non-native/invasive plant species.
In class we pretend to be one large intestine with everyone holding hands and seeing how far we stretch out
We learn that there are more neurotransmitters in the gut than in the brain
And we travel through the digestive system!
The sweetest example of how this class has impacted the kids I teach came from my own kid when he was 5. He exclaimed to his grandmother when she fed him veggies one day: "Grandma! This food is so good for my stomach enzymes!!"
Some other examples of how Appleseed educates kids and families on critical learning topics that the systems we live in don't usually teach include:
True nature connection: ex: fostering relationship between us and trees, through inquiry into how we've related to a type of tree through our lives.
Teaching age-appropriate information around sex and gender.
Teaching about "pain" in the body and the different types and when it's ok to move through them or not.
Teaching about rest and what it does for the body and how to achieve it.
It is my utmost joy to bring important information like this to your kids. I know teaching them critical topics like this early and in a safe environment will bring them into a healthy and integrated relationship with their bodies. And the best is that you're along for the ride!