Lockdown with a 4-year-old has been a challenge- there is no doubt about it- but from these challenging times I have had the opportunity to witness my daughter growing up and using her own strategies to help her move through life’s challenges.
An opportunity I wouldn’t normally have with the busyness of full-time study and 5 days a week of day care. One thing we have enjoyed doing together is moving our bodies whether that be a dance party, a beach walk or yoga.
We both love yoga. We roll a mat out each and begin our flow. The videos are aimed at adults so she does her best to copy the lady on the screen- and as you can imagine our shapes are different. I hadn’t considered doing children’s yoga together so when we were invited to take part in the Peppa Pig yoga I have to admit I thought ‘this isn’t really for me, I will just watch her do it’ but I was wrong we got started and were greeted with that important message ‘it’s ok if my shapes are different to yours’. That expectation melted off and we got into the journey of visiting the farm and I have to say it was really fun! We laughed when we tried to be a chicken laying an egg, we laughed when we tried to be a sheep eating grass and we laughed while lifting our leg up to wag our ‘doggy tail’ all the while moving our body and not worrying about our shape being perfect.
I think the most incredible thing I have noticed during lockdown is her natural affinity to be mindful through breath. Every single day I see her using her breath to stop and take a moment. Either sitting or standing she brings her hands out to the side and makes an ‘O’ with her thumb and index finger, closes her eyes and takes a breath, filling her lungs with air. She even encourages me to do it when she notices I need to stop and take a moment to breathe. During the Peppa Pig yoga there was a moment we were invited to do kindness breaths. She loved it, she sat up straight, brought her hands to her sides and participated in the breaths with a slight smile of confidence on her face- even though her shape was different- the intention was still the same.
-Grace Southey