I Am Yoga
Susan Verde and Peter H.Reynolds
Abrams Books for Young Readers
A young girl narrator, feeling overwhelmed by a world that seems to be spinning way too fast for her,

calms herself through her yoga practice. She quietens her thoughts, focuses on her breath, then closes her eyes and begins first to imagine, and then move into a series of yoga asanas beginning with the grounding Mountain pose and thence into Tree pose and on to what the author calls ‘Airplane’ pose.
“I can sparkle with the stars./ I shimmer and shine.” she says in Star pose and in Moon pose …

“I can dance with the moon./ I light up the sky.” thus describing each asana according to how it makes her feel.
Yoga means union and here is a wonderful demonstration of how this child can become through her practice of yoga, at one with herself and with the world …

and nature itself.
The connectedness to nature is beautifully captured in Reynold’s depiction of savasana:,how perfectly he portrays that feeling of ‘shanti’ in his watercolour picture of the narrator by the sea’s edge.

Indeed every one of his watercolours is both expressive and so aptly coloured, be it in a single hue, or several.
Verde’s lyrical text is full of both joy and tranquility, and perfectly pitched for young children to engage with the asanas, a more detailed verbal description of each of the sixteen covered, together with their Sanskrit names, being given in an author’s note in the final pages.
As an early years/primary teacher and a yoga teacher, I believe yoga should be part and parcel of every child’s daily experience from an early age and have seen the benefits it yields. For anyone wanting to introduce children to this life-enhancing practice, this little gem of a book, with its affirmations on every page …

is a splendid starting point. Just get it and get going with some yoga.

If you like yoga why not try meditation with some meditational mood music

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