What IS Singing Yogis, Anyway?

A Magical Way to Learn

Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and picture yourself as you were at the age of a toddler or preschooler. The world is new, everything is exciting, and every day is a new beginning for exploring, laughter, and lots of play. Now imagine yourself with a grownup or loved one you trust, learning to navigate this new world with songs and stories, imagination and snuggles. You’re singing together, dancing together, resting together, and learning together.  You feel safe. You feel loved. You feel joy. Take another deep breath and notice how you feel. Hopefully you’ve tapped into your inner smile! 

The above scenario is what our students experience during every Singing Yogis™ class! But what exactly is Singing Yogis? Well to answer that, first let’s define what “yoga” means: 

What is Yoga?

The word yoga is derived from the sanskrit word “Yuj,” which means “to unite.” Ancient Yogic texts and principles can be traced back over five thousand years, to India. These yogis of the past believed that practicing yoga unites our individual consciousness with universal consciousness, creating a perfect harmony of mind, body, spirit, and the world around us. The science of yoga is simple: when the body and mind are out of balance, we feel out of balance. With the help of postures, breathwork, and focusing within, we can bring back the harmony of our mind and body, and thus restore the balance. In short, yoga is an ancient tool that humans have used throughout history to train the body and mind and find peace.

So What’s Musical Yoga?

So why SINGING yogis? It actually comes down to basic neuroscience! In 2024 it is no secret that music affects our brain development. Children who are exposed to music early on are able to connect with both sides of their brain faster, and easier than children who are not. Thus we can use music such as simple songs and rhythms to help boost memory, fine tune our motor skills, make social connections and more! Not to mention, both singing and yoga are scientifically proven to help regulate our nervous system. Before any of us, adults and children alike, can regulate our emotions and our behaviour, we first need to have a regulated nervous system so that the emotional neurons in our amygdala and limbic systems can relax and feel safe. Until that happens, and the “fight or flight” response in our brain and body can be switched off, our logical, reasonable left brain is physically unable to be reached and we are therefore unable to regulate. This is the case at any age and as such, self regulation is an important coping mechanism that needs to be incorporated as early as possible so that we can be grounded, kind, and here’s that term again: regulated, humans. 

A Bit About Regulation

Okay so why do we need to be regulated humans? Well simply put, children who are regulated are ready to learn, make friends, and navigate the big emotions that are all part of being human. Children who are not regulated, physically cannot. Let’s revert back to that initial visualization for a second: Imagine yourself as a toddler or preschooler. Now imagine you are on the playground playing with your favorite toy. You love this toy, it makes you feel safe, it makes you feel happy, it makes you feel loved. All of a sudden another classmate snatches it out of your hand. You feel rage. You feel scared. You feel sad. You don’t know what to do, all you know is that toy is YOURS and it got taken away. Suddenly your brain takes over your body and you push that mean toy stealing kid down and take it back! Phew right? Wrong. Now the grownups are upset with you, you’re being put in timeout, and once again your favorite toy is being taken away. Cue the meltdown. 

Sit with those feelings for a second. Notice how they feel in your body, or in your heart rate. I’m willing to bet you feel stress or anxiety or some sort of dis-ease.  What if this could’ve gone differently? What if, instead of pushing your friend you had access to the rational part of your brain and you could’ve looked at this situation from a point of calm? Or even better, what if you had a trusted grownup help you through those big feelings so that you felt safe again? You could’ve gotten your toy back, or even shared it with your new friend, and gone on to have a great day. Much different scenario.

THAT’S the power of Singing Yogis. It is a program specifically designed to teach both you and your child simple, memorable, and fun coping mechanisms for when life happens. The more you practice them together, the more they become habit, and the more they trust you as a safe, loving adult. 

So what can we expect if we try a class?

Every Singing Yogis class begins with a hello song where we acknowledge all of our friends in the room so that everyone has a chase to feel seen. Next we warm up our bodies, and practice our pranayama, or breathwork, so that we feel focused and ready to take on our yoga journey! Each class includes an imaginative kid-friendly journey whether it’s a trip to the ocean or the farm, blasting off to space, or riding our royal carriages! Together you and your little one will learn asanas, or poses, to build strength and flexibility, discover new facts and knowledge about the world around you, calm the mind and body with simple songs you can do at home, relax and rest, and most importantly, strengthen your bond with each other. At the end we have a dance party to celebrate our success, followed by an educational story time, and finally we practice resting because rest is important at every age. 

Singing Yogis is a journey like no other, and it is an amazing resource for all families to promote healthy minds and bodies as early as 18 months! You will watch your child light up, learn kindness and self regulation, be silly, and bond with their new friends and yogis family. As they say, it takes a village, and we promise, this village is one of the best around! You might even learn a thing or two yourself! 

For more information or to sign up for a trial class, visit us at this link! We are happy to connect, answer any questions, and help you sign up for your family’s yoga journey! 

Hope to see you on the mat!

Playfully yours,

Miss Sandi and Miss Nancy