Standing Side Stretch Pose demonstrated here by Karen Watson Reeves, increases spinal mobility, improves breathing efficiency, and can help alleviate pain between the shoulder blades. Photography by Fred Padilla.
By Karen Watson Reeves
Our city is exploding with amazing, beautiful murals by such talented and diverse artists! While driving around town in search of a location and pose for the June edition of The Springs, we came upon a mural I had not seen before. When I saw it – the children, the smiles, the crayons, the colors – my mind went to the end of the school year. I remember what freedom I felt when school was out for summer break.
Yoga is fun! And practicing yoga with kids is especially fun . . . so much so they don’t even realize what a physical workout they are getting while they are having fun.
Yoga is a great way to keep kids physically active while being creative and stimulating for the mind, and calming and relaxing for their emotions as their routines change for a few weeks.
I knew I wanted to do Standing Side Stretch in front of this mural. Although this pose is called Kite Pose in some children’s yoga curricula, it reminds me of a bent-over crayon. It is a great warm-up pose to practice before Sun Salutations.
While keeping the feet grounded and the lower body strong and engaged, this asymmetrical pose lengthens the muscles of the side, including the intercostals, the obliques, the lats, as well as the shoulders and arms. It increases spinal mobility, improves breathing efficiency, and can help alleviate pain between the shoulder blades. Those are some of the physical benefits of Standing Side Stretch.
But if I were teaching a children’s yoga class, we would pretend to be crayons, melting a bit in the warm summer sun. We would likely pull out some crayons and art paper, and draw other things that bend over, such as trees in a storm, kites in a breeze, candles as they melt. We might even melt the crayons and get really creative and a little bit messy. Because summer is a time for fun while keeping the body and mind engaged in many different ways. Yes, even by practicing yoga, because after all, yoga is FUN!
*Two free classes for the first person to correctly identify the location of the mural in the pose.
Karen Watson Reeves has called Hot Springs home since 2006. Owner of The Yoga Place, at 301 Whittington Avenue, she became a registered yoga/children’s yoga teacher in 2011. She is on the Hot Springs YMCA teaching staff and is an adjunct instructor at National Park College. When not on the mat, Karen enjoys the beautiful outdoors of the National Park, especially from her bicycle. For more information about her studio and her schedule of classes, visit www.theyogaplacehs.com.
