How to Explore Light and Darkness with Children using Yoga and Mindfulness
/Light is an essential part of our lives we often take for granted. We don’t stop to think about where this energy comes from, or even try to define it, but we all have a relationship with light.
We can invite children to explore the concepts of light and darkness by investigating:
where light comes from
how we see light
how light and darkness feel in our bodies
how we experience light and darkness in our lives
How to explore light and darkness with children
When we encourage children to explore the light and darkness in the immediate environment, we can encourage them to come up with creative ways they might share their own light with their friends, their community and the world.
1. Celebrate the Sun and Moon
If you ask a child where light comes from, many will immediately say "the sun." The sun is the original source of most of the energy found on earth. Every living thing on our planet is ultimately made of energy that comes from that same source and you could say we are all connected by energy.
Throughout the world, many cultures have practices that celebrate the sun. In yoga, we celebrate the energy, light and heat the sun provides by creating and experiencing those qualities in our bodies.
Try this: Sun Dance
The best way to warm up for yoga practice is with a Sun Dance (sun salutation)
This common yoga sequence combines several foundational yoga poses into one rhythmic flow on the breath. See if you can find each of these poses as you practice: Mountain, Standing Forward Fold, Plank, Cobra, and Downward Facing Dog!
There are many variations of the traditional sun salutation. Sing along with Rachel to explore this version.
Once children learn the sequence, have fun by switching it up. Move faster or slower, hum instead of singing, match each movement with an in or out breath, or try practicing in silence. Let’s dance!
In contrast to the sun, we also have the darkness of night. You might think, what about the light of the moon? Although the moon looks bright in our sky, it is actually not a source of light!
Through the ages, many poems and songs have extolled the beauty of the moonlight. In actuality, the light we see is simply the light from the sun reflecting off the moon’s surface. The different shapes or phases of the moon are the result of the way the sun lights the moon's surface as the moon orbits Earth.
Try this: Gentle Twists
Let’s pretend to walk on the moon, moving our bodies slowly to mimic how it might feel to be in microgravity (17% the gravity of earth’s surface)!
2. Shine our Light in Star Pose
The moon and the stars are always in the sky. However, we typically can only see them once the sun goes down and the rest of the sky gets dark enough to make them visible.
Similarly, when we experience challenging circumstances, it forces us to call upon our resources and shine even brighter. There are many yoga tools that parents and teachers can use to help children shine their light, build self-esteem and recognize their infinite potential.
Try this: “I’m a Star”
Practicing Star Pose is one way to build that confidence. Researcher and author Amy Cuddy has called expansive posture poses like this one “power poses” and claims the research shows they make us feel more powerful and in control.
Whether we are about to take a test, give a speech or interview for our dream job, poses like star pose invite us to take up maximum space, breathe deeply and believe in ourselves. Let’s shine our light in star pose!
Light from the stars travels through the darkness of outer space. Did you know that the star closest to the sun, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away?
That means the light from the closest star travels 4.2 years before we get to see it. Many of the other stars that make up the constellations we see in the night sky are even farther away, which means the light we see from those stars is even older.
When we observe the night sky we are looking into the past. For example, the stars that make up the Big Dipper are 60-125 light years away. When we observe that constellation, many of us are seeing light from before we were born.
Calling all future astronauts: More space activities that are out of this world!
3. Growing a garden
Observing the natural world around us is a great way to explore the concepts of light and darkness. And we don’t have to look much farther than our green growing friends, plants! As children, we learn in school that plants need light, air, water, nutrients, and space to grow.
Most plants use the light energy from the sun to create food through a process called photosynthesis. While there are a few rare plants that can grow in complete darkness, they have a symbiotic or parasitic relationship with their hosts by which they depend on that organisms ability to photosynthesize.
Let’s practice each phase of the plant seed cycle and grow like plants with Dan!
Plants need both light and darkness to survive. Most seeds need darkness to properly germinate. Once seedlings sprout, the plant’s stem and leaves gather energy from the sun, while the roots gather nutrients from the earth below.
Darkness can also be represented by the fallow fields of winter, when the soil of our gardens benefit most from being covered with mulch or winter cover crops and allowed to lay relatively dormant for the season. This allows the soil to regenerate the nutrients that will be needed for spring planting.
Let’s plant a garden with Rachel and dig the seeds deep into the dark soil.
4. Explore Rainbows and the Visible Light Spectrum
Visible light can be broken down into seven colors. From the longest to shortest wavelength, these colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Light itself does not possess color but various hues are created by how our eyes perceive different wavelengths of electromagnetic light.
Many ancient traditions correspond the spectrum to various energetic systems and qualities in our own bodies. In yoga, we study energy centers called chakras and their associated colors.
Children may be drawn to exploring a specific color or to the whole rainbow of visible light. Let’s be rainbows and practice positive affirmations with Rachel!
Darkness, on the other hand, is the absence of photons in the visible light spectrum. When we think of it that way, it seems silly to be scared of the dark, right?
Just as soil needs darkness to stay healthy, our eyes also require darkness to rest and rejuvenate. Over the last few decades, advances in technology have made screens and electronic devices practically inescapable.
At the same time, our rest and sleep habits have become more disturbed and disrupted. All that extra visual stimulation can be overwhelming and lead to myopia and digital eye strain. Just like a seed deep in the ground, we all need periods of rest and darkness.
Try this: Eye Palming
Practicing various eye exercises can help mitigate these effects. Let’s dive into the restorative calm of darkness by practicing Eye Palming.
5. Observe how different animals relate to light
Many animals have a special relationship with light. Roosters, sea turtles and fireflies are just a few animals that interact with light in cool ways.
Kids love animal yoga and several traditional yoga poses share names with the creatures they mimic. Other poses might remind us of animals if we use a touch of imagination!
Roosters have an internal clock that anticipates sunrise. Like all birds, roosters sing a distinctive morning song. To make a rooster with kids, try coming into a chair pose with thumbs tucked into armpits to make wings. Shift your body weight onto one foot, balancing as you lift the other foot slightly off the ground.
Let’s be roosters and some other fun farm animals with Rachel!
Did you know that baby sea turtles find their way from the place they hatch on land into the safety of the water using light as their guide?
Scientists believe that the baby sea turtles instinctively travel towards the brightest horizon, usually the reflective glow of the ocean. We can practice Turtle Pose to help us move inward and quiet the mind.
Fireflies are another animal that has a special relationship with light…they make their own! This type of light production is called bioluminescence. Fireflies actually produce light by combining certain chemicals in special abdominal organs.
Try this: Firefly (Half Moon Pose)
Let’s sing along to this original firefly song while practicing Half Moon pose to fly like a firefly. Another option is to give children mini flashlights, turn off the overhead lights, and invite them to dance around the room like fireflies on a dark summer night!
6. Sing along with songs about sun and light
There are so many songs about sun and light so share with children. One of our favorites is "You Are My Sunshine."
Others include "Circle of the Sun" by Sally Rogers, “This Little Light of Mine”, and of course “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
Several of these songs are ripe for pairing with yoga poses and inviting children to move along with singing can allow them to experience these classic songs in a whole new way.
6. Consider how we use light in our every day
Lamps, traffic signals, signs, flashlights, candles, cameras...we use light all the time, in many ways and in many settings.
We can even use light to communicate. Try using light for a fun attention game that builds focus, pattern-making and builds team cohesion within a classroom group.
Flash a flashlight or other light at a steady tempo.
Invite children to play along using rhythm sticks or tambourines.
Change the tempo slower or faster or freeze and start randomly to check for attention.
You could also try call and response - flash a beat pattern, and have the children repeat it with sound or clap the pattern back to you.
It may be hard to believe, but seemingly unlimited light is a relatively new phenomenon. For much of human existence, people lived within the constraints of the natural cycle between day and night. When the sun slept, so did we, unless there was a particularly bright moon or we could burn wood or oil to light our way.
In the last 200 years, with the invention of electricity and the light bulb, we gained access to safe, cheap, portable and infinite light and created the problem of light pollution.
Many of us can no longer see the stars at night because the sky is overly illuminated by street lights, traffic lights, buildings and signs. This increase in artificial light, besides contributing to the negative global effects of energy over-consumption, is impacting nature negatively.
Birds have trouble with migration patterns.
Trees and plants grow differently
As a species, we suffer from increasing rates of insomnia, stress-related illness and depression.
We are our best and healthiest selves when we strike a balance between light and darkness, external and internal focus, exertion and relaxation. Only by truly experiencing darkness can we fully shine our light.
How to transition from light to dark in children’s yoga
At the end of every Yo Re Mi class, we take time to close our eyes, dive into darkness and reap the benefits of practicing relaxation pose. Let’s relax and cultivate stillness with this guided visualization and Garden Relaxation.
Light and darkness are all around us and inside us. There are so many ways to explore, celebrate and appreciate the impact of light and darkness in our own lives and the world around us.
As we practice shining our own light, everything becomes brighter. As we relax into darkness, we find peace and stillness. When we balance the two, we create harmony in our internal and external worlds.
Save this article for later and don’t forget to download the Yo Re Mi app for children’s mindfulness and musical yoga videos.
