Yoga Jedi Initiation

“Younglings, younglings gather ’round’.” – Yoda

Share a few of the points above with your students, and then proceed to initiate each one of them into the order of the Yoga Jedi…

Gently touch their forehead and give them their new Yoga Jedi Name… You can even prepare cards or stickers or name tags/stickers with those before hand:

5 Minutes

Darth Vader (Ujjayi) Breath

“A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.” – Yoda

Ujjayi Pranayama awfully sounds like Darth Vader and is one technique that helps calm the mind and warm the body. When practicing Ujjayi, you completely fill your lungs, while slightly contracting your throat, and breathe through your nose. This breathing technique is used throughout Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga practices.

Unlike other pranayamas that are practiced while seated or lying down, Ujjayi is performed throughout the practice in every pose. The steadiness, sound, and depth of the Ujjayi breath help to link your mind, body, and spirit to the present moment.

Relax your body and gently close your eyes. Let your mouth drop open slightly. Relax your jaw and your tongue.

Inhale and exhale deeply through your mouth. Feel the air of your inhalations passing through your windpipe.

On your exhalations, slightly contract the back of your throat, as you do when you whisper. Softly whisper the sound, “ahhh,” as you exhale. Imagine your breath fogging up a window.

As you become comfortable with your exhalations, maintain the slight constriction of the throat on your inhalations, as well. You will notice your breath making an “ocean” or a “Darth Vader” sound, softly moving in and out, like ocean waves.

When you can comfortably control your throat during the inhalations and exhalations, gently close your mouth and begin breathing only through your nose. Keep the same constriction in your throat as you did when your mouth was open. You will continue to hear the “ocean” sound as you breathe through your nose. Direct the breath to travel over your vocal cords, across the back of your throat. Keep your mouth closed, but your lips soft.

Let your inhalations fill your lungs to their fullest expansion. Completely release the air during your exhalations.

Come back to this breath as often as you can during the class.

5 Minutes

“You will know when you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” – Yoda

Bounty Thought Hunter

“If you end your training now – if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did — you will become an agent of evil.” – Yoda

Sit still with your eyes closed, and count slowly from 1 to 10. If any thought comes into your mind, immediately go back to 1. Watch for even the smallest thought. It is a practice of sincerity between you and yourself, so even the smallest thought, even a sound, even the thought “I’m already at number 3”… you need to go back to 1.

This exercise helps us become more aware of our thoughts. The thoughts we are not aware of are the ones that make us feel what we feel and want what we want and push us into actions we might not have done with more conscious thought.

The first step in being able to change our thoughts and redirect where our life is heading is to be aware of those small quiet thoughts.

The goal is not to reach 10, but to be aware of even the smallest thoughts… Remember, you are a thought hunter now!

One to two minutes of this exercise is more than enough.

5 Minutes

Jedi Mind Control - Counting Thoughts

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” – Yoda

Give each child a pile of cotton balls or pom-poms, you can use any small object but it is easier with ones that don’t make much noise when you move them.

Measure one minute, and ask the children to watch their mind with heightened awareness for that time period, moving one pom-pom to the side for each thought that passes through their mind.

At the end of the minute, count your thoughts. Repeat a few times, trying to have fewer thoughts at every round.

You’ll be surprised to discover that all thoughts tend to run away and disappear when you consciously watch them in this way.

As we continue in the practice of poses today let’s keep the Jedi mind, the focused mind, with us throughout. This will enable us to do the poses better and also to enjoy them more.

5 Minutes

Focusing the Gaze - Tratak

“In a dark place, we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.” – Yoda

This exercise is best practiced in a dark room but can also be practiced when there is light. Place a lit candle at eye level and gaze at the brightest part of the flame without blinking.

Keep gazing at the flame until your eyes tear up a bit or until you feel a slight burning sensation, then you can close your eyes and keep seeing the flame in your mind, imagining it to be between your eyebrows.

When the image fades, you can reopen your eyes and do the exercise again. Try not to think of other things while doing this practice, focus on the candle only.

This exercise is also said to help improve eyesight and even help in developing clairvoyance.

As we continue in the practice of poses today we can take this element of gazing at one point and it is sure to help us balance better and stay in the poses for longer.

5 Minutes

Lightsaber Awareness Duel

A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack. – Yoda

Use soft foam noodles, rolled yoga mats, scarves, or completely imaginary lightsabers. This is not a fight to win. This is Jedi training in focus, respect, self-control and peaceful power.

Pair up. Each Padawan stands in a strong grounded stance such as Goddess Pose, Horse Stance, Warrior 2, or a low Lunge. Before the sabers touch, both partners bow and ask: “Ready?” The duel only begins when both say yes. This keeps the class anchored in consent and kindness.

On “ignite”, the lightsabers come alive. Partners move slowly at first, trying to tap only each other’s lightsaber, never the body. Every strike must be met with a breath. Every block must be calm. The rule is simple: if your breath becomes wild, you freeze, lower the saber, take one Darth Vader breath, and begin again.

After one minute, call “Jedi stillness!” Everyone freezes in the exact pose they are in and notices: Am I attacking, defending, reacting, or choosing? Then bow, switch partners and repeat.

For older kids, add “dark side temptation”: one partner moves faster, louder or more dramatically. The other partner practises staying calm without escalating. This is the real victory. Not overpowering someone else, but not letting someone else’s energy steal your centre.

5-8 Minutes

Jedi Training

“You must unlearn what you have learned.” – Yoda

Strength:

“To answer power with power, the Jedi way this is not. In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are.” – Yoda

Jedi Crawl - This is to strengthen the core! The base (the person on the bottom) lies down on their back with their knees bent. Best to be stacked here and place the knees right above the hips. The flyer (the person on top) starts standing on the side of the base facing towards their feet and they hold the middle of the bases shins with both hands.

Now the flyer lifts the leg that’s closer to the base and the base grabs the flyer’s shin. The base must keep their arm straight and stacked above their shoulder. When ready, the flyer lifts their other leg so that the base can take hold of their other shin. So in this position, the base and the flyer are now both holding each others’ shins.

To do the Ninja Crawl, both base and flyer need to work together moving in crawling movements one above the other moving their hands and legs in a diagonal way. Ba aware to keep your knees and your arms close to the center so that they stay relatively stacked and not splayed to the sides.

For the stronger and more adventures, try also widening and making narrow your body by splaying your knees and hands to the side and back to the centre a few times. And also try extending beyond a crawl nearly straightening your body and then pulling back it to Child Pose.

Balancing poses on one leg:

“Feel the force!” – Yoda

Jedi Tree - Stand on one leg (this is the tree trunk) and put the other foot on your inner thigh. Let your branches (your hands) grow high into the sky toward the sun. If you have a hard time balancing, you can try to keep your arms spread far to the sides (it makes it much easier) or you can hold hands with a friend, a parent, or even rest one hand on the wall. If you keep breathing deeply and keep your eyes (your gaze) focused on one point in front of you, it will be a lot easier to be steady.

Jedi Dancer - Standing tall, bend one knee, and reach back and hold onto your ankle. Lift your other arm high up. This is the dancer pose!

Jedi Warrior (3) - Standing with your legs together, lift your arms up and slowly shift your weight forward as you lift one leg back. Try to bring your body parallel to the mat. You can also come into this pose from Warrior II by bringing your arms forward and slowly shifting your weight to your front leg until your back leg lifts up (it is 

much more challenging this way). It is also possible to come back from this pose into Warrior I or II by shifting the body weight slowly back, while bending the front knee, until the back leg touches the floor again. Warrior III is a very challenging balancing pose and it will also make your legs very strong!

Half Moon - This is a challenging pose requiring leg strength and lots of balance; it is not appropriate for small children. It’s usually easier to come into this pose from the Triangle or the Side Angle. Put your right hand on the mat in front and a little out to the side (right knee is bent at this point). Slowly begin to put weight into your hand, bringing the toes of your left foot to the floor, heel off of the floor. When you feel steady, slowly lift the left leg up and hold it parallel to the floor. The right hand should be on the floor under your shoulder (arm straight) and the left stretching up toward the sky. Afterward, switch sides.

If this is too difficult, try practicing the pose with your back against the wall or as a partner pose, back to back with a friend.

Jedi Squat - Start kneeling on your tiptoes with both knees down, place one ankle across the opposite thigh, and keeping your fingertips on the floor, slowly raise your knee up and balance on your toes. When you are ready you can lift your hands up.

Advance Balance:

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm?” – Yoda

Crow - Begin in a squat placing your palms between your legs on the mat, shoulder width apart. Bend your elbows to create a kind of forearm 'shelf' for your knees. Place either your knees or your shins on your forearms. Slowly lean forward until your feet lift up; you are flying!

This pose is a bit tricky so you better put a 'crash pad' (a blanket or a pillow) in front of you when you try it for the first time

To make it easier, start by lifting only one leg up, keeping the other foot on the mat; switch feet when ready

Side Craw - Advanced older children can try Side Crow, Crow in Lotus, Bounded Side Crow or Crow with one leg up.

To do Side Crow, put your palms on the floor a bit wider than in Crow Pose, walk both feet as far as you can to one side, lean your thigh on your forearm, and look and lean to the opposite side of your feet to balance in the pose.

Peacock - Kneel with your knees apart, place both palms on the floor with fingers facing towards your feet. Now Bring your elbows together and lower your belly button (more or less) to be right on top of your elbows, and now straight your legs backwards. Keeping your body in one piece, lift your head up and lean your weight forward until using your core you’ll be able to lift your legs up parallel to the floor and be in the Peacock Pose!

Scorpion - This pose should generally not be attempted until age nine. Place your forearms on the floor. With a controlled jump, lift your legs up towards the sky and try to balance on your forearms only, keeping your head and chest far from the floor.

You can also try it with your legs straight up, or with your knees bent, so the spine can bend back. Some kids can even put their feet on their head!

Some people may prefer to come into this pose from the classical yogic Headstand. Opening your interlaced fingers, place your palms on the floor. Push your forearms into the mat and lift your head and chest up into the Scorpion!

And as always… It is easier and more fun to do together:

Scorpion on Dog - The base comes into downward dog, the scorpion (the flyer) puts their hands just a few centimeters in front of the dogs hands and places their thighs on the bases hips. From there, the scorpion slowly sides back, propping their chest on the bases upper back. Pressing their chest onto the dogs upper back, they then slowly arch their back to bring the weight of their feet over their head.

Levitating:

“Happens to every guy sometimes this does.” – Yoda

Floating Lotus - From sitting, bend your knees, resting one foot on the opposite thigh and the other foot on the other thigh. Put your palms on the floor outside of your thighs, lift yourself up and swing forward and back. Take it slow, as this is an intense pose!

Now either place your hands on the floor on either side of your body, or slide your arms in the spaces between your thighs and shins, push the floor away with your hands and lift your body up to levitate here!

Teamwork:

“PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE my young padawan.” – Yoda

Levitating Dog - In pairs, the base comes into dog pose and flyer places their palms on the floor about a foot or two in front of the base’s hands and puts their feet on the base’s hips. There is a perfect spot for the balls of your feet to fit over your friends hip bones. If you are the flyer try to bring your body 90° to your legs by walking your hands closer to the base; your weight will help the base stretch their legs more while you get a good workout for your hands and shoulders.

From here, the flyer pushes really hard with their feet, then base might be able to lift their hands off the floor and bring them to the sides performing a Levitating Dog.

It is imperative to be able to levitate here that both partners fall towards each other and pour their weight towards each other here.

Box prep + Box - To allow for a higher success rate in this pose start with the Box Prep where we will practice making the two shapes in this trick one person at a time.

The 2 shapes are a Pushup Shape and an L Shape.

In pairs, the flyer starts in the Pushup Position while the base starts standing and holding on to the flyer’s ankles. This is the first shape.

To come to the L Shape, the base takes a step forward as the flyer bends in their hips lifting their hips to be right over their shoulders. This is the second shape.

For the full version of The Box, the base will lie down on their back with their hands straight up, 90 degrees in their shoulders. The flyer will stand facing the feet of the base and bend to hold the base’s ankles. Some bases have skinny or sensitive ankles so you can use a towel or blanket or a yoga mat to pad them before the flyer grabs the ankles.

Now the base keeps their arms really straight, and the flyer gives the base one ankle to hold and then the other, so that both flyer and base are in the first shape together forming a rectangle box.

To go up into the second shape and to make a square box, BOTH flyer and base need to use their core to pull into the centre making an L Shape with their body. Flyer must be stacked with hips over shoulders over hands over the base’s ankles. Flyer’s ankles are stacked over the bases hands, over shoulders, over hips.

Keep switching between the square and rectangle as long as you have strength. Use a Mini Teacher (3 person) for help who can even help pull the flyer’s hips up towards the square box and also keep everyone safe.

If you feel very strong you can lift one leg and hand up!

20 Minutes

Starship Squadron Maneuvers

Do. Or do not. There is no try. – Yoda

This is a high-energy flying game that turns the room into deep space. The students become a squadron of starfighters flying through asteroid fields, hyperspace tunnels and rebel rescue missions, while still practising balance, coordination and teamwork.

Everyone begins as a starship in Airplane Pose or Warrior 3, with arms stretched like wings. If this is too hard, bend the standing knee or use a wall, partner or chair as the docking station. The aim is not perfect balance. The aim is alertness, recovery and graceful crashes.

The teacher calls commands: “Hyperspace!” and everyone runs safely in slow motion around the room with arms wide. “Asteroid belt!” and everyone ducks into Squat or Child Pose. “Enemy fighters!” and everyone rolls to the side or spins carefully into Star Pose. “Repair the engines!” and everyone drops into Plank, Locust or Bow Pose. “Return to base!” and everyone forms a circle again.

Now divide into small squadrons of three or four. Each squadron creates a short flying sequence with at least one balance pose, one low pose, one partner shape and one dramatic sound effect. They perform it for the other squadrons, who copy it like a fleet moving as one.

Bring the meaning back: in space, one reckless pilot can crash the whole squadron. In life, our choices also affect the people around us. A Jedi does not just fly fast. A Jedi flies aware.

8-10 Minutes

Jedi Healing Energy Work

“Much to learn you still have. My old padawan. This is just the beginning!” – Yoda

There are unseen things in the world around us that have a major effect on our lives; thoughts, energy, the force… By paying attention, we can become more aware of them.

In pairs, sitting one in front of each other, both partners rub their hands really quickly until heat is generated. Then, one partner keeps his hands low and facing up, while the other partner starts just above his palms with his hands facing down and slowly bounces his hands up and down.

You can play with the way you move your hands to feel the energy: you can slide your hands to the side a bit, move your fingers like you are playing a piano; see if your partner can feel that!

You can also stretch the energy by slowly lifting your hands up. You can do this with your eyes open or closed… it makes no difference. After a minute or two, put your hands somewhere on each other's body and use the energy to heal each other before you switch rolls.

You can also continue from here to do some more healing. One partner sits with her eyes closed while the other partner, the healer, sits behind her. The healer now rubs her hands quickly until some heat is generated, and then puts her hands on her partner’s shoulders. After a few moments, when you guide all the healers to do so, she moves her hands to her partner’s shoulder blades, middle back, lower back, and returning to the shoulder blades.

In the next step of this game, the healer brings her hands a bit away from her partner and keeps them over the shoulder blades for a few moments before moving again to the lower back etc...

After a few more moments the healer can remove her hands and rest for a few more breaths before asking her partner if she still feels her hands on her back. The answer will usually be yes, even though the hands aren’t there anymore. Switch roles when ready.

5 Minutes

The Asteroid Belt of Distractions

Control, control, you must learn control. – Yoda

Place yoga blocks, cushions, beanbags or soft balls around the room as asteroids. The mission is to travel from one side of the galaxy to the other while staying in a chosen yoga pose or animal movement.

Each student chooses a travelling pose: Bear Walk, Crab Walk, Frog Jumps, Caterpillar, Lizard Crawl, Skipping Starships, or slow-motion Jedi Lunges. They must move through the asteroid field without touching any asteroid or another spaceship.

The teacher, or a few students, can gently roll soft “meteor” balls through the field. If a meteor comes near, the Jedi must not scream and run. They pause, breathe, and choose: move around it, freeze in balance, or curl safely into a protective moon rock shape.

Each time someone touches an asteroid, they do not “lose”. They kneel, take one Darth Vader breath, name one distraction that sometimes pulls them away from their focus, and re-enter the mission.

This turns the game into a powerful life lesson: distractions are everywhere. The path is not to remove them all, but to learn how to move through them with awareness.

5-7 Minutes

Telekinesis… Almost!

“Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.” – Yoda

Passing a Cup of Water - Sitted in a circle, pass a cup full of water from one to another without any water spilling. If it is too hard, take a sip of the water. If it is too easy, add some water.

Pass The Flame - Same exercise as above but with a candle, passing it from one to the other without the flame blowing out.

Both at the Same Time - For an extra challenge pass both the candle and the cup of water at the same time holding one in each hand.

5 Minutes

Light Side / Dark Side Choice Relay

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. – Yoda

Make two sides of the room: Light Side and Dark Side. Read out everyday situations children understand: “Someone takes your turn”, “You lose a game”, “A friend ignores you”, “You feel jealous”, “You are scared to try something new”.

For each situation, the children first run, crawl, hop or pose toward the Dark Side and act out the automatic reaction in a safe exaggerated yoga-drama shape: stomping Warrior, tight angry Ball Pose, frozen fear Starfish, or collapsing Sad Rock.

Then everyone takes one breath, returns to the middle, and chooses a Light Side response: asking for help, using words, taking space, trying again, apologising, including someone, or breathing before acting. They move to the Light Side and show that choice in a calmer, stronger yoga pose.

Let a few children create their own scenarios. Keep it playful, but do not rush past the meaning. This is the Jedi path: not pretending we never feel fear or anger, but learning how to choose what we do with those feelings.

5-8 Minutes

Darth Vader Meditation - Closing the Senses (Yoni Mudra)

“In the end, cowards are those who follow the dark side.” – Yoda

Sit up tall (most children find it most comfortable to sit with their knees tucked to their chest because they can then rest their elbows on their knees) or lie down on your back and cover your sense organs with your fingers in the following way:

Place your thumbs in your ears so that you won’t be able to hear anything, place your index fingers gently on your eyelids, place the middle fingers on your nose, the next set of fingers above your lips, and your little fingers under your lips.

Keep your elbows down and shoulders relaxed. Start breathing deeply, deep enough so that you’ll hear your breath very loudly inside your head. After about ten deep breaths, gradually make your breath so quiet and unnoticeable that you don't hear it anymore.

Now, start listening to sounds by your right ear, and as you listen, bring your attention to subtler and subtler sounds. Sounds that are hiding under the sounds that you already hear… go deeper and deeper within in this way.

Stay here for another few minutes before releasing your hands. When done, keep your eyes closed and enjoy the effect of this wonderful exercise for a few more gentle breaths.

5 Minutes

“May the Force be with you.” – Yoda