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Jen Carson is leading the Balance Challenge at the LP Fisher Public Library in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada.This photo spread is courtesy of the L.P. Fisher Public Library |
Of all the magical story times I’ve witnessed as a librarian, one of the most mesmerizing was when a yoga instructor quieted a room of 20 rowdy toddlers with a sparkling calming bottle. It looked like he was there.
The story time she led may have been very energetic. too much With so much energy, the toddlers wondered if playtime would come next. They focused on the cabinet where I kept my toy buckets. Then the instructor, a consummate professional, took a bottle out of his bag, shook it like crazy, and placed it in the middle of the floor.
“I want everyone to see this!” she cried, falling to the floor and resting her chin on her hand as she watched the colors swirl in the bottle.
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Young Enthusiasts at LP Fisher Public Library |
The kids knew something important was happening in that bottle. One by one, they lay on the floor and rested their chins on their hands, watching. Silence fell over the room. I wondered what had just happened. I had no idea that all it took to wreak havoc on her excited 2-year-old’s room was to relinquish all control and lie down.
The instructor took a deep breath. Soon, her children were following her lead and breathing with her. “Look,” she said. “Until the last color fades.”
That was 10 years ago. Since then, public libraries across the country have joined the movement, offering yoga to patrons of all ages, from infants to pregnant women to the elderly.
Jen Carson, Author Yoga and Meditation in the Library: A Practical Guide for Librarians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and Mobilize your community: Physical literacy programs for all ages (ALA Editions, 2018) says that when she started offering children’s yoga classes at public libraries in the early 2010s, it was truly an experiment, with unexpected results. We have found that combining yoga and story time is very popular.
“The kids came to our story time, they were really babies, and they didn’t do much physical activity other than play with their fingers,” said the resident, who now lives in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. says Carson, director of the LP Fisher Public Library.
Some children couldn’t sit still and read the story and ran out of the room as soon as Carson opened the book.
“I thought there had to be some way to tap into what was happening to them; draw them into the story while still touching them,” she says.
Carson began using her knowledge as a yoga instructor and autism support worker to provide movement-filled storytimes. She recognized her unspoken need for stimulation, and incorporating her yoga movements was a natural solution for her.
Soon the children rushed back into the There’s more room in her story time — especially for neurodivergent kids who crave a free-flowing atmosphere, Carson says.
“All kinds of lights were going on in my brain, like, this is really working, there has to be a reason for it,” she says.
This success led Carson to create the Yoga in the Library website, where she posts resources, videos, and more for librarians looking to incorporate yoga into their programs.
Noah Lenstra, then a researcher at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Greensboro, contacted Carson and helped connect other libraries across the country to host wellness programs.
As a result, in 2016, Let’s Move in Libraries was born, a collaborative project of U.S. and Canadian librarians that promotes physical and emotional health with programs that incorporate movement, meditation, and outdoor experiences. . Lenstra, currently an associate professor of library and information science in the UNC Greensboro School of Education, continues to run the organization. The organization says 72% of libraries nationwide offer yoga.
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Yoga at the Southwest Branch of the Orange County (California) Library System, a member of the “Let’s Move in Libraries” network.Photo courtesy of Orange County Library System |
Supporting teenagers in their ideal lives
Like many librarians, Daniel Avenue, youth services supervisor at Cottonwood (Ariz.) Public Library (CPL), developed a yoga program during and after the pandemic. Ave said his family and the teens felt a “shattering feeling” after spending so much time in isolation at home. I come to the library just to hang out because I don’t know where else to go.
“The kids said they haven’t been outside much,” Abe says. She and her staff also noticed that they weren’t getting as much quality sleep. Yoga and meditation seemed like an ideal way to strengthen their mental health and provide a safe space to explore and meet others.
Ave attended the Arizona State Library Conference in 2022 to learn about Arizona Libraries’ Mini-Grants Strengthening Resilient Rural Communities. She immediately encouraged her colleague Elizabeth Hansen to apply.
Thanks to this grant, CPL funded a series of summer outdoor programs that were a big hit with the teen community. That included field trips that took the teens to beautiful Sedona locations. Professional yoga instructors guided participants through yoga sessions, hikes, and breathing and relaxation exercises. All of this is meant to get you thinking about what your body needs. After receiving a second grant, CPL plans to offer this series again this year. The library is then seeking partnerships with the community to maintain the program.
When NOPL Early Childhood Literacy Director Kristin McCourtney focused on prenatal mental health and stress reduction, the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) expanded its already popular yoga and exercise-based programs to include It was provided at the branch.
McCourtney partnered with Shanda Domango Brown, founder of Domango Training, a local company specializing in physical and mental health, to offer prenatal meditation and exercise classes for pregnant people. It offers.
The class was simple, consisting of 30 minutes of simple stretching and breathing exercises during the lunch break. “Let’s take a moment to think about ourselves,” McCourtney says.
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Outdoor Yoga for Teens Hosted by Cottonwood (Arizona) Public Library |
children’s self-care
Lee Ramey, a youth services consultant at the South Carolina State Library, knows that adults may be familiar with the concept of self-care. But she says it’s important to remember that kids need self-care too. Calming the minds of young people is also an added benefit.
Ramey, who presented “Namaste in the Library: A Yoga Program for Youth” at the 2022 Children’s Library Services Association Conference, said it’s essential to incorporate yoga movements and time for breathing and meditation into story time for young children. I think so.
“Many times, I’ve seen 3-year-olds lie down in savasana and stay calm and still,” Ramey says. “To me, that shows that the child really needed some rest time.
“Young children don’t yet have the ability to vocalize when they’re frustrated or tired,” Ramey added. “Yoga programs give children an opportunity to teach self-regulation. This is another level of support that we can provide at the library.”
When incorporating yoga into storytime, especially with fickle toddlers, Ramey suggests some best practices.
First and foremost, “be confident,” she says. “You know story time, you know how to interact with kids, you know crowd management.” According to Ramey, this is half the battle.
She often speaks with librarians who think they need to hire experts to provide an “authentic” yoga experience. Not so, she says. “There are so many resources and professional development books out there. You can do this!”
Another important suggestion is to always have a backup plan like props, books, games, etc. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We have to be ready to change things,” she says. Ramey recommends things like scarves, Hoverman spheres, parachutes, bubbles, and stuffed animals. These can be used as breathing buddies for children to place on their stomachs and watch them rise and fall as they breathe slowly.
Carson has been leading yoga sessions in libraries for 16 years, which has taught her what works and what doesn’t. She has a lot of figurative tools in her storytime toolbox. Her book is filled with her hard-won recommendations for yoga classes for toddlers, breathing techniques, and book suggestions for librarians new to yoga, all of which she’s won over years of trial and error.
“When I first started, I would get really frustrated if the program didn’t go as planned,” she says. Now, she’s more focused on having fun rather than completing a specific routine.
“I learned how to make the program more child-driven. I followed their cues and paid attention to what they needed,” Carson says. “And through it I became a better teacher.”
Ramey says: “You have to be flexible. Just kidding.”
Now, let’s get back to that sparkly bottle that wowed me ten years ago. What did we learn from that? Before adding meditative moments to my program, my tendency to rush through life extended to story time. Now, it’s time for the story, but let’s pause. I wait. I rub my hands together to keep them warm and encourage the little ones to join me. We put our hands on our cheeks, chest and stomach. Breathe in and out. we are here together now.
Lisa Bubert is an author and children’s librarian in Nashville, Tennessee.
