Yoga Instructor teaches kids patience, expression

When Jennifer Vizina greets the children in her Yoga Story Adventures class at Wantagh Public Library, she sings a song for each one: “Is Sophie here today? Is Sophie here today? Jump up and down and all around. Sophie is here today.”

“(Vizina) is fabulous,” said Diana Vacarro, whose child, Connor, attends the yoga class. “We’ve been going since the beginning of the spring. She’s nice and mellow but still gets them to learn things while being mellow.”

Vizina started teaching yoga to children more than 10 years ago, and for more than five years, she has been running story adventures at the Wantagh library, instructing kids ages 3 to 5 on Fridays at 1 p.m. and Yoga Play for kindergarteners through fifth graders on Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m.

Parents said Vizina, whose company is called Blue Buffalo Yoga, is great with their kids, and they appreciate what their children are learning.

Yoga Story Adventures starts out with a short mindfulness and yoga session, before Vizina even gets to the book. She then reminds the children what yoga is all about: being strong, being kind, and stretching and knowing their body parts. Then she begins breathing techniques with them while using an expandable ball.

“She’s very good with the kids,” said John Nonnemann, who brought Rory to the class. “That’s important.”

The actual yoga starts with a simple pose of lifting the legs as Vizina tells them, “Criss-cross yoga sauce.”

Nonnemann said what matters the most is the “social interaction with the other children, a little exercising and the story time.”

During book time, Vizina reads a page, then they act out the page through yoga poses, before it’s onto the next page. They do things like start as a seed, curled up in a ball on their knees, and grow into a tree, stretching slowly with their arms, then the torso and the legs, until they get into a tree pose. They also go from being an egg into being a bird, and pretend to be kites as they swing their upper bodies around in a vertical circle.

At the very beginning, Vizina did a five-week series with only Eric Carle books. She soon realized she would need to branch out and now likes to lean on books with nature and animals, because they’re the most obvious to turn into yoga poses, and the most fun for the kids.

An especially good book, according to Vizina, is “The Tide Pool Waits” by Candace Fleming, because the water offers good motion options, and the water animals are easy to act out. Every Halloween, she reads them “The Five Little Pumpkins.”

“Stories are a big part of kids’ yoga training,” Vizina said.

Throughout the class, Vizina incorporates music and sound, playing songs that coincide with the yoga poses and principles. She also has each child play her singing bowl when they enter the room. At the end, she rings her wind chime over them as they lay still in a yoga position called dead man’s pose.

She doesn’t give adjustments to the children, but she will go around and offer individual instruction, since the classes are small enough.

Vizina said the choice of age range for each class is based on what the librarians think will meet the needs of the community. A 3-year-old child is the youngest Vizina is willing to teach, she said. Sometimes the children just jump, spin around or play with their mats and completely ignore Vizina.

“I want them to be joyful as I help them to refocus, not be strict,” Vizina said. “It’s about being playful.”

But most of the time, the children are paying attention and trying to copy her.

“(Sophie) loved it,” said Jennifer Vita, who brought Sophie to the session. “She was so engaged. She followed instructions.”

At the end of the class, Vizina gives them each a tulle scarf to play with, just to have a little fun. She turns this into a blanket and asks them to lay down in dead man’s pose. They all willingly oblige and rest quietly the entire time she’s playing her chimes.

“I don’t have a degree in education,” Vizina said, “but over 10 years, I’ve learned little tricks.”