Kids and Qi Gong

Today, I was invited into my daughter’s kindergarten class to share some Qi Gong. It was my first time working with kids in this way, so I had no idea how it would go. My goal was simply to introduce them to some basic concepts, and hope that they stayed engaged for a bit of it. As it turned out, they blew me away, beyond all expectations!

We began by sitting in a circle, around a blanket that I had laid out with tons of twigs, leaves, wildflowers, and seeds. I asked them to pick two things, and then take some time exploring what they had picked. Is it smooth, shiny, soft, spiky? Does it have a scent? If you drop it, does it fall quickly or more slowly? Then we talked about their observations. We talked about what they all had in common: “They are all nature.” I prompted them: “What else is nature?” They blurted out, too excited to contain themselves: “Leaves!” “Trees!” “Animals!” “Grass!” “Water!” And then, I heard a giggle, and the most magical moment:

“Henry says that WE are nature!”

Stunned, I pointed to Henry: “Henry, can you say it again please, and louder!”

“We are nature!”

I was stunned simply because it was the most important point of the lesson– and I never thought they’d hit on it on their own. I thought I’d be the one to say it aloud. But in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Kids are so close to the source– definitely closer than most of us adults.

After some direct connecting with nature, we did a spontaneous Qi Gong shake, followed by a series of very simple Qi Gong exercises, relating them all back to things found in nature, (sun, rain, rainbow, cloud hands, etc.) If they became tired, or felt like taking a break, I said they could stand like trees, or sit like rocks. There was some serious Qi gathering and cultivation happening in that room! There were trees growing, rain falling, suns brightly shining, rainbows coming out, and lots of heart opening. After about 20 minutes of moving Qi Gong, when we had about 6 rocks, we all sat down, pushed the ocean for a bit, and then lay down like sleeping tigers in the sun. They were, in a word, pooped. Guess what- so was I.

Their spontaneity and openness brought such lightness and joy to the practice– I was beyond grateful for the opportunity to practice alongside them. There’s something about practicing with children that you just don’t have with most adults– they are unafraid to explore their silly side– unafraid to open themselves up to possibility. Most lack the clunkiness in the thought to action process that many adults have. They can simply be the tree, without having to stop and think what that might be like, and whether they look ridiculous doing it.

I cannot wait to share Qi Gong with children again! Perhaps I’ll have another all kids class, or offer a family class– both would be lovely. As soon as I have another public class offering, I will post it here, and elsewhere, with all of the details!

In the meantime, I encourage everyone to either tap into your childlike self, and/or go into nature with a child, and remember and explore what it means when we say, “We are nature!”