Yoga Principle 1: Practice Peace

 

 

Surround yourself with love and kindness. Be gentle and peaceful in your thoughts and actions. Be respectful. Show kindness. Do not harm anyone or anything. Practice tolerance.

 

 

Avoid: mean or malicious thoughts or actions, ignorance, restlessness, swearing / cussing, selfishness, closed-mindedness (fear resulting from misunderstanding or intolerance breeds anger and hatred), violence

 

 

Practice: openness, compassion, love, understanding, patience, self-love

 

 

Example #1: Instead of wishing the school bully would be hurt, send him compassion in your thoughts 

 

and actions and watch what happens!

 

 

 

Example #2: You listen to your body as you practice yoga poses. If something hurts, you treat yourself 

 

with kindness and respect by backing off and going only so far as is comfortable and healthy for your 

 

own body, regardless of what everyone else is doing.

 

 

 

Suggested Reading

 

• The Peace Book, by Todd Parr

 

• Hey, Little Ant, by Phillip M. Hoose, Hannah Hoose, and Debbie Tilley

 

• The Colors of Us, by Karen Katz

 

• Unstoppable Me!, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Kristina Tracy, and Stacy Heller Budnick

 

• Zen Shorts, by John J. Muth

 

• Each Kindness, by Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis

 

 

 

Excerpted from Yoga for Children: 200+ Yoga Poses, Breathing Exercises, and Meditations for 

 

Healthier, Happier, More Resilient Children(F+W/Adams Media, 2013) by Lisa Flynn, E-RYT, 

 

RCYT, Founder of ChildLight Yoga® and Yoga 4 Classrooms®.