Learn Together

Yoga poses stretch your muscles and increase your range of motion. With regular practice, it will improve your flexibility, and keep your mind and body healthy!

Materials

• Stretchy, comfy clothes
• Yoga mat (optional)

Move Together

Follow along using CMOM’s Animal Yoga Poster to flap like a butterfly, stretch like a snake, and roar like a lion.

  • Butterfly: Sit on the floor or a mat, legs bent. Have the bottoms of your feet touch. Holding your feet, lift your knees up and down—these are your butterfly wings. Flap those wings! Flap your wings slowly then very fast! Press down on your legs to stretch your butterfly wings then lean forward to stretch your butterfly back.
  • Snake: Straighten your legs putting your feet in front of you. Keep your body in one long line like a snake. Reach forward. Can you touch your toes? Flex your feet so your toes are toward the sky, then point them away from you. Move your feet around like the tongue of a snake and say “ssssss.”
  • Cobra Snake: Turn over onto your belly with your legs touching. Pretend your whole body is a snake. Press your chest up like a cobra snake does. Turn your cobra head to the right and to the left to look around you.
  • Eagle: Open your legs into a split and spread your arms wide. Pretend you are an eagle soaring in the sky. With your right hand reach toward your right foot to fly east. Reach toward your left foot to fly west. With both wings reach towards the center to fly north.
  • Crocodile: Press your body up into a push-up position. Pretend you are a crocodile! Keeping your legs straight, slowly walk four steps forward like a crocodile. Now walk four steps back.
  • Dog: Walk your hands a little closer to your feet and lift your hips and bottom up. You will look like an upside down V. Wiggle your shoulders and hips right and left to wag your invisible tail.
  • Cat: Bring your knees down to the ground so you are on your hands and knees. Arch your back up to the ceiling so it is curved and look down. Pretend you’re a cat. What color is your fur?
  • Cow: Curve your back with your belly reaching toward the ground and look up. This is the cow pose. Now moo! Switch from cat to cow a few times to stretch your back.
  • Lion: Sit your bottom back onto your feet. Bring your body up while your hands are still touching the floor. This is the lion. Give a big lion roar!
  • Giraffe: Bring yourself all the way up to a standing position. Reach your arms high above your head as high as you can. You are a giraffe with a very long neck! Lean your giraffe neck to the right and to the left and pretend to reach all the leaves in the trees.