All twisted up

Coral Wilson

An hour of yoga for some children feels like a trip to the moon and

back.

“Five, four, three, two, one, blast off,” instructor Dayle Lusk

said. “Sparkle when you get to the sky.”

Taking their cue, the small circle of 4- to 6-year-old

Tumble-n-Yoga students at the Murdy Community Center last week jumped

up from their squatting positions. The children blasted to their feet

with wide grins and looks of amazement.

“It’s sparkly,” 4-year-old Bianca Chandler said, turning in

circles and waving her hands in the air.

Some children were overcome by their imaginations.

Lusk painted the picture, incorporating some beneficial stretches.

The children lunged forward, reaching for a large hunk of the moon.

“What does it look like?” Lusk said. “What does it smell like?

Green cheese! Yuck!”

The children threw the cheese into the air, wrinkling their noses

in disgust.

“That was icky,” they said. “That was stinky.”

Instructors Tracey Dev and Lusk guided the children into the

butterfly position, and the group landed softly on the surface of the

moon. They flapped their wings and climbed into a cocoon.

Keeping the story vivid, they piled some green cheese onto their

toes, rolled onto their backs and reached their feet to the stars --

into the candle position.

“I’m a candle straight and tall,” Lusk sang. “You can blow but I

won’t fall.”

Dev got up to watch the children, straightening the candles that

had fallen over.

Yoga is an exercise that is often taken too seriously, Dev said.

It has health benefits for people of all ages, but for children, she

said, it is most important to keep it fun.

“I hope it will be an introduction to something that will stick

with them for the rest of their lives,” Dev said. “They will know it

is out there. It is a way to use the breath and to calm down.”

Combining yoga into Lusk’s Tumble-n-Kids gymnastics program, Dev

and Lusk created a new concept, Tumble-n-Yoga. Children learn basic

yoga positions and principles, while getting their share of exercise

and tumbling.

“All kids are going to tumble in one shape or form,” Lusk said.

“Children need to take a class to learn to do that safely, and it is

fun ... Even a football player can come back to a foundation of

tumbling.”

Both yoga and gymnastics have positive effects on children, such

as increased flexibility, strength and reduced stress, Lusk and Dev

said.

“Children have stress too,” Dev said.

The children continued exercises which magically transformed them

into dogs, pigeons, owls, swans, frogs, ducks, rabbits, trees and

even popcorn.

The children headed for the balance beam. But first, Lusk added

some excitement with an imaginary puddle of cold water and imaginary

sharks.

Step by step, the children wobbled cautiously across. The fish

circled just inches below, threatening to tickle their feet.

“Oh,” Bianca said, dipping one foot in the water. “That was a

froggy who just bit my toe.”

* CORAL WILSON is a news assistant who covers education. She can

be reached at (714) 965-7177 or by e-mail at

coral.wilson@latimes.com.