Butterfly pose

Butterfly pose

Butterfly pose is great for developing joint flexibility. It can easily be adapted to meet your goal, whether you wish to help children expend their energy or calm down. The faster children flap their “wings”, the more energy they will spend. Butterfly pose is perfectly suited to all phases of a yoga session (preparatory, active, relaxation). You may vary the flow in terms of breathing and movement depending on the phase.

Basic instructions for child’s pose:

• Sit on the floor and open your legs.
• Bend both knees and bring your feet together.
• Set your arms on your shoulders or on your feet to represent butterfly wings.
• As you breathe in, raise your knees up towards the sky. As you breathe out, lower your knees to represent flapping butterfly wings.
• Repeat several times.

How to teach children to do butterfly pose:

• Open, print, and laminate the following document: (Open butterfly pose).
• Show children the picture and let them see you doing butterfly pose.
• Give them the basic instructions listed above.
• Do the pose with them.

When should you use butterfly pose?

• The pose can be used two ways: to help children expend their energy or to help them internalize it and calm down.
• To calm children, encourage them to flap their butterfly wings very gently while breathing slowly.
• To help them expend their energy, invite them to flap their butterfly wings very quickly

A few variations:

• Enjoy a brief visualization exercise with your group. As they execute the pose, encourage children to imagine their butterfly: its colors, shape, eyes, etc. If you wish, invite them to draw the butterfly they imagined during this exercise.
• Divide your group into pairs. Have children sit facing their partner. Encourage them to coordinate their movements and their breathing as they flap their butterfly wings at the same pace.

Maude Dubé, Specialized educator