A Yoga Adventure


We have a secret to tell you. Here at The Honeycomb Hub, we have our very own Pied Piper. Luckily, she uses her power for good and, thanks to already having her own brood at home, she is quite happy to leave the children here at the end of a session though there are quite a few who have asked to go home with her (my own son included!). And tears when she leaves are not uncommon. 
Our Pied Piper’s name is Kirsty Downey and she is our incredible yoga instructor.

Kirsty teaches yoga 5 times a week at The Honeycomb Hub yet is also in demand teaching at a local school and nursery too. Whilst adults enjoy a Vinyasa flow style yoga suitable for all levels incorporating pranayama, strength work and improving flexibility, children get to enjoy a yoga adventure in their Yogabees session.

Yogabees provides mindfulness and relaxation on an interactive adventure which builds strength, balance and confidence. It incorporates moves that cross the mid-line improving bilateral co-ordination of the brain while also teaching self regulation tools for calming down as well as improving focus and empathy.

Each Yogabees session is a workout bringing a story to life through a range of poses as well as plenty of aerobic exercise blending a range of different movements. It strengthens muscles, improves flexibility and raises body awareness.

Stories are fun with lovable characters yet also cover a range of issues such as separation anxiety and bullying that the character has to deal with throughout the story. Quite often children don’t realise they are exercising and we have one 5 year old girl who comes each week and call it story class!
A little yoga before bedtime!
Another 7 year old girl, who has done yoga all her life, recently turned to Kirsty midway through a more strenuous when she was slightly out of breath and said, “this yoga is almost like exercise!”

My own sons love Yogabees and though the Monday afternoon class is for school age children, my little one doesn’t want to miss out and his concentration during the class is excellent. He may not join in every single one of the moves like his brother but he hangs on Kirsty’s every word and is transfixed by the story. Recently, my little one missed the Yogabees session and so when big one came home he said he would show his brother the moves that he had missed and promptly retold the story of Parsnip the cat including starting and ending with their secret yoga code work, Namaste.

Yogabees adventuring!
Yogabees is fun and a great way to help children into exercise whilst joining in a story that changes each week. Child participation is key and quite often the story may change the intended direction as the children choose what to ‘pack’ in their suitcase for the adventure of the day.

Kirsty offers 30 minute Yogabees session at 4:30pm each Monday for school (ish) age children and at 10am on a Tuesday for pre-school children and they are P50 a sessions. Her adult session are at 10am on a Monday and Friday and 8am on a Thursday. They are an hour long session and start at P100 per session for drop in though you can buy a bundle of 5 sessions for P400 or 10 sessions for P700.
Yoga with a view

If you are keen to try Yogabees Kirsty will be offering free taster sessions on Monday 18th June at 4:30pm and Tuesday 19th June at 10am. For those interested in trying out yoga for the first time she will be offering a free taster session for adults at 8am Thursday 21st June. As there are limited spaces, you may like to let us know if you would like to join us to avoid disappointment. 



Kirsty is a fully qualified yoga teacher, YRT 200 Yoga Alliance registered (all yoga teachers should be registered and you can check here www.yogaalliance.org by name and country). She has also completed a children’s yoga qualification with Cosmic Kids. If you would like to know more, please check out her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/yogakirstydowney/ , drop in to Bump into Mums (this Tuesday 12th June 10am-12pm and our topic for this week will be getting ready to welcome your first baby)which Kirsty drops in to after teaching Yogabees   or send us a message at thehoneycombhub@outlook.com . 

We look forward to seeing you on your own yoga adventure soon.





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