Hello, Bali

Beaches, Sand and Palm trees! Bali might be perfect place to practise yoga poses. But if you, just like me, live a long way from the beach, you might need to use a bit of imagination to feel the warm breeze. If you close your eyes and breathe deeply, the colourful illustrations by Emily Gedzyk may help to transport you to the magic island. Meet Anamika and her family, who travel to Bali on vacation. Hello, Bali: A Kids Yoga Island Adventure Book by Giselle Shardlow is a perfect introduction to yoga poses. You can dance like a Balinese dancer, say hello to a waterfall by bending forward, or imitate the way dolphins splash around in the water. I love the way a pose is linked to the nature on Bali and beach activities, for example, the yoga pose Warrior 2 is described as “Surfers ride the rolling waves.” You see a circular picture of a girl performing the yoga pose on some of the pages and there is also a list of all the poses at the end of the book. There are some general advice at the end about how to arrange a yoga session and about the importance of engaging the child in the yoga session. Giselle says: “Ooze creativity, imagination, and abundance. Encourage each child to tap into his or her own creativity and imagination through movement and breath. Use the book as a springboard to other engaging learning activities.” This book can be used to learn a new language. You can learn to count and say “How are you?” and “My name is. . .” in Indonesian (or English). Maybe you can introduce some of these words while you are reading the story. This story is all about action and you need to test and try the poses – a perfect opportunity to practice counting to five, ten or even twenty in a new language while you hold a pose or practice your breathing skills. This could be done after your child is more familiar with the poses. The book is recommended for toddlers to early primary. But I think with some additional work the book can be appreciated by older children. You can g...

Hello, Bali is about a girl from India visiting Bali with her family. I love it when I can share information about other cultures with my kids. Yoga moves for kids! I have been trying very hard to get my daughter interested in yoga (I am a total yoga newbie myself) and she’s been resistant until now. Hello, Bali introduced yoga in a fun way that coincides with the book. Yoga moves include hello to the sun in Bali, the beach, sailboat, dolphin, sunbathers and more! Classic yoga moves “kid-a-fied.” :) The last thing we LOVED (me especially) was that it created some fun and special “together time” between myself and our daughter. Life is so busy and hectic, it was nice to read, decompress, exercise and even be silly for awhile. Two thumbs up for Hello, Bali!

Hello, Bali: A Kids Yoga Island Adventure Book from Kids Yoga Stories was the perfect way for us to engage in yoga together again. Wild Thing loves learning about new cultures, and he loves yoga, so this book is perfect for him. Some of the poses were easier for him and some we will need to practice and practice to get right, but that's what makes it fun. He's always enjoyed yoga as something he gets to do with mommy, but this book allowed him to enjoy it in another way as well. He loved going back and forth between the yoga mat and the book, and we got lucky because the book contained many letter S words, which we happen to be focusing on right now too. We've also been discussing meditation a lot, which is a byproduct of his interest in Star Wars, so he enjoyed learning some of the poses that lend themselves more toward meditation, in particular Hero's Pose. We focused on deep, slow breaths and worked on calming our mind and body. I'd like for Mother and Son Yoga to be something that we do regularly again, and I know that using this book will help us.

Chiquita and I love doing yoga together! When Giselle Shardlow was looking for bloggers to review her new book "Hello, Bali" we jumped at the chance! We received an electronic copy of the Spanish version "Hola, Bali". First off, this book is ideal for language learners because of the repetition. Each page introduces a word/pose and then says "Hola, ______". It was natural to have Chiquita says this phrase along with me as we did each pose. So apart from the yoga aspect, for language learning it was great to have an action with each word to help her learn the vocabulary. At the end they even had a section to learn Indonesian! It would be a fun extension activity to do the suggested actions with a partner repeating the phrases in both languages!! The flow of the poses was great. It was very natural to move from one to the next. After the story the author has a couple pages reviewing each poses and it makes it very natural to learn the poses with the story and finish by repeating the poses in a flow sequence. Ironically, the first time I got Chiquita to read this book with me she didn't want to. She kept asking if we could do "the other yoga book", Giselle Shardlow's "ABCs of Australian Animals". Ha! Once we started she was VERY enthusiastic about being the baby monkey for me to groom. I haven't made a secret of the fact that I'm a big fan of Giselle's yoga books. I think these would be ideal for any kids yoga class or personal practice.

When my kids were little, we all did yoga together as a family and the Kids Yoga Stories provide an excellent introduction to some of the more common yoga poses such as the triangle pose, chair pose, cobbler’s pose, resting pose among many others. In each of the stories, the author uses a piece of the landscape to provide a model for the pose, which is then depicted in a bubble at the bottom of the page as well as in an “index”of poses in the back of the book. So, for example, on the page introducing the “Dancing Ganesha” pose, there is an image of two Indonesian dancers to help children visualize how their body should be shaped when in this pose. As with all Kids Yoga Stories books, there is a section at the back of the book providing an introduction to the practice of yoga. Parents, teachers, caregivers and so on are provided with tips regarding safety considerations, the use of props, teaching children to breathe and relax as well as so much more information. This section is an excellent add-on. Hello Bali is filled with beautiful imagery associated with the landscapes of Bali such as the ocean, the jungles, waterfalls, mountains, and more as well as aspects of the Indonesian culture such as the markets, the dancers, temples and more. These are used as a backdrop for the introduction of individual poses. At the back of the book, the author included a simple map of Bali, a lexicon introducing the numbers 1 to 20 in Indonesian as well as some simple Indonesian phrases, “halo” (hello), “selamat pagi” (good morning), “nama saya” (my name is…). All in all, Hello Bali is a lovely, albeit, simple introduction to Bali. My Bottom Line: Hello Bali is a unique and educational picture book combining an introduction for children (and their caregivers) to yoga poses with a peek into the landscapes, language, and culture of Bali. The illustrations are delightful, the text is simple, and the yoga poses are well-depicted. The add-ons in the back of the book make this a must-ha...