Learn the Alphabet Through Yoga
What if learning the ABCs could also encourage movement, mindfulness, and imagination? The DharmaCrafts Yoga Alphabet transforms familiar letters into playful yoga poses that help children connect their minds and bodies while building confidence, balance, flexibility, and focus.
Each letter introduces a simple pose inspired by an object, animal, or idea—from A is for Airplane to Z is for Zebra—making it easy for children to learn through movement rather than memorization alone. Whether you're a parent, teacher, homeschool family, yoga instructor, or caregiver, the Yoga Alphabet offers a fun and engaging way to weave mindfulness into everyday learning.
As children stretch, breathe, and play, they naturally develop coordination, body awareness, concentration, and a lifelong appreciation for movement. Best of all, every pose becomes an opportunity to laugh, imagine, and explore together.
Let's begin our yoga alphabet adventure—one letter, one breath, and one pose at a time.
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1. Opening with Namaste
We begin by greeting each other with Namaste, which means:
“The light in me sees the light in you.”
For young children, I explain this as:
We each have something special about us—something we’re really good at, something we enjoy doing, or something we’re learning to do. Examples of this are, jumping high, running fast, drawing, cooking or learning to read. I hold out one hand and say,
“This hand reminds me of something that makes me special.”
Then I talk about how we all do kind things for others—like helping a friend who is sad, putting recycling in the bin, or cleaning up the classroom. I hold out my other hand and say,
“This hand reminds me of all the kind things I do for others.”
When we put our palms together, it shows that we are both special and kind. That is our light. When we begin and end yoga, we honor that light in each other with Namaste.
2. Breathing Practice
We sit criss-cross applesauce and begin to breathe deeply to prepare our minds and bodies for yoga.
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Inhale through the nose like you’re smelling a beautiful flower, hands on our bellies, which get bigger as we breathe in.
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Exhale through the mouth, gently, making our bellies smaller again.
We repeat this three times. To help visualize the breath, we use the Hoberman Sphere, which expands and contracts like our bellies do when we breathe. Children can open the ball slowly or quickly to match their breath. This “breathing ball” is also a useful focusing tool in later poses.
3. Introducing the Alphabet Cards
In adult yoga, we move through sequences—one pose flowing into the next, all in sync with our breath. With DharmaKids Alphabet Yoga Cards, kids can do the same... but with a fun twist!
Our cards are super flexible (just like your little yogis)! Toddlers can pick a card just because they like the picture and strike a pose. Early readers can build simple words like "cat" or "sun," turning letters into a mini yoga flow. And as reading skills grow, so do the sequences—imagine spelling out “rainbow” and flowing through all those poses!
Kids can get silly, creative, or even show off their spelling smarts—all while moving their bodies and having a blast. With these cards, the possibilities (and the giggles) are endless! In today’s lesson, we will briefly introduce one game- Story Builder which is one of the games included in the Dharma Kids Alphabet Yoga Card deck. There are many more ways to play, and we’ll explore them together in future lessons. We’ll also begin meeting each letter of the alphabet one by one, discovering new yoga poses, building words, and creating even more adventures through movement.
4. Using the DharmaKids Alphabet Cards
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Holding the deck behind your back, begin with telling the children that today you brought something special for them. Can they guess what it might be? A book? A puzzle? A toy? Slowly bring out the deck.
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Place the deck face down and choose the top card. Begin the adventure with this card. Read the card aloud, practice the pose and start a story.
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Choose the next card, (if playing with a group of people, each player takes a turn picking a card), read it aloud and do the pose together. Whoever picked that card gets to decide what happens next in the story, using the card. Cards continue to be picked until either all players have had a turn, or everyone has decided the story is over.
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The following is an example with 5 players or 5 if cards were used.
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First card is A-Airplane (Dekasana)- We do airplane pose together, then the story starts. “We climbed into our airplane and flew into the sky”.
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Second card picked is V-Valley, (Navasana)- Do valley pose together, “The airplane landed in a valley”.
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Third card- Q-Queen (Utkatasana)- We do Queen pose together. “We met a queen who lived in the valley”.
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Fourth card picked is- M-Mouse (Balasana)- We do Mouse pose together. “The Queen told us to be as quiet as a mouse, shhh”.
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Fifth Card is- L-Lion (Simhasana)- We do Lion’s breath together. “We can’t wake the sleeping lion”!
4. Savasana (Final Rest)
After we finish our story and poses, we quiet our minds and calm our bodies with Savasana.
“Savasana helps our brains become calm and clear, making room for new thoughts and ideas.”
I demonstrate with the Yoga Dust Brush—a clear-handled brush filled with floating glitter. I show the kids how the glitter swirls when the brush is moving and settles when the brush lies still. I explain:
“Our thoughts are like that glitter—when we lie still, they settle down and our minds become clear.”
Children lie on their backs, breathing gently.
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Optional tools: Eye pillows or breathing buddies (stuffed animal) on bellies, and/or star machine with calming music or the bird timer.
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I gently “brush” a little yoga dust on each child’s forehead to help them relax.
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I guide them to breathe in through their noses, expanding their bellies to rise, and out through their mouths, letting their bellies fall.
5. Magic Yoga Hugs & Closing Namaste
After a few quiet minutes, we begin to wake up:
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Stretch arms overhead for a full-body stretch.
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Hug knees to chest, and slowly roll up to a criss-cross seated position.
We bring our hands to our hearts and think of someone or something we love—family, friends, pets, even a favorite toy or blanket. It can be someone alive or someone who’s passed on.
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Breathe in and raise your arms up.
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Breathe out and give yourself a hug.
“As we breathe out, whoever or whatever you were thinking of will receive a magic yoga hug, wherever they are!”
Repeat once more, either with the same person/thing or someone new.
Then, we place our special and kind hands together and bring them;:
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On our hearts: > “We respect each other with loving hearts.” Have the children repeat “loving hearts”.
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On our mouths: > “We respect each other with kind words.” Have the children repeat “kind words”.
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On our foreheads: > “We respect each other by trying new things with open minds.” Have the children repeat “open minds”.
Finally, we all say together:
“Namaste.”
