Animal Yoga for Kids (Grades 3–5): Session 2 — Imagination, Dreams & the Courage of the Hummingbird By Jasmine Beyhum
Animal Yoga for Kids (Grades 3–5): Session 2 — Imagination, Dreams & the Courage of the Hummingbird and the powerful abundant expression of the frog.
By Jasmine Beyhum
Welcome back to Animal Yoga for Kids, where we explore the wild wisdom of nature through breath, movement, sound, and imagination.
In this second session, we soared into the world of imagination and courage—guided by one of nature’s tiniest, most magical creatures: the hummingbird and also the power and abundant self-expression of the frog, to voice and leap into its dreams (not from the little voice of fear, but from the unbounded voice of the whole body).
🐦 The Courage of the Hummingbird
Did you know the hummingbird is one of the only birds that can fly forward, backward, sideways, up, and down?
She can even hover in place like a tiny helicopter!
And although she’s small, the hummingbird is incredibly brave. She travels huge distances across mountains and oceans—not knowing exactly what she’ll find on the other side. But she goes anyway.
That is courage.
So today, we asked ourselves:
What would it feel like to be that brave?
What if we could move through fear, just like the hummingbird?
💭 Courage to Speak, Act & Dream
We talked about the times when we feel afraid to raise our hands, share our thoughts, or try something new.
Have you ever felt scared to speak up in class—even though you really wanted to?
Maybe you were afraid of what others would think.
Maybe you thought you'd get it wrong.
Maybe your heart wanted to say yes, but your mind whispered no.
But here’s the truth:
Every big dream begins with a small, brave moment.
And when we practice courage in our bodies, and moving the voice from the ground through to the sky, we make it easier to live courageously and to dream bigger in real life too.
🧠 Body First, Mind Second
In this session, we reminded ourselves that the body is instinct. It knows what to do.
But when we don’t listen, the mind gets too loud—and we start overthinking, second-guessing, and holding ourselves back.
So we practiced moving before the mind could stop us.
🚀 The 5-Second Rule (coined by Mel Robbins): Hummingbird Blast-Off!
Have you ever seen a rocket ship launch? It counts down:
5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BLASTOFF!
We used that same countdown to practice micro moments of stillness, followed by a quick, bold blast of movement—just like a hummingbird. (We repeated this practice again with the frog, moving the voice from the ground to the sky and working with the sound of the frogs through the entire body as we leaped into our dreams).
I counted 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
And the kids BLASTED OFF!
Flying forward, spinning backward, sliding sideways, even zipping up and down.
We repeated this again and again—finding the rhythm between pause and action.
This helped the kids learn that you only need a few seconds of courage to shift everything—just like the hummingbird who dares to take flight, not knowing what lies ahead.
🌟 What We Repeated Together
After each round of movement, we came back to stillness and whispered or shouted these affirmations:
I am brave like the hummingbird
I choose to act before fear takes over
I trust my body
I believe in my dreams
I blast off into life!
The energy in the room was electric—alive with freedom, laughter, and imagination.
💌 A Message for Parents & Teachers
This session was all about helping kids build the muscle of courage—through the body first.
By teaching them how to feel instinctively, move intuitively, and act before fear can block them, we’re laying the foundation for confident self-expression and emotional resilience.
The hummingbird showed us that we don’t have to be big to be powerful—and that bravery doesn’t always look loud. Sometimes, it’s a whisper inside that says, “Go anyway.”
And with just 5 seconds of stillness…
They took flight.
🧘♀️🐦
Until next time, may you trust your body and follow your wings.
With courage and joy,
Jasmine Beyhum
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