Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny by Emily Ann Davison and Deborah Allwright ~ #GuestPost #BlogTour

It’s my stop of the blog tour for Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny by Emily Ann Davison and Deborah Allwright and I’m delighted to be sharing a guest post by Emily on the benefits of yoga for children.

Yo-Yo is a fidgety, bouncy, can’t-sit-still-EVER type of bunny. Even Grandpa’s yoga class won’t stop her wiggling and giggling! My daughters loved copying Grandpa and Yo-Yo as they tried out different yoga positions.

In a powerful, emotive spread, Yo-Yo finds herself lost and all alone in the deep, dark, shadowy forest.

Can she channel her inner yogi to find the way home? Deborah’s illustrations are brilliant, and the yoga positions are seamlessly woven into the story.

This is an impressive debut picture book in which Emily has created a memorable character in Yo-Yo. Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny is a book children will want to read again and again. We love it!

My mum was a yoga teacher and so it felt extra special to me sharing this beautiful book with my daughters. There are useful fact pages at the back of the book to explain how to do the yoga positions safely.

Now it’s over to Emily to tell us about the benefits of yoga for children…

More and more families, nurseries and schools are practising yoga, as the benefits of yoga for children become increasingly recognised. Below I talk about some of the positive effects of yoga, what inspired the story and how yoga was incorporated into Yo-Yo’s story about finding calm.

One of the benefits of yoga is of course the physical benefit. It can help develop co-ordination, balance and body awareness. It’s also a great way to encourage children to exercise. But yoga is not only beneficial for physical health, it has wellbeing benefits too.

I wrote the first draft of Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny at a time when my daughter was finding it tricky to feel calm at bedtime. We tried a number of different relaxation techniques, and one of the things that really helped was yoga. This is what inspired the story, as I saw the positive impact it had on her.

In Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny, the main character Yo-Yo is a fidgety, bouncy, can’t-sit- still-EVER type of bunny. At bedtime, she is full of energy and doesn’t feel calm. Grandpa comes up with an idea of trying yoga. I worked with my editor Tegen Evans at Nosy Crow to find a simple way of describing what yoga is to young children. Grandpa explains to the bunnies that yoga is a way to help you feel calm by breathing slowly and stretching into different shapes.

One of the benefits of yoga is that it can show children some breathing techniques to help with relaxation.

‘Breathe in. And out. And in. And out.’ are words that are repeated throughout the book. I recently read this on a school visit, and in every class as I read, I heard all the children, without being prompted, slowly breathing in and out, joining in with Yo-Yo!

In the story, Yo-Yo becomes lost in the woods and (spoiler alert) she remembers the yoga her Grandpa had taught her. By following through the different poses, she gradually finds herself feeling more calm and able to remember the way home.

Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny focuses on the calming and relaxing qualities of yoga. There are other wellbeing benefits too. Yoga can help with stress, improve focus and concentration, or help you feel brave.

But just as importantly, yoga is also fun to do! Taking part in a fun and exciting activity helps improve a child’s wellbeing and helps them feel happier within themselves.

I’m sure many parents and children will relate to Yo-Yo as a character. By the end of the story, she is still a fidgety, bouncy, can’t-sit-still-EVER type of bunny, but she comes away knowing that she can always do yoga to help her feel calm. I hope children will also come away from the story, knowing that it is absolutely ok to be wriggly and jiggly, but that there are techniques in the world that can help them feel calmer in certain situations, such as getting to sleep at bedtime, just like Yo-Yo.

Thank you Emily, I’m sure lots of children will be encouraged to try yoga after reading Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny!

Every Bunny is a Yoga Bunny was published by Nosy Crow, 3 March 2022