Amazing!

Haley's Yoga Instructor Jennie is amazed by Haley.  So am I.

Haley had another Yoga session this week and she did really well.  Her instructor has picture cards that she uses to show Haley each pose.  They are very similar to what they use in school with her.  Haley's Yoga instructor has some experience teaching kids with specials needs.

Jennie showed Haley five folders at the beginning of her class.  Each folder had four or five poses in it.  She would show Haley the picture of the pose (hand drawn stick figures) and explain what the pose was and then ask Haley to try it. 

My favorite was the cat.

She showed Haley the drawing that she had made.  It was a person doing the cat pose, but she had drawn on cat ears and a tail.  It was cute.  The word cat was written above it.  She pointed to the picture and asked Haley what she thought it was. 

Haley was answering, but oh so quietly.  I think that the instructor could hear her, but I couldn't. 

Haley immediately went in to the cat pose.  From what I could tell it was a perfect cat pose.  Jennie said "Haley, you are amazing!"  She said "That was such a good cat pose, can you do a cow pose?" 

A cow pose is very similar to a cat pose.  In a cat pose the back is arched and the belly is brought up, in a cow pose the belly is brought down and the back is concave. 

Haley did it.

Like I said, it appears that Haley has done Yoga before, I just didn't know it.

Jennie asked Haley to do another pose later on in the session and Haley did it, but a little differently than she had intended.  Haley had chosen to do a more difficult pose.   Jennie just kept saying that she was amazing.  She said that a lot of adults can't even do what she was doing.  Jennie said she was a bit jealous of her flexibility and her trunk strength.  That amazed me.

Trunk strength is something that Haley has not always had.

Haley didn't walk until she was about two and a half.  She had a general lack of muscle strength in her whole body.  Her physical therapist recommended to us to have her try hippotherapy when she was very small.  The whole concept of riding horses as therapy is that the horses gait goes so well with a human that it strengthens the core muscles just by riding. 

Back when Haley started riding horses, before she could really walk very well, if someone had told me that at thirteen not only would she be doing Yoga, but that she would be impressing her intructor I certainly wouldn't have believed it. 

Here we are though and that is exactly what is happening.

Amazing!