Children’s yoga, adult hula classes on San Juan Island

Submitted by Alice Hibberd

There are two new classes to take at Island Soul Studios, formerly named XYZ Movement Arts. The studio is located at 689 Airport Center Rd. in Friday Harbor.

Children’s Yoga Calm

Tuesdays, 3:15-4:15 p.m.; children in grades K-6; $40 per month (4 classes) or $12 drop-in; beginning Jan. 9

Give your child the gift of nurturing relaxation through Yoga Calm. Youth will learn to deepen and focus their breath to manage emotions, practice a variety of yoga postures, and develop healthy relationship skills during both partner and group yoga activities focusing on social/emotional skills development. Older youth will be given leadership roles. Wear comfortable clothing.

Yoga Calm is an award-winning, K-12 wellness curriculum used by thousands of educators and therapists. Simple yoga-based activities, mindfulness exercises and social skills-building games help children improve their focus, learning readiness, behavioral skills, physical health and emotional stability. Yoga Calm helps benefits children’s overall health as well as their academic performance.

Alice Hibberd became a Certified Yoga Calm Instructor in 2011. She is also Washington State Certified Teacher with a MEd and has worked with youth in a variety of ways. She is a Friday Harbor Elementary School substitute teacher and has offered enrichment and after-school classes in dance, nature, art and community building for many years on San Juan Island.

Hawaiian Hula

Mondays, 6:15-7:15 p.m.; teen and adult Women: beginning Jan. 8: $45 per month (four classes) or $15 drop-in

Hula is a way of life in Hawaii — a celebration, a moving meditation, an expression of gratitude for the Earth, its living residents and Spirit ancestors. Join Alice Hibberd to experience hula as a dance of gratitude, learning how basic hand and body movements express a tale of the Earth, Sea and Spirit. Classes are offered with cultural integrity, practicing simple Hawaiian chant or song and studying the story and kaona (spiritual meaning) of each hula. Classes help to instill within students the true essence of the Hawaiian Hula as a sacred prayer. Wear comfortable clothing. Hula pa’u (skirts) provided for class time.

Hibberd has been a haumana (student) of the hula with Kumu Hula (master teachers) Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Keala Ching and more recently Leia Lawrence when living on Hawai’i Island in 2017. She first studied hula and several other dance styles as a young child. She has studied over 35 forms of dance and has taught Creative Movement, Zydeco and Waltz in addition to Hawaiian Hula. For her, dance is a universal language of creative expression.