Downward puppy, son of sun salute

Read the statistics, peruse the headlines and heed the newscasters’ warnings -- our kids are getting fatter. Where there once were fresh air and whole foods, there are now Xbox and Doritos Nacho Cheesier, the modern age resulting in a disturbing decline in the health and a staggering expansion of waistbands.

“Obesity,” says Hall Davidson, director of educational services for Orange County-based public television station KOCE, “is the new tobacco.”

So how to get the kids back into shape? For KOCE and PBS affiliate KRCB in the Bay Area, the answer is “Animal Yoga.”

Created by Los Angeles locals Bobbi Hamilton and Renee Humphrey, “Animal Yoga” is an animation and live-action mix that teaches a 4- to 10-year-old audience everything from “frog hops” to “power words” to the importance of good manners and hygiene.

Hosted by two cheery and brightly clad yoga gurus, Wasabi (Hamilton) and Lil’ Chi (Natalie Macias), “Animal Yoga” combines candy-colored landscapes with an impenetrably chipper attitude about physical well-being -- imagine Richard Simmons landing a guest-starring gig on “Barney & Friends.”

The emphasis is on teaching the basics of yoga without the studied equilibrium of grown-ups’ classes. Instead, “Animal Yoga” is relentlessly upbeat; even the restful Savasana pose is underscored by a funky hip-hop soundtrack and framed by the simple Playskool-style animation made popular by “Blue’s Clues.”

“I think it has a lot going for it,” Davidson says, “ and I think it’s coming at just the right time.

“Using television time to improve the health of our young viewers, that’s something PBS as a whole is interested in. It brings physicality back to young people, because the program is interesting and crafted in a way kids really respond to.”

KOCE and KRCB have begun airing “Animal Yoga” as 2- and 3-minute interstitials, designed “to get the kids off the couch and up doing something active,” says Stan Marvin, director of broadcast operations at KRCB.

“We had a particular need for solid children’s fillers, and this was perfect,” Marvin says. “It’s getting great responses from viewers, which is no surprise here in California, where yoga is king. But I think it’s also in part that its style really appeals to kids.”

Hamilton and Humphrey began developing the “Animal Yoga” concept in 2001.

“I was living in Northern California at the time, doing breast cancer research and teaching yoga at various locations,” Hamilton says. “I remember wishing I had learned it when I was younger, and so I started teaching classes to kids. From there the idea just began to develop. I was interested in using methodology, in seeing how kids learned and working with their motor skills.”

For Humphrey, a film actress, producing and directing the first installment of “Animal Yoga” was a chance to explore another career.

“I had produced a short film,” she says, “and was interested in doing more of that when Bobbi and I formed the company. It just seemed the right time socially and culturally for something like this to be accepted and supported.”

In addition to their PBS spots, which air during morning children’s programming, Humphrey and Hamilton have produced a half-hour video and recently signed a national distribution deal for hotel in-room programming. Ultimately, they hope to develop “Animal Yoga” as a weekly series, bringing Wasabi and Lil’ Chi’s funky-fresh stylings to a large audience.

“We want to make it a part of as many kids’ and family’s lives as possible,” Humphrey says. “Yoga as part of my own life has been a balancing force and, these days especially, we all seem to need that balance.”

*

Animal Yoga

Info: www.animalyoga.com