Criss-cross applesauce, Amy Ragen instructed to her seven-member yoga class as she entered the studio. Ragen, a certified yoga instructor and experienced personal trainer, teaches once a week at the La Jolla Yoga Center, but her audience isn’t your typical one. Her students range in age from 3 to 8, and they eagerly take her class without their parents at their sides. Just like any adult yoga class, Ragen, a mother of three, started off a recent Tuesday evening class with breathing exercises. “Om shanti, om shanti, om shanti om,” Ragen chanted, after jingling bells to get her energetic students’ attention. As she repeated the classic yogi mantra, meaning “peace,” the kids chimed in one by one. Ragen stepped forward and backward, warming up as her students’ small frames became synchronized with hers. “Remember the ‘sun salutation’ from last week?” she asked the kids, referring to a series of postures ending in a rigorous reach toward the sky. Without hesitation, the kids took form. “Yoga is not just about poses,” Ragen told her fledglings as they continued bending forward and stretching upward. “It’s a way of life — a way of being passionate and showing compassion to the world.” The philosophy at the La Jolla Yoga Center, located at 7741 Fay Ave., is that “it’s never too late and it’s never too early to practice yoga,” said Genevieve Kim, the center’s general manager. Unlike many studios that are based on a particular style or cater to a certain demographic — commonly athletic 20-somethings or health-savvy middle-aged women — the La Jolla Yoga Center has upward of 30 class offerings geared toward every age and skill level. These include a “Silver Age” class for students over 55, a “Mommy and Me” class for babies and “High School 101,” which earns local students physical education credit for attending. Getting kids involved in yoga works wonders in terms of developmental skills and self-esteem, Kim said, and it’s a good outlet for kids who may not be apt to team sports. “It lets kids explore physical fitness without having to have ball in hand,” Kim said. For Ragen, keeping kids on the mat is a challenge, especially when yoga postures often require deep stretching, balance or meditative concentration. To keep things entertaining, she incorporates yoga-related activities that provide kids practical, “off-the-mat” benefits. For example, she tells a different story from a different culture each week and integrates coloring exercises. “Remember how we are all connected through the Universe?” she asked the class while pulling out a box of crayons and paper. “I want you all to draw what that unity means to you.” Ragen said she hopes to have her students put on a play for their parents in which they will act out scenes incorporating the yoga poses they learned in class. Keeping with yogi customs, Ragen ended her class with the classic “savasana,” a relaxation pose also known as the “corpse pose.” “Is it naptime?” one little yogi asked as Ragen dimmed the lights. While savasana can be the most awaited part of a strenuous class for adults, it was a special effort for Ragen to keep the kids still, flat on their backs, palms facing upward. Anya Fitzgerald, 7, and her sister Catherine, 3, have been students of Ragen’s for about a year — she teaches two classes a week in the basement of her La Jolla home — but they just started attending the La Jolla Yoga Center kids’ class in September. Anya said her favorite part of the class is the breathing exercises. “It helps me know how to calm down,” she said, “How to lay down and close my eyes.” Layla Pourhosseini was introduced to yoga when she was in preschool and loved it, said her mother, Sheila Nellis, so she enrolled her in Ragen’s class. The six-year-old said her favorite part of the class is stretching. She wants to be able to do the splits — and Nellis said she sometimes finds her daughter meditating at home. When asked what meditation means to her, Layla said “it feels quiet.”