I used to teach MANY classes per week. At one point I remember teaching 20 classes a week. I had a studio and I was still teaching all over town and wow was it crazy. If you are a Yoga teacher you know the drill. Teach, breathe, meditate, teach, eat, shower, (drive through Starbucks), teach, breathe, meditate…..and so on and so on. Oh yeah and don’t forget the part about keeping your own peace or “trying” to have a practice of your own. Don’t come to me for advice because I definitely have not figured it all out. This last year I had to stop teaching adults and put my blinders on. It was a painful decision…and THEN as if that wasn’t enough KAY started really taking off and I had to cut down on teaching my kids so I could Facebook, and Tweet, Youtube, and write newsletters, and post ads, and write our upcoming book and record music for the two CDs. Are you getting dizzy just reading this? It’s been a crazy wonderful time. I am still teaching but much fewer classes. You have to stay “in it” to keep the ideas rolling. When I received my certification one of my buddies said to me: “Teach, teach, teach, teach here and there and everywhere”. He was right and I tell my trainees the same thing. You don’t become a great teacher from teaching one class per month or even per week. When you get certified you have to teach your tush off. This is how you learn.

I am so honored to have so many trainees out there teaching so many classes. Spreading that KAY love all over the world. Things are busy and I’ve got an ear to ear grin on me at all times.   I was feeling a bit guilty about not teaching so much and missing my little kids….but these days I feel honored and blessed to know that my “trainees” are running around doing all that work for me while I record, and post and blog and advertise and do whatever I have to do to create more fantastic teachers around the world. Hey why don’t YOU join us!?    =)

This is so so classic I just have to post! I have even written about this in my manual and it works EVERY TIME. I entered my class today at the local bohemian school I sent my kids to. 50 kids, 4 rooms, 4 teachers all called by their first names. It’s my “laboratory”. I love them, they love me and allow me a lot of freedom to experiment with new games, concepts, etc. The kids are all amazing and have creative minds and LOVE their Yoga. I enter the room and this is what happened today verbatim:

KIDS: We have a new kid in our class named Sammy.
HARIS: Why don’t you invite him in to Yoga?
KIDS: The other boys told him it’s for girls.
HARIS: Well you know what I always do when a boy says that? I teach him the crow. Why don’t you go get Sammy.
SAMMY ENTERS THE ROOM
HARIS: Hi Sammy. I heard you were very athletic and I know you don’t want to do Yoga but I thought maybe I’d teach you to do the crow. It’s really hard to do, but I know how strong you are…wanna try?
SAMMY: OK
HARIS TEACHES SAMMY THE CROW….HE NAILS IT THE FIRST TIME…PLUS HE CAN SIT IN LOTUS AND HE’S VERY FLEXIBLE AND TOTALLY CUTE SO I KNOW I HAVE TO HAVE HIM IN MY CLASS!
HARIS: That’s awesome Sammy …I know you don’t want to do Yoga so you can go back to your class now. Thanks for comin.
SAMMY: No I want to stay! Can I stay in class?

NEED I SAY ANYMORE….IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM EVERY TIME!

It’s Saturday, November 12. I just spent a few hours at Rib Fest  (there weren’t any TOFRIBS so I didn’t eat. lol.) but I did get a chance to play TOE-GA with “Mar” from Music with Mar. She is the fabulous recording artist who recorded TOE-GA for me – the Yoga song/game that is sweeping the nation! She is a mentor to me and my oldest daughter used to attend her kids music classes 17 years ago. If somebody had told me THEN that I’d have my own kids music CD one day… I would have laughed at them. Who woulda thunk it? Mar has been an incredible inspiration for me.
My friend Shana Smith….AKA “Shana Banana”, another great kids musician has also helped to guide and mold me over the years. She played at my daughter’s ummmmm I think 7th or 8th birthday party. Once again if somebody had told me when she was dancing around the VINOY pool 12-ish years ago that one day I’d follow in her footsteps AND that HER 7 year old daughter would be singing on MY CD… haha… I would have plotzed. I guess we never know where life is going to lead us.
In the meantime I am so so so grateful to these two women who are phenomenal musicians and are featured on both of my CD’s. Check them both out and enjoy. Both are kind hearted, yogic minded women and I am so blessed to have them in my life! I guess EVERYTHING you do in your life leads you to your bliss… your Dharma… or whatever you wish to call it. It’s just a journey and IT’S ALL GOOD…

But really…..WHO WOULDA THUNK IT?

The ONLY thing better then teaching Yoga to kids is teaching Yoga to amazing trainees and knowing that they are going out in the world to spread the love. And the ONLY thing better than that is to be in a super awesome beautiful place like Colorado. Florida girl is in heaven in Colorado! It is so beautiful here and my trainees are incredible. Than again all of my trainees are incredible. Kids yoga teachers are usuallly playful, sweet, kind and loads of fun! I am having the time of my life and am so grateful to be able to call this my “work”. Haha….sometimes it is hard… but WORK? That’s kind of funny. Thanks to everyone who got me to this place, especially Evan, Cassie and Swami Vidyananda… and thanks to my trainees and all of the people out there who are going to make KAY an international sensation. Today is the last day of the training where we invite the community in for a free class and I am so excited. 18 kids that I have never laid eyes on….I can’t wait!

I love teaching the crow! In our teachers training we have a very specific, detailed method of teaching the crow and it works every time. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a child say: “I can’t do it”. And then in ten minutes or less they are doing the Crow. It is a HUGE confidence builder for any child. Or for anybody for that matter. I also use the crow pose to lure boys into class who often like to say: “Yoga is for girls”. I jump right into the Crow or the side crow and badabing badabang badaboom….there’s a new boy in class! If you are teaching yoga to kids I highly encourage you to teach the crow to all your kids. If they are too young to do it than focus on what we call “the little crow”. The pre pose. There is no reason that they can’t sit in a squat position with their arms on the insides of their legs and hands in prayer position for a few months or years until they are old enough to do the BIG crow. (The Crow). I love teaching the crow SOOO much that I even wrote a really GREAT song for our second CD that comes out in December (2011). If you want to hear it write me now and I’ll send it to you!