Let's start the new year with PEACE! I thought I would share a little about the science behind feeling peaceful. The international yoga teacher training program, Kidding Around Yoga, has a mantra they teach every teacher and child who experiences their program: Peace...
Build Your Child’s Kindness Muscles!
We all recognize the importance of kindness - a vital character trait we want to develop in ourselves and our children. Here are some quick ways to build the kindness muscles in your kids and students: Post It Notes - This is a fun activity to spread kindness in your...
5 Habits for Happiness
First of all, how awesome is the job title "Happiness Researcher"? Apparently it is a real career and Shawn Achor is just that - a happiness researcher out of Harvard University and author of The Happiness Advantage. His TedTalk on happiness and success is one of the...
Practicing Self-Regulation with Children’s Yoga
Self-regulation is an often overlooked, yet quite teachable, tool we can provide the littles in our lives. In all honestly, I feel like it’s only been my adulthood exposure to yoga that has really helped me develop the ability to calm myself down, think through my...
A Sense of Belonging
A few years ago, I participated in a course called “The Happiness Program.” One of the activities we did was to go to every member of the group, look them in the eyes and say, “I belong to you.” The whole situation brought out awkwardness, shy smiles, and some...
Yoga for Your Feet
Did you know that our feet have 26 bones and 25 joints? Not to mention, they also have over 20 muscles and tendons. Feet are the basis of many yoga poses. It makes sense that we should focus on them. According to one yoga expert, we know the importance of healthy feet...
Yoga IS Love
How does yoga relate to love? Perhaps there are obvious ways - like doing something you love or doing something that is good for you. But the true Yoga of Love is much more subtle and much more profound. We can look to the Yoga Sutras to help us expand: "Or by...
Polar Bear Yoga
They are cute, fluffy, and super wintery, although you may not want to try to cuddle one! What are they? Polar bears, of course. Kids love learning about animals, especially these unique bears. A polar bear themed yoga class is the perfect opportunity to blend...
Celebrate ALL of the Winter Holidays!
One of the best ways to teach compassion and to build more empathetic kids is to re-frame the world from the perspective of the viewer. Children are naturally curious, open-minded, and flexible in regards to integrating new information and differences among people....
Homework Help: Brain Breaks and the Calm Kit
Does anyone have a really easy-going child, until it comes time for homework? (Raises hand emphatically!) Is anyone a homeschooling mom that loves teaching their child, until they come across something difficult and they become difficult in return? (Still raising hand...
There Was an Old Monster – Kids Yoga and Literature
Have you heard the story There Was an Old Monster by Rebecca Emberly? It's written in the same pattern as the old classic, There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly, but in this version, the monster swallows a tick which starts a cascade of problems for him. With its...
Pumpkin Patch Party
When you think of October, chances are you think of pumpkins! Whether as a fall-specific spice, a fun Jack O'Lantern craft, a tasty pie, or a festive decoration, pumpkins are synonymous with fall. So take that seasonal energy to your yoga mat with some...
Explaining the Yamas and Niyamas
As Kids Yoga teachers, we have the amazing responsibility to introduce children to the ideas in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. About 1600 years ago in India, Patanjali condensed two different traditions (Ashtanga Yoga and Karma Yoga) to compose the Yoga Sutras, the...
Can You Build Literacy Skills Through Yoga?
We all know that a yoga practice builds strength, flexibility, and co-ordination. Did you know you can also use the ancient practice to build literacy skills for even our youngest yogis? Yoga teaches sequential thinking and planning: Listening to and following...
Teaching Ahimsa
The first time your child rolls out her mat in a yoga class, she is exposed to many new words, which shouldn’t be surprising, really. The practice of yoga is from ancient times, for many of us it is from a foreign culture, and utilizes an unfamiliar language...