There are A LOT of activities for children to participate in these days, aren't there? Every sport ever invented (including some straight from fictional stories, like Quidditch) has a team kids can try out for. Your three year old likes wearing a tutu? There's about a...
Mindful Moments to Welcome Fall
Here in the northern hemisphere, we are stepping deeper into the autumn season. The temperature changes, the colors change and the daylight changes all affect our children in obvious and subtle ways. Let's help them embrace the inevitability of change and the beauty...
Kids NEED Restorative Yoga, Too!
Today's blog author is Kaden, an 11-year old Yogi (pictured below) This all started when my mother, my grandmother, and I were going over to a yoga studio to do a class on restorative yoga. I was really excited because this would be my first restorative yoga class. We...
When We All Need a Time Out
Let’s talk about some mindfulness practices to handle life as we all now know it, this weird ride we are all on. When we are blindsided by huge changes in life, we tend to want to find steady ground. It isn’t always easy to do this, especially when little ones are...
Modeling Self-Care
We often talk about self-care and why it is important to practice it, but we fail to mention that it is beneficial for the people around us too! When it comes to yoga, it is a definite form of self-care. It allows us to take care of our physical body through movement,...
Mini-Meditations for the Whole Family
Meditation is an ancient practice that provides many benefits for our modern brains. A 2010 study found that meditators' cognitive skills (sustain attention, visuospatial processing, working memory, executive function) improved after meditating just 20 minutes a day...
Teaching Mindfulness
"Mindfulness- A state of active, open, intentional attention on the present." Psychology Today "Mindfulness" seems to be a popular buzzword going around lately, but really it’s something that ancient civilizations knew and practiced. Our “monkey mind” (as Buddhists...
Witnessing the Power of a Child’s Mindfulness Practice
If there is one thing to be said about teaching children, it is that it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do with your time. Teaching mindfulness, meditation, and yoga to children is no exception. There are endless benefits of teaching children tools they can...
Using Mindfulness Practices to Redirect Behavior
Disciplining our children or even simply redirecting undesired behaviors has been a hot button topic that spans generations and cultures. Our schools are no exception. Mindfulness and yoga are being adopted in schools as contemporary ways to meet the social and...
The Art of Mindfulness
Pay attention! You need to focus! Can't you just concentrate? Sound familiar? Have you heard or said these things before? Yeah, me too. We probably all have. It seems we all need help once in a while being mindful. Mindfulness is simply paying attention to what is...
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...
Adaptive Yoga for Children
Kids worldwide need the same things to thrive: food, clothing, shelter, confidence, security, and a sense of calm. However, no two children are able to receive these necessities in the same way. Some children blossom in routine while others crave variety. One child...
Kids Yoga at the Beach
I love the beach! My favorite thing to do is to go to the beach. The ocean, the breezy air, the warm sand, and the bright sun in the sky… being at the beach is blissful. Now add some yoga to a beautiful beach day, and there is nothing better than that. Yoga at the...
Splish Splash Yoga
Want a new challenge for you and your young yogis? Try moving your Kids Yoga practice off the mat and into a swimming pool! Here are some easy ideas for games and activities to really make a splash! Cannonball: Assign a pose and have each child jump into the pool in...
Full-Blown Pranayama Putt-Putt
I grew up loving miniature golf. My grandparents have had a camper at Alleghany Mountain Resort at Rainbow Lake since my mother and her brothers and sister were young enough to enjoy the fresh air and open spaces. Much of summer’s free time was spent with aunts,...