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,...
A Love Letter … to Yourself
Who says that you have to wait for Valentine's Day to show someone love (yourself included)? And what better way to introduce the concept of self-love to children than through a yoga class? In whatever time frame you have, you can incorporate a theme of self-love (and...
Self-Care for Busy People
"Self-care" is perhaps as big of a buzzword as "mindfulness" these days, and for a good reason: we need it! As yoga teachers, we often get into the business of teaching because we care about other people, sometimes to the point of forgetting about our own needs. I...
This is Your Brain on Meditation
Today's blog article was written by all-grown-up KAY kid, Whitney James, currently a Freshman at Elon University in North Carolina. If you are anything like me, meditation seems a little bit like “voodoo”. Sitting completely still and quiet? Clearing your brain of...
Moving Beyond “Me” with Meditation
Kids are naturally egocentric, and I say this as an educator without judgement and malice. The revolutionary child psychologist Jean Piaget described "Egocentrism" in 1951 as a natural part of a child's development. He said that until the age of about 7, children are...
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...
What’s So Great About A Mindfulness Practice?
Back in the 90’s before I had even heard the term ‘mindfulness,’ my older brother came back from a trip abroad, full of stories. One of the things he found funny was a sign that read “Mind your head.” As a practitioner of Buddhism, he automatically interpreted it as...
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...
Mindfulness Activities for the Family
Mindfulness is a meditation practice that trains the practitioner to be completely immersed in the moment, with all five senses. With practice, we learn to bring our scattered attention and energy back to what we are experiencing right now, without judgment, without...