As Lynea and I savor our experiences at last weekend’s mindfulness and compassion conference in San Diego, we can’t help but be amazed about how much this movement has grown in the last 15 years since we first started offering Yoga Calm in the public schools.
And while we are constantly reminded that the challenges facing our children are daunting – bullying, obesity, technology, poverty – we also live in an age of unprecedented research and clinical support for the potential of mindfulness and compassion.
Conference Highlights
Here are some of the exciting developments shared with us at the conference:
- Mindful Eating with Kids and Teens
- Yoga for Substance Use Prevention
- Mindfulness & Trauma
- Mindfulness in Sports
- Mindfulness Applications in SPED
- Teaching Mindfulness Using Popular Music
We’ve made additional research citations and resources for teaching mindfulness available in this new area of our revamped website.
Lynea & Kathy’s Somatic Approach to Bullying presentation was also well received, with over 40 school teachers, researchers and therapists attending. Helping young people to find the strength to prevent bullying and victimization through physical yoga and story has been very useful in Lynea’s counseling with children and in Kathy Flaminio’s work with adolescents in hospital dual diagnosis units. Here is a copy of their presentation and, below, a video they shared of modern day justice warriors appealing to youth today:
Yoga on the Beach
While it was a bit rainy during the conference (I thought San Diego was supposed to be sunny!), Jim’s Saturday morning yoga session on the beach was blessed with sunshine. We had so much fun, with the group sharing some of our social/emotional learning games such as Tree Circle.
While we had 30 in that circle, it wasn’t our biggest. That one – at our 2013 Summer Intensive in Portland, Oregon – included more than 50 people!
Come join our Circle of Yoga Calm practitioners for this year’s Intensive, June 20-22.
