Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Tips for Teaching Kids How to Listen to Their Inner Voice
Just as important as helping kids learn to hear what their body is telling them is helping them hear their inner voice - the voice of heart, of our inner wisdom, of the essence of who we are and who we are becoming. In fact, through all my years of teaching Yoga Calm,...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Why Kids Love to Lead Yoga
Learning to lead and follow are important life skills. Learning to balance leading and following are essential in relationships. (Who hasn’t known a person who negatively affects relationships because of their need to always be in charge or someone so passive, they...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Mindful Parenting
When a child acts out reactively, it’s the easiest thing in the world to respond just as reactively – with anger and impatience. And that response says far more than just “your behavior is upsetting, so please stop it.” It says that a big, fast, from-the-gut reaction...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Why Yoga Belongs in the Classroom
The idea that learning requires sitting at a desk for long stretches of time is kind of odd once you recognize that movement and learning go hand-in-hand. In fact, science suggests that we evolved to learn best while we’re engaged in physical activity. “As humans...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Essential Considerations Teaching Yoga to Seniors
By Kimberly Carson, MPH, C-IAYT, E-RYT Managing the emotional and physical challenges that come with aging can be difficult. But as yoga therapist Carol Krucoff of Duke Integrative Medicine notes, “If you think yoga is just for twenty-somethings in spandex, think...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Navigating Conflict, Setting Boundaries, & Maintaining Calm
When a child’s emotions get big, our own emotions can swell up, too. Our stress response kicks in, overriding our own “upstairs brain” – the logical, controlling part. When a child is upset, they rely on a parent or other caregiving adult to guide them through the...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Tips for Teaching Preschoolers
By Dawn Craig, LMHCCertified Yoga Calm Instructor I hadn’t planned on teaching Yoga Calm in a daycare setting. My sister had merely told the owner of my nephews’ daycare center about my experience using it as a counselor. When I presented the sample lesson plans the...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Strengthening Family Ties Through Yoga
By Lynea Gillen I once led a yoga class for a family that had been involved in Yoga Calm for several years. About halfway through, one of the older girls who hadn’t practiced in a while quietly said, “It’s good to be back.” Her mother smiled. Yes, it is good to get...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Ideas for Cultivating Gratitude in the K-8 Classroom
In our work with teachers and counselors around the United States, we're in a unique position to see what trends and common issues face schools. One particularly strong trend through recent years has been an emphasis on social and emotional learning (SEL) to help...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: How to Help Kids Manage Big Emotions
One afternoon in my counseling office, I was working with two boys. I told them if they played quietly while I spoke with their mother, they would each be able to choose something from the treasure box at the end of the session. They were terrific. So, as promised, I...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: The Place of Radical Caring in Education
In angry, challenging times like our own, it’s all the more important for us to pay attention to reminders of the best we can be. They are a source of hope, courage, motivation. One especially marvelous reminder can be found in the acclaimed documentary Won’t You Be...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: The Many Ways of Mindfulness
It was a lovely, sunny, summer day, and there I was beating myself up a bit for slacking on my meditation practice. Then my 7-year old granddaughter Anna rushed up and tugged at my arm. “Come on, Grandma. Come out and play with me!” So I followed her as she ran across...