It’s Time to Address the Root Causes of School Shootings
For many of us, these past few days have been a tangle of grief and anger. Seventeen human beings were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida – 14 students and 3 faculty members. At least 15 more were injured. It’s not just the degree of bloodshed...
Bringing Yoga Calm into Mental Health Settings
Though Yoga Calm began in elementary school classrooms and student counseling groups, today, a wide variety of organizations and facilities have incorporated our program in their service to children and families. One of these is Frontier Behavioral Health, a...
Not Just for Twenty-Somethings in Spandex: Teaching Yoga to Seniors
If you teach older adults – or have thought about teaching seniors – you may want to check out the new book by Kimberly Carlson and Carol Krucoff, the amazing instructors of our Teaching Yoga to Seniors certificate training. Managing the emotional and physical...
Guest Post: Warrior II & New Year’s Resolutions
As third-grade teacher Stephanie Kennelly notes in her post below, reflection and goal-setting are important activities that even young children can learn. "Using mindful movement," she adds, "helps facilitate these life lessons." Our thanks to 1000 Petals for letting...
What to Make of the Mindfulness Backlash?
Considering how popular mindfulness has become, it’s no surprise that we’ve begun to hear more people challenging it. Some simply caution against all the hype and the idea that mindfulness is some kind of cure-all. Others slam it as just another superficial self-help...
Guest Post: Teaching Yoga Calm to Preschool Kids? Some Tips
By Dawn Craig 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 owner had asked for, it was like I’d...
Yoga as a Bridge Between Mental & Physical Health
So often, we talk about “mental health” as though it were somehow separate from physical health; as though the mind could be separated from the rest of the body and dealt with in isolation, largely through talk therapy. Yet the reality is that mental states manifest...
Guest Post: Our “Why” & Explaining the Brain
Perhaps one of the biggest fears teachers have when it comes to bringing yoga into their classroom is simply that the kids won’t buy it. In the post below, third-grade teacher Stephanie Kennelly suggests a brief brain science lesson can help pave the way for students...
One Counselor’s Insights on Dealing with Vicarious Trauma
These past several weeks have brought plenty of difficult, heartbreaking news. The Las Vegas shooting. Devastation from hurricanes on the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. Intimations of new warfare. Undoubtedly, memories and perhaps even strong emotion arose in you as...
Guest Post: Building Community & Trust Walk
Our gratitude to 1000 Petals for letting us share this great post by Stephanie Kennelly, a third grade teacher in St. Paul, MN, on implementing Yoga Calm's Trust Walk activity for building community - and our thanks to Stephanie for sharing her insights! You'll find...
“You Don’t Need to Be a Yogi”: Tips for Bringing Yoga Calm into Your Classroom
So you recognize the importance of bringing more movement into your classroom for both academics and health, but just how do you actually do it!? Meet veteran elementary school teacher and Certified Yoga Calm Instructor Laurie Shonkwiler. Laurie has been teaching...
Keep those Kids Moving… into the Fall School Year
Originally posted August 2, 2015 We’ve looked before at the relationship between physical activity and cognitive skills. The short version, as brain scientist John Medina has noted, is that our brains developed to work best while we’re moving in an outdoor...