Yoga Calm Fundamentals: 9 Tips for Talking with Children about Tragedies
If you’re GenX or a Boomer, you probably remember growing up with at least some fear of nuclear war. The threat reverberated throughout the media. At particularly tense times, Cold War conflict dominated the news cycle - just as hostilities between Israel and Hamas...
Teaching Students to Listen to Their Inner Voice
Last time, we looked a bit at the importance of helping children listen to what their body is telling them. Just as important 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...
Is It Trauma Speaking or a Tantrum? A Real Need or Indulgence?
Several years ago, I was working with a 4-year old girl who I’ll call “Joy.” She had experienced trauma, and her mother was very worried about her. Joy often had angry outbursts, and her mother wanted to be sure she was providing good support. At the end of one of our...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Listening to Yourself, Listening to Others
Updated from the original Hearing is just a physiological happening: You perceive sound. But listening? Listening happens when your brain makes meaning out of sound. It involves your active participation, whether you’re listening to others, your environment, or...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Why Helping Kids Reconnect with Nature Matters So Much
Updated from the original If you’re GenX or older, there’s a good chance you think of summer as outdoor time and back-to-school as a return to a mostly indoor routine - and daydreams of running about and playing freely all day in the sun, including plenty of time in...
Teaching Humanity in an Age of AI
Like any new technology, artificial intelligence is kind of…well…freaking out a lot of folks. We’re astonished by what it can do, yet scared of what it might wind up doing to us. Still, plenty of us are forging ahead. Even many teachers are already turning to AI for...
Summertime = the Perfect Time to Help Kids Connect with the Natural World
With the 4th of July now behind us, we're in peak summer, the season of outdoor fun. Even those of us who aren't especially keen on things like camping or hiking or getting away to the beach usually find ourselves spending far more time outside and in natural or...
The Start of Empathy: Helping Children Learn to Identify & Work with Feelings
It’s a familiar idiom on social media: I feel some feels. I’ve got all the feels. This hits me right in the feels. Shorthand for the word “feelings,” Know Your Meme describes “feels” as a word used to describe an intense emotional response, such as sadness, excitement...
In-Person Yoga Calm Courses Return with Celebrate the Human Spirit!
Say “yoga,” and you might instantly picture the stereotypical thin white woman in Downward Dog or Cobra or Warrior I, or maybe just breathing deeply, face turned toward the sun. Mindful movement is what seems to define yoga. But it’s not the foundation. Where the...
Yoga Calm Fundamentals: Receiving Your Students’ Gratitude
With the end of the traditional school year fast approaching, it can be a crazy-busy time for teachers and students alike, with a million things to wrap up before summer break. We're all feeling the pressure and counting down the days. One thing that can be easy to...
When Bad Things Happen: 9 Tips for Talking with Children about Tragedies
What do you say to a child when yet another act of wild violence dominates the news? How do we help them make sense of the strange and troubling scenes, and so many people saying “never again” even as nothing much seems to change? Working Toward a Positive, Strong,...
Our Digital Devices Are Powerful. So Is Unplugging from Time to Time
It’s one of our very favorite quotes from writer Anne Lamott: We all need to disconnect from time to time, to be fully present to ourselves and to others. It’s a simple form of self-care. It’s even more important for kids, especially when that unplugged time is given...