“But I Don’t Wanna!” Tips for Working with Resistant Students
The benefits of yoga poses aren't always apparent to kids. In fact, the poses can sometimes cause frustration, for in asking students to work at holding poses, we’re asking them to start being present in their bodies and to push past boredom and impatience. Hearing...
Boys, Coyotes & Other Wild Creatures
When we announced our latest pilot workshop – Boys, Coyotes & Other Wild Creatures: Healthy Alternatives for Harnessing "Wildness" – we figured there would be a lot of interest, but nothing like the outpouring of enthusiasm we’ve received. Scheduled for May 14 –...
Yoga Calm’s Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle Wins Mom’s Choice Award Gold
Kids love to follow other kids. This was the inspiration for our first DVD for children, Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle, which earlier this month won the Mom’s Choice Award® Gold in Home and Mobile Viewing Category. It's an honor we're extremely proud of, for the Mom's...
Social-Emotional Learning Boosts Academic Achievement
Since we started Yoga Calm in 2000, an impressive body of research has been published on the positive impact of yoga and social-emotional learning on academic performance. It supports what we’ve seen in practice and what we’ve heard from hundreds of educators,...
What Else Is Going on in Wisconsin? Plenty!
With all the political turmoil in Wisconsin these days, it can be easy to overlook what else is happening there, such as the good work being done at the Genesee Lake School, recently featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The school was developed to meet the...
Yoga Calm Instructor Named MNAHPERD Middle School Teacher of the Year
We were thrilled to get the news last fall that one of our Certified Yoga Calm Instructors, Rochelle Gladu Patten, MEd, had been named Minnesota Middle School Teacher of the Year by the Minnesota Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MNAHPERD)....
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...
Breath Work with a Breathing Sphere
Because breathing patterns have such a profound effect on our general health and mental states, breath awareness is at the heart of almost all yoga practices. Breathing interacts with and affects the cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal and muscular systems....
Mindfulness to Put an End to Bullying
When principals, teachers and parents are asked about their greatest concerns for children, the need for emotional and physical safety tops the list. All parents want their child to be liked and treated well by others. Concerns about safety and overall school...
What Are We Asking When We Ask Kids to Pay Attention?
Picture a typical first grade classroom and two students whispering to each other even as the teacher begins the lesson. Seeing their distraction, the teacher calls out their names and says, “Please, pay attention!” What the teacher is asking the students to do, of...
Child Health Week 2010: Reaffirming Commitment to Kids
Those of you who have known us or the program for a while know that Yoga Calm was born out of real world, classroom need. At the time – right around the turn of the millennium – Lynea was working as a counselor in a rural Oregon elementary school, where, as we write...
On Nurturing Mindfulness
"Habit is one of the antidotes to inattention," says ADHD expert Dr. Jeff Sosne, one of our featured presenters at our inaugural Children's Wellness Conference earlier this year. In the clip below, Dr. Sosne gives some tips for creating habit and countering what he...