Why Helping Kids Reconnect with Nature Matters So Much
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 green spaces, whether...
Movement for Kids, Mindfulness for Teachers?
Last month, a set of studies on school-based mindfulness dropped, inspiring a whole lot of headlines shouting that school-based mindfulness just doesn’t work. This very large, UK-based research project involved more than 28,000 students between the ages of 11 and 14,...
Celebrating 10 Years of Good People Everywhere
It's hard to believe that it's already been 10 years since Lynea's Good People Everywhere went into print! In fact, we almost missed its anniversary, only realizing it as we finalized its 13th printing the other day. Almost 30,000 copies of this soothing story are...
The Time Has Never Been More Important for Yoga Calm
It hardly qualifies as news anymore: Student mental health needs are up, and school resources are down. Counselors and psychologists are in especially short supply. A recent EdWeek survey found that in the 2020-21 academic year, only 8% of districts met the...
The Kind of Gentle, Peaceful Story We All Need Right Now
When you think about what humans need to survive, you probably think first of our basic material needs: water, food, shelter, air. But we all have social and psychological needs, too. Storytelling - and “storylistening” - falls into that category. Stories do a lot of...
The Power of Young People: 3 Examples of Love & Knowledge in Action
In teaching Yoga Calm, we talk a lot about the power of modeling: performing the behaviors you want your students, clients, or children to emulate, as well as drawing attention to other positive models. But adults are hardly the only examples kids have to follow. Peer...
Being Alive Together: The Power of Community
Though the first day of summer is still weeks away, most of us have come to think of this weekend as the real kickoff to the season. While many will take time to remember those who have lost their lives while serving in the US military - the original purpose of...
How to Avoid the Summer Slump – & Have Fun Doing It
About a year ago, a Dutch study showed that, even in ideal circumstances, COVID closures meant learning loss. So this past week’s news of COVID-related learning loss among American students was no surprise. The drop was greatest among those who spent the most time in...
The Power of Finding the Strong Voice Inside You
One of the best things about being a counselor is the opportunity to witness another person when they have an aha moment or begin to break through an old pattern. I remember one boy who came from a very difficult family situation. Second grade, third grade, fourth -...
More Screening? Let’s “Inoculate” Kids Against Anxiety Instead!
If you work with kids, you’re well aware that the youth mental health crisis we now face has been growing for many years. Pandemic life only exacerbated it. Now, the US Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that all children 8 and up should be screened for...
When Emotions Explode (A Counselor’s Thoughts on the Oscars Slap Incident)
“Joel” was a well-liked 6th-grader in the rural school where I worked for years as a counselor. He never caused trouble. Ever. But one day, some students ran in to tell me Joel had hit another boy. Very upset, they asked for my help. Naturally, I went to get Joel. His...
To Be “Really Human” = To Honor Our Diversity & Interconnectedness
It’s amazing to think that most of the cells in your body aren’t even human ones but a collective of microorganisms that work (mostly) synergistically to help us in a vast array of essential tasks, from digesting food to protecting our skin, even generating some...