FAQ's

New Webinar: What Happens at the Kids Yoga Teacher Summer Certification?

You’re about 45 days away from the 12 Day Summer Certification with Young Yoga Masters. Questions have been coming in about how the program works, which prompted our next free webinar: What Happens at the Summer Certification

During this FREE Webinar you’ll get an inside look into the upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher 12 Day Summer Certification.

Our goal is to help you find out if this is the right training for you now and for your future as a kids yoga teacher!

What Happens at the Summer Certification

Here’s what we will discuss in the webinar:

why it’s tougher to choose a training now, more than ever before and what you can do to choose the right one for your goals.
the options and courses you can take at the Summer Certification,
lots of pictures from the Summer Certification at the Art Gallery of Burlington
the experience you will get when we teach 50 + children from 3 – 13 years old in the practicum
what resources you will leave with and what your manuals look like,
and how you will be able to use your training to put yourself out there as a kids yoga and mindfulness teacher after the training is over.

graduates of the best kids yoga teacher certification in Ontario — Way to Go Graduates of the Burlington Summer Certification! What a wonderful, compassionate group, so caring and kind.

Kids yoga teacher training opens doors for you to do meaningful work that you care about. Find out how teaching yoga has changed our graduates lives!

If you are considering attending the Summer Certification, but not quite sure if it is right for your, don’t miss this free webinar.

The Summer Certification starts on July 14, so now is the time to find out what its all about and if it is right for your goals.

Levels of Certification for Kids Yoga Teachers – Who Gets What?

With news of the ongoing advocacy work of Yoga Alliance to prevent Yoga Teaching from becoming legislated, it is not unreasonable to feel a little confused about what is actually required to teach yoga. At this year’s Yoga Show and Conference in Toronto, the most common question we were asked was: “What training do I need to become a Kids Yoga Teacher?”

Here’s the short answer: yoga training standards are not required or enforced.

A big part of this is thanks to Yoga Alliance’s work to demonstrate that yoga teachers are self-regulated with industry standards. Typically, reputable kids’ yoga instructors will work towards completing the industry standards. However, there are valuable milestones that can be achieved on the way to full certification:

Weekend or Workshop Certificate

Most Kids Yoga Teacher Training gives a certificate of completion at the end of a course, regardless of the length of the training. Young Yoga Masters provides a certificate after each completed 16 hour module, so you can start teaching right away.

Who typically gets this level of Certification?

Those already working with children in a school, daycare, or camp typically take a weekend certification course and use the training immediately with the kids they are already teaching.
Those who want to test the waters and see if teaching kids’ yoga is right for them.
Those on their way to becoming a Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher who have chosen a training with a Yoga Alliance registered school

95-Hour Certificate

Yoga Alliance set 95 hours of specialty training in kids’ yoga as the standard for a Registered Children’s Yoga School (RCYS). A RCYS must follow specific training requirements and provide training in various categories to create a well-rounded training. Young Yoga Masters is a Yoga Alliance registered children’s yoga school.

Who typically gets this level of Certification?

Those only interested in teaching children, not adults.
Those who need insurance for their yoga business (insurance companies usually require more than a weekend of training)
Those who need more practical experience teaching kids to feel confident
Those teaching yoga to children who want more ideas and more variety to keep kids engaged
Those on their way to becoming a Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher who have chosen a training with a Yoga Alliance registered school

Yoga Alliance Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher (RCYT)

Yoga Alliance’s standard for Registered Children’s Yoga Teachers is:

200 hours Adult Yoga Teacher Training plus
95 Hour Children’s Yoga Teacher Training followed by 30 hours of practical experience teaching children.

Who typically gets this level of Certification?

Those who want full qualifications to teach yoga to children, qualifications that meet the Yoga Industry standards
Those who want to strengthen their yoga teaching foundation beyond the playful approach of kids yoga to areas like alignment and sequencing
Those who one day want to be Children’s Yoga Teacher Trainers

Infographic outlining different levels of certification

So What Training is Right for YOU?

Take a minute to consider where you fit into the information above.

All Yoga teacher training is incredibly valuable, exploring many topics and teaching habits yogis may have not considered or come across in their own practice.

In-depth training explores best pedagogical practice and ethical concerns you should be aware of. For example:

It is crucial as an instructor to understand ways of determining when and how to physically assist students and when verbal cues may be more comfortable and appropriate.
How can poses be adjusted for those with different abilities?
How to review your lesson plans to make sure they ensure best practices?

Can you Get Insurance with the Certificate you Have?

If you are staring a business you want to make sure you have enough training to get insurance. Each insurance company for each region has different requirements. If you are running a business the time will come when you need insurance. Ask your insurance company about certification and a bonus question that is helpful to know:

how much training do I need to be a kids yoga teacher,
what kind of waiver do I need my students to complete to be covered by the policy (some don’t require a waiver and some do)

Expanding Your Network and Building Community

An added benefit of participating in lengthy training with other like-minded individuals translates to an easy entry to the yogic community, or expansion of your existing network. Though this is not a requirement, it is certainly a benefit to training participation.

Your network can be a great resource long after training is complete, whether it be for personal support, finding a sub, hearing about new classes, or professional development.

Training can be a time of tremendous personal growth as well.

Will this Certificate Serve Your Long Term Goals?

We have had more than one very experienced children’s yoga teacher take our Yoga Alliance Registered training just so they could get the Certificate and be listed as a lead trainer in another Yoga Alliance school!

If you take a training with an school that is not registered with Yoga Alliance, that door closes for you. It won’t affect you when you when you are getting jobs teaching.

It will affect you if you have a long term goal of being a trainer.

Yoga Alliance won’t recognize you as a Trainer or a School if your Certificate is not from a Yoga Alliance registered school.

For many people this doesn’t matter for quite a while, but if you plan to become a trainer one day, your choice now could save you time and money later.

Recommendations for Choosing a Level of Training

In the end the best practices lean towards choosing training registered with Yoga Alliance that will count towards your 95-hour certificate.

There was a time when Yoga Alliance was not responsive to the needs of Yoga Teachers, but that time passed when Yoga Alliance began to advocate on behalf of teachers at the policy level. We are happy to have Registered Adult and Children’s Yoga Schools.

These are just a few of many important questions to consider before taking the lead in a yoga class.

Whether you get a weekend training or full certification will be your choice in the end, and you’ll consider what you are getting and what you won’t get with the training you choose.

What factors are important to you in choosing a Yoga Teacher Training? How will you decide?

5 Keys to Giving a Good Quote for Teaching Kids Yoga

We don’t usually picture a yogi carrying a briefcase and using a calculator. The business of yoga is a whole new skill for most yoga teachers. It was for me, there are still times I have to remind myself to think like a business person as well as a yogi.

So it is not surprising when questions about the business of teaching kids yoga come up, questions like: How do I give a quote to a school that asked for one for kids yoga classes.

It’s was a discussion on Facebook and with grads from our kids yoga teacher training. January is when schools have a handle on their budgets and can spend for extra-curricular classes. Its a time to get new classes.

Giving a quote is tricky because you don’t want to over price yourself and loose the job, and you don’t want to sell yourself short by charging too little.

We delve into the Business of Yoga in our Branching Out Certificate of our RCYS to examine what to charge, how to phrase things, and what has worked for people. We had one student who made back her tuition by graduation by starting to teach kids yoga classes after one of our weekend certification courses. The Level 2 Mastermind:Curriculum Design and Business Planning Certificate is a good investment because of all the business tools you get, the opportunity to ask questions, and about 60 games, songs and lesson plans for your yoga classes too.

How to Give a Quote for Teaching Kids Yoga

Now here’s a preview of the types of things we discuss:

Giving a Quote for Teaching Yoga to Children

1. Summarize What You are Quoting in your Yoga Proposal

Summarize what you are quoting by listing exactly what you think they want. You will make sure you understand them and you have the start of an agreement on what you will deliver. For example:

Quote for:

2 x 20 minute kids yoga classes during the 1st and 2nd nutrition breaks each week on Thursday
1 x 30 min class during school in the gym each week on Thursday

Sometimes someone will e-mail you for a quote and you won’t be sure exactly what they want. They may not specify if things are on the same day, a one time event or weekly, or how many children you will be teaching. If this happens give them a call and make a personal connection if they’ve included their phone number.

Your second choice is emailing them for more info.

Your third choice is to quote on everything, which could help them see the deal they get if they book you regularly.

2. State What They Will Get in Your Kids Yoga Classes

Describe your learning objectives:

I will teach 3 yoga classes for children with these learning objectives:

engage the children using props, stories, and music to get everyone involved
provide aerobic activity and stretching to meet DPA Requirements (DPA is the lingo used in my area and stands for Daily Physical Activity – use the lingo for your area)
introduce simple breathing tools and mindfulness techniques to calm children to be ready to learn
create opportunities for positive interaction between children through games and partner yoga

3. Quote Your Prices and Everything they Get outside Teaching Time

Time spent for each school visit:

prep time for ongoing classes – 30 minutes
prep time for school wide events – 2 hours (or how long you estimate for the length of your event)
travel to and from school – x minutes
arrival 10-15 minutes before class to set up
teaching time – 70 minutes
time in between classes – x minutes
Total time: x hours x minutes

Single Visits Rates:

$250 minimum charge for a one time visit up to 1.5 hours
$550 for a half-day event (3.5 hours)
$950 for a full-day event (7 hours)

For Ongoing Class Rates:

$150 minimum charge per visit for up to 90 minutes time
$1/minute for time above 90 minutes.

You are invited to read more on How Much to Charge here.

4. Offer Room To Negotiation (If You Are Willing)

If you are open to discussion you can include:

Note: we may have some flexibility to work within your budget

Negotiation is a dance leave room for give and take

5. Include a Page with your Contact Info and Kids Yoga Training and Experience

On another page include a one page summary of all the important info related to you as a kids yoga teacher. Be sure you include your qualifications such as:

academic degrees
early childhood education training
Yoga Alliance certified kids yoga teacher training
Adult yoga teacher training
current or previous teaching experience that might be relevant to the class or school you are quoting

The idea here is to show your experience and training so the school feels comfortable in hiring you. To give them the confidence that you can handle a kids yoga class.

6. Bonus Tip – End With a Good Call to Action

Be sure to include a sentence or two about the best way the client can follow up with you if they have any more questions or want to go ahead with the class you have quoted for. You can use a line like:

If you have any more questions, or want to start this class/session feel free to call me at 416-944-2888 or email [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing from you.

The Business of Teaching Yoga to Children

Is there anything else you include when you get a call for a quote? What do you do when someone approaches you.

The good thing is, once your outline and Resume are done you can use them for all your quotes.

Top 10 Kids Yoga Animal Poses

kids yoga poses - camel pose — Camel Pose in Kids Yoga – Instruct kids to Keep the Neck long

There’s a question that every new kids yoga teacher asks when doing kids yoga: How do I teach kids yoga animal poses?

Yoga animal poses are part of the basic tools for teaching kids. You’ll find them in many kids yoga books like:

The Yoga Zoo Adventure for Little Kids by Helen Purperhart
Fly Like A Butterfly: Yoga for Children by Shakta Kaur Khalsa (I’ve bought this book twice, my first one I used so much it fell apart!)
Stuffed Animals for Yoga Class Help Kids Focus from the Yoga in My School blog
Animals themes like bats and Spiders in this post: Halloween Yoga for Kids from the Childlight Yoga blog.

I have to admit my original weekend kids yoga teacher training didn’t include a yoga animal story. Yoga animals are part of other themes like in the Story of the Lion Cub who Was Raised by Goats – we do lions and even a goat pose! But in my desire to do a kids yoga training with new information than what was already out there, animal yoga did not make the first module of training.

Animals and yoga go together so naturally, I mean the poses are named after animals, so it really is a fundamental of yoga. So I cover it here and include animals in the 95 Hour Training manuals now too.

My Top 10 Favourite Animal Yoga Poses for Kids

Here are my current top ten favorite yoga animal poses:

Camel Ride – a basic warm-up in Kundalini Yoga, sit in easy pose, hold your ankles, inhale lift your spine forward and up, exhale and relax your spine back – as if you were riding on a camel.
Elephant taking a Shower: stand up and make a trunk with your arms, keep your legs straight and dip your trunk into the imaginary watering hole in front of you, then lift your trunk up and spray the water like a shower.
Frog: squat and stretch your legs like a frog warming up and then jump!
Cobra Pose: there is nothing more fun in preschool yoga than to talk to each other by wagging our tongues.
Downward Dog: there are so many options with downward dog for individuals, partners, and groups.
Butterfly Drinking Nectar: sitting, put your feet together and knees bent wide apart. Flutter your legs up and down like a butterfly. Then move your chest to your feet and drink the nectar from a flower in front of you.
Cheetah: move quickly on all fours like a cheetah running across the land.
Camel Pose: See the picture above – an advanced pose, but a good challenge in the right setting.
Unicorn: Make your hands into a magical unicorn horn over the centre of your head then gallop.
Monkey Eating Bananas: a favorite with preschool children, and teachers, because you get to do your monkey sounds (oo oo oo, aa aa aa). We start squatting like a monkey, then climb an invisible tree and stretch to pick bananas, climb back down to a squat and eat our bananas.

two boys are at the petting zoo with the baby pigs. Kids love animals so animal yoga is a natural fit. — Kids love animals so kids yoga with animal poses is a natural fit

How to Teach Animal Yoga Poses

Start an animal yoga class by saying, “Put your hand up if you like animals.” You’ll get so many hands you may have to limit comments from the kids, and quickly find out animals they like.

You can also let the children know that some feel the yoga poses came from watching how animals stretch.

Then invite the children to do some animal yoga. I’ve never had young kids say no, although the older kids (10 – 12 yrs) may lose interest in this topic. You may want to take it up a notch by doing endangered species yoga, or let them teach the poses.

Then you’ll be off to the races, or should I say the Zoo, going through all the poses, plus the ones the kids make up.

What are your favorite Animal Yoga Poses and Games to teach or do?

Upcoming Events:

Get Started Teaching Yoga for Kids

Let the Games Begin!
Practice Teaching in the Teacher Training Course

One great thing about teaching the teacher training course is there is time for questions and answers. And I’m not the only one answering! I have ten plus years experience, but you’re also tapping into a the group’s experience. For instance this course had lots of yoga teachers from different styles (Moksha, Hatha, Anusara, Flow, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Kundalini, Hot) plus other teachers, therapists for kids, parents and grandparents.

The question and answer time is fun to hear what people are wondering and what others have to contribute. Plus for every question someone asks there are usually a number of others who are thinking the same question.

One question from the course was something like this:

I’ve been teaching kids already but I still get nervous before a class.

Does this ever go away?

This made me think twice although it sounds like a simple question. It actually gets to the heart of what happens to us when we start something new.

First, my answer: Yes, but….

I looked back on some of my recent classes and I recognize my nervousness, especially before the first class of a series. Once I meet the new people and we get to know each other a bit, the nervous lessens.

But that first class I pull out my favorite activities, songs, and themes. While I’m teaching I tell myself to slow down when I’m talking. I make sure I don’t stuff the class too full, I remind myself I can’t teach everything in one class. Let the class be yoga: awakening, challenging, connecting with the students, the students connecting within, and hopefully a little community forming. And my favorite reminder: don’t rush.

I could see others in the course were nervous about their upcoming kids yoga classes. What exactly should I do? How do I do it? It was great to see all the great ideas that came out of the practice teaching sessions on the last day of the course.

One thing yoga and meditation can prepare us for is nervousness. My teacher, Tulshi Sen, gave a great talk about the mind and how it gets a hold of us. I think this often happens in the form of nervousness. He often says that when we can think the way we want to think, we may feel nervous but we can also enjoy it!

We can enjoy the nervousness of a new adventure. Does that blow anyone’s mind away? I know it did for me for a long time. I thought nervousness had to render me sleepless and I hate to say it, sometimes wimpy.

Nervousness does not have to be bad. It can be fun and exciting.

That question in the class helped me realize the shift I had gone through. I could see others who were on the verge of this shift as they break out of their boxes.

It is a truly powerful experience to see yourself change and unless we give ourselves opportunities to experience it, we will never know.

So thanks to everyone who came to the course for this experience. There are a couple of other questions from the course I’ll cover in my next posts.

Get Kids Active with Donkey Kicks

Donkey Kicks are a Kid’s Favorite

Thanks to everyone who has been sending in questions!

Here’s part one of a question that came in from a yogi in Toronto who’s just starting teaching kids:

I was teaching an age 7 – 12 age group at a daycare and I had this one boy (who will never engage with me — have taught him 3 times now), who ended up sitting on his mat the whole time through the entire class. I tried to ask him about half way through if everything was alright, and he just shrugged me off.

Anyway – I basically ignored him the rest of the time, but felt kinda bad for him. He looked like he wasn’t into it, and decided to not participate.

What would you have done?

Thanks to Lisa for the question. You are not alone in this situation especially teaching in a setting where not all the kids have chosen to be there. So here’s some things that I would consider:

What would I do? I too would ignore the behavior as much as possible in class as long as it is not disrupting the class. I try to give energy to the behavior I want. If I wanted to find out what was up with this boy I would talk to him after the class was over, discreetly and quietly to see if he would open up a little more. It could be a number of things going on: stress, lack of confidence, a learning/developmental issue, or maybe just introversion. Since it’s been going on 3 weeks, I would probably ask the teacher(s) for advice or feedback too. The teacher’s are a great resource.
The age group you are teaching is broad. The younger kids will still enjoy pretending, yet the twelve year old kids may not want to do “childish” things. This is tricky for a teacher. I teach to the higher end of the age range rather than the lower. I’ve found kids will act older when they are around big kids, but it doesn’t work as well the other way around. I would do a little less pretending with the group and talk about more mature themes in class.
Pull out my Favorites: there are a few poses that kids just can’t seem to resist. One is Donkey kicks. Donkey kicks are great for getting rid of pent up energy and this kid may have some! Every class is a bit of a puzzle to figure out how all the different pieces fit together. When I have a situation like this, I privately make a goal to see if I can figure it out and get the child participating. It keeps it interesting for me as a teacher.

Donkey Kicks are Fun and Great Exercise
for building strength and Rejuvenating

Here’s the simple steps for Donkey Kicks:

Come into downward dog pose then move your weight into your hands.
Kick one leg up high and then the other up, then land them on the ground.
Then switch which leg goes up first and repeat.
Continue for a minute or more.

Caution: With Great Fun Comes Great Responsibility
(yes, I wish I was stopping this instead of taking a picture – it happens so fast!
But fortunately this boy is made of Jelly)

Warnings for Donkey Kicks:

Set up the room so no one is going to kick someone behind them. Get everyone on their own mat or take turns doing Donkey kicks so you can space kids out.
Do this exercise on padding for safety.
Before you start, remind kids not to kick too high or they may flip over and land on their back, hard. I’ve seen the situation in the picture above happen, by accident and sometimes on purpose, more than once. Don’t do this in a large group unless you have other teachers there to watch and help the kids.

Even with a few mistakes, I’ve never seen any kids harmed doing Donkey Kicks, but do take the precautions. When I mention Donkey Kicks, the kids eyes light up! But I’m sure there are other Sure Fire Yoga poses.

In the end, you can try all these things and still not get a child to participate. The ultimate power in yoga and in life is always the power to choose. We have to let others choose for themselves and even respect their right to choose even if we don’t like it. That will bring us closer to connecting with kids. Try not to feel bad or sorry for any kid who chooses not to participate. You will mostly end up bringing yourself down!

Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on this question to help out a new teacher!

Aruna Humphrys

P.S. There are a few spots left in the next Kids Yoga Teacher Training course. Come to Toronto and join the growing number of kids yoga teachers. I’d love to see you there! Full details here.