Young Yoga Masters

Kids Yoga Teacher Training and Certification

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Inspiration

Opening Doors for All Abilities Yoga

Today, I want to take a moment to share some wonderful news that has me feeling happy and proud.  One of the graduates of our recent 200 Hour yoga teacher training was featured in the news last week.  His name is Robert Zwarun. Since graduating last February, he has helped a ton of people at his local YMCA in Cape Breton by teaching chair yoga classes.

Check out the news story about it here:

Learning to Teach All Abilities

I found new joy when I started teaching yoga. It’s very rewarding to help students discover how good yoga makes you feel. Now, as a trainer, graduates connect with new students and take yoga to so many new places I could never reach on my own! It feels like a dream job for me.

As with everything, there was a learning curve to teaching all abilities yoga. Robert told us that when he signed up for teacher training, he didn’t think he could become a yoga teacher because he had never met a yoga teacher who had a disability like his.  When he graduated, the certificate he earned opened up so many possibilities he had once thought were impossible.  

When we first set out to teach all abilities classes, we also wondered if it was possible. We had heard over the years that chair classes should be separated, and believed that was true, until we discovered the work of Jivana Heyman and his book, Accessible Yoga as well as his training and even his Instagram account is a great resource. Our limited beliefs got shattered.

Discovering Jivana’s work led us to the Accessible Yoga Silent Auction where we bid on and won a consultation with Shannon Crow of The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast.  Shannon connected us and with our tiny little YouTube channel we got to interview Jivana! Here’s how it went: 

Check out the Silent Auction

This year we’re supporting the Silent Auction with a donation of our Mindfulness for Children Kids Yoga Teacher Training (you can probably get a good deal on this training in the auction).

Chair Yoga with the Frog Yoga Alphabet

It just goes to show how working together, we can do so much good stuff, including things we thought were impossible!

Last week we held a Chair Yoga training using the Frog Yoga Alphabet and I was thrilled to have Robert attend and even teach a pose. The replay is here.

Give the Impossible a Try

We encourage you to consider giving yourself a chance to do something big, maybe even impossible, like introducing yoga to the next generation as a kids yoga teacher. If you’ve never seen a kids yoga teacher like you, we need you!!! Yoga is so much more than a physical practice.

Putting yourself out there, whether you’re teaching at the YMCA, supporting a movement, or becoming a teacher, can lead to amazing accomplishments and new possibilities for everyone.

Mindful Planning for 2023

Last week at the Monthly Mini-Training we imagined our perfect schedules. Imagining and dreaming as if anything was possible. It feels liberating to let go of limitations, even just for a while. Learning how to let go of unnecessary limitations we place on ourselves takes practice.

Imagining as Meditation

Imagining in this way was something I learned about through meditation training. The mantra: Pragyanaam Brahman (Rg. Veda, Aitereya Upanishad 3.3) can be translated as Consciousness is the Creator.

The idea is to let consciousness create, rather than create based on the conditions around you.

I invite you to consider trying doing some mindful planning as a meditation. It’s a meditation you may enjoy. Spend a little time directing your energy towards what you truly want, let yourself plan without limits.

If you want to see how we did it, check out the replay here:

Watch the Replay – Look under January 2023

The Return to Live

At the meeting, I was happily surprised when some people cheered when I announced the return of our live training.

We’ve got 2 new cohorts planned.  One is live on zoom, the other is live in-person.

If you’ve been waiting for a live training, take a look at your options below.

Come experience a live training: online and in-person cohorts starting soon!

Registration Opens Next Week

We are setting everything up for the new courses this week. Registration will open next week. Till then, have fun with some mindful planning!

Live Training details will be Posted Here

Powerful Lessons from the Kids Yoga Conference

The Kids Yoga Conference (KYC) is a yearly event for learning, professional development, and connection that supports the adults bringing yoga and mindfulness to youth.

The 2021 KYC was offered online this year which meant I got to attend from one of the favourite spots, my couch!

It’s one of the silver linings of the pandemic, getting to learn from home. Looking out at the cherry blossoms, drinking tea, and getting inspired from so many wonderful teachers.

Aruna sits by her window where she can see trees and a cherry tree in bloom with pink flowers. Her computer is on yoga blocks for her to watch the training, and her pen is in hand and notebook in lap.

I’d love to share some of that inspiration with you here. We got notes in the workshop but I like taking my own notes to reinforce the ideas and keep myself focused.

In total, I attended 7 lectures and 2 yoga classes at the Kids Yoga Conference 2021. At our Monthly check-In I shared my notes from 3 of them including:

  • Compassionate Action: Tauma, Wellness, and Social Justice with Marsha Banks-Harold (@piesfitnessyoga)
  • Including Kids with Disabilities and Differences with Sarah Henderson (@sarahhendersonyoga)
  • Demonstrating Cultural Responsiveness in Kids Yoga with Melissa Shah (@findyourbreath), Rahsmi Bismark (@rashmibismark) and Archaa Shrivastav (@archaareads)

Demonstrating Cultural Responsiveness in Kids Yoga

Workshop with Melissa Shah (@findyourbreath), Rashmi Bismark (@rashmibismark) and Archaa Shrivastav (@archaareads)

We did a very powerful reflection on why it is important to be culturally responsive in kids yoga. The “why” is at the root of everything we do and needs to be regularly examined. I used to do this meditation regularly and this workshop put me back in touch with that important questions – WHY?

Including Kids with Disabilities and Differences

Workshop with Sarah Henderson (@sarahhendersonyoga)

Move slow with kids so everyone can be included. We did a wonderful Sloth themed yoga class, with options for doing yoga on the floor or in a chair.

Compassionate Action: Tauma, Wellness, and Social Justice

Keynote address with Marsha Banks-Harold (@piesfitnessyoga)

Marsha Banks-Harold inspired us with the work she does with children and to “Reclaim the humanity of the world.” Recognize that if children show up presenting with issues, they may be carrying trauma with them, and it is the teacher’s job to not take this personally. Breathe! Help yourself so you can help them work through their trauma, and not pile more trauma on. Yoga helps with this!

Kid’s Yoga Conference

You have the opportunity to watch these workshops until October 2021.

If you are looking for inspiration and a touchstone to see if you on the right track and aware of much needed progressive thinking in the world of kids yoga, please consider watching these workshops and making your own notes.

This weekend took a lot of time and energy to show up on zoom for so many hours, but it truly nourished my soul and I highly recommend everyone find a way to do that!

Register for the Kids Yoga Conference

Kids Yoga Conference – Register Here and Watch the Workshops

FREE: Listen in on our Live Conversation

We discussed these workshops at our Free Monthly Kids Yoga Teacher Check-In. You can watch replay for free here.

Free: April Monthly Teacher Check-In

Social Emotional Learning from Inside an Ashram

If you’ve read my bio, you saw that I once lived in an Ashram for six years. The Guru Ram Das Ashram in Toronto to be exact.  It had 16-18 seekers living in one very large house/yoga centre, with more seekers visiting for classes and events every day.

The Ashram was an environment where social and emotional learning opportunities were everywhere, some very beautiful and some not easy.

Living with that many people in a place of spiritual setting, you aspire to be kind and compassionate, but of course there are times when you fall short. Feelings get hurt, toes get stepped on.

After one particularly difficult interaction with another resident, I sought advice from a mentor and senior teacher about moving out and how nice it would be to have my own place. He told me this story:

“They say that if you want to cook your dinner faster, don’t put one potato in a pot to boil, put a bunch of potatoes in the pot. When the potatoes cook together they bump against each other, which helps to soften them up. They cook faster together.”

Then he went on to explain how people are encouraged to do spiritual work together.

Having a spiritual community is challenging but speeds your growth, much like the potatoes getting cooked faster.

How Can a Yogi Grow Spiritually?

It is easy to read spiritual principles and philosophy on your own, but the concepts are more deeply understood when they are put to the test with other people.

In an environment like the Ashram, we emotionally bumped against each other as we worked through our stuff.  However we were committed to, and supported by the yoga and meditation practices that brought us there.

Spiritual teachings enhanced our social and emotional growth.

AND social emotional learning catapulted our spiritual growth!

This photo from Guru Ram Das Ashram around 2001 (I'm 2nd from the right)
This photo from Guru Ram Das Ashram around 2001 (I’m 2nd from the right)

Does Social Emotional Learning Enhance Spiritual Growth?

So when I did my last business planning session, I looked long and hard at the direction for my business.  Everything seems to be going online, but was this the right focus for Young Yoga Masters training? Participants receive over 600 pages of printed manuals when they take the 95 Hour Kids Yoga Teacher Training with Young Yoga Masters. It would be possible to turn this material into online courses. Was this the right direction for the training right now?

After much thought, I chose to focus on building community through live training.  I want to pour my energy into powerful, community centered learning opportunities for kids yoga teachers.  I love being with aspiring teachers who care about Kids Yoga the way I do.  I like that we spend time together in a social environment that nurtures growth and community.

Social Emotional Learning 2.0

I feel my penchant for in-person training has helped me understand Social Emotional Learning (SEL) more deeply.

SEL is needed because as our time spent on screens goes up, our time spent in community goes down.

Social and Emotional Learning needs to happen in a social environment.  Live events, meeting cool people, getting challenged by others, puts you in the best position to grow.

Just like how in kids yoga, the games are as much social and emotional as they are physical.

Learning, live and in person, gives you a depth of training that printed and online training can’t match. You engage with mentors, you get exposed to various teaching methodologies, you get to ask questions, and you get asked questions.

During the practicum you interact socially and emotionally with actual children. You learn what works and what to do when things don’t go as planned.

You grow!

Social Emotional Learning with a Yoga Twist

And perhaps most important, in the case of our Kids Yoga Teacher Training, all of this is supported by the wisdom of yoga and meditation.

You learn about kids yoga and you learn about yourself as a social and emotional being.

You get professional growth and personal growth.

Training with others is a social and emotional learning experience that enhances your growth as a yogi.

I’m always super excited before a training weekend or 12 day intensive because it’s a return to the joy and the challenges I felt living in the ashram, the joy and challenges of spiritual community.

My aim is to  create this opportunity with each community that forms in our training.

There will be times when you are challenged because you have left your comfort zone. However, this challenge may give you the best opportunity for spiritual growth. This may be the fastest way to grow as a kids yoga teacher and a yogi.

Social and emotional learning is an essential part of every kids yoga teachers journey.

Give Your Creativity Free Reign

Give yoru creativity free reign as a kids yoga teacher

The holiday season is officially over.  Gosh, how I enjoyed this break!  It’s so cold outside, I just love being holed up in my cozy attic and giving my creativity free reign in my bullet journal, vision boards and dreaming about all the things I want to do in 2018 and beyond.

Have you been doing any dreaming and planning for the year ahead?

I’m a firm believer in conscious planning for the future because most of my major accomplishments have started as notes in my journal.  As far as I’m concerned, creativity is king in visioning.  Its a key step to setting my intentions and goals, especially for my business.

Here’s the process that has helped me add a touch of magic to my planning.

Steps for Setting Intentions and Goals

My first step is always looking at what I intend to get done this year.  For example, in 2018 I see three major projects on my horizon:

  • Update our Kids Yoga Teacher Training
    (RCYS – Registered Children’s Yoga School)
  • Grow Ambassador Yoga Train-the-Trainer
    (200 Hour RYS – Registered Yoga School)
  • Mentor New Trainers for both my Yoga Training Schools

Right now my top priority is the first one, the update.

yoga teacher vision board business planning
Letting Ideas Flow on a Vision Board I created one night just doodling and writing what I want for the year ahead.  Now it’s taped on my wall to remind me of what I want.

 

Write Down What You Know for Sure

Some of my intentions are foggy and unclear but there are always a few things I know for sure.  I recommend acknowledging the things you know for sure, because this action can help the other elements come into focus.

In the case of my RCYS update, I know a few things for sure, things I’ve learned since starting the RCYS in 2012.  So I randomly listed all the things I’d like to change, add, reorganize, delete, and research in my journal.  I just let it come out in any order, I will organize it later.

I capture my initial ideas a couple ways:

bullet journal for yoga teacher to track habits
Here’s a page from my bullet journal that I use to track personal habits I know for sure I want to encourage in my life.

 

Put Everything on the Table and Design Your Destiny

I also recommend you put everything on the table to examine and make sure it is something you still choose to pursue.

Have you ever done this when you clean out your handbag?  Just empty everything on the table and then decide what you really want to put back in again.

In the case of visioning the RCYS update, I even put whether to stay with Yoga Alliance on the table. This decision wasn’t hard because I feel the Yoga Alliance Standards have made my training more thorough, complete, and professional.

Affirming my connection with Yoga Alliance led to this vision board, a playful way to review the Standards for a RCYS for the update.  I like to get the most out of life by enjoying my work and vision boards do it for me.

Registered Childrens yoga school standards and educational categories of learning for Yoga Alliance Certification
It’s important to me that our RCYS is in integrity with the YA standards, educational categories, and provides proper contact hours and non-contact hours allowed in each training.

 

Give Your Creativity Free Reign

The next part is the hardest part for me because I’m tempted to jump into planning mode.  Yet visioning requires lots and lots of time for new ideas.  This is time to let your imagination run wild and to slow down, to meditate, be still, get creative, and listen.

Continue using your journal, post it notes for ideas, tidy, clear out the old and create space for the new.

Try to resist the urge to do final planning, you still need a creative incubation period.

 

Organize Your Plan into a Vision

For my update it took a couple months for a new direction to came into focus.  It took a month longer than I thought it would take.

I just hit this phase last week, but the creative space allowed me to get really clear on what I want for the update.  These ideas sprung from the synergy of all the other steps and activities. If I started planning earlier it would have felt like work, and the result would be quite different than the ideas I have now.

I know I am ready to start my final update because I feel really happy and excited about the new ideas.

Your Vision is a Priceless Treasure

Visioning for your future is a priceless treasure, without your own vision you are borrowing from other people’s treasure, living a vision someone else created.

The New Year coincides with a slowdown in my business so it is a great time for me to work on my vision.  Visioning is best done all year long, even though it is hard to find the time, its something you don’t want to ignore.

If this New Year gives you the feeling to look at your vision for your life, or your yoga classes, or family planning, or other business, consider that there is no better time to start then right now.  The process can take weeks, months, and sometimes years to get excited about.

However setting your own vision is one of the most important things you can do to love and care for yourself.

It can also be wildly creative and what better way to live then letting your creativity reign free for a while.

Happy New Year and New Planning to you!

 

Aruna

Young Yoga Masters

 

Upcoming Kids Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Dates in Toronto at this link
Our next Kids Yoga Teacher Training starts soon!

What Great Kids Yoga Plans Do You Have This Summer?

I’m away from home and I’ve been thinking about a family of swans I stumbled across a couple of weeks ago while I was out for a walk.

I just finished teaching a full week of the 95 hour kids yoga teacher certification in New Orleans and I’ve got one more week left. Then I’ll be back home preparing to deliver the 95 hour summer certification in Burlington, Ontario.

yoga swan building nest
Hard at work preparing family home!

Before I left for New Orleans I went for a walk along the lake shore of my hometown and to my utter delight, right smack in the middle of the marina along the pedestrian path, was a swan family building a giant nest!

Mama and Papa swan were hard at work piling branch upon branch making a home for three big eggs. The swans barely noticed us nosey human beings gathering around them (at a distance) pointing and giggling and taking photos. The majestic birds just focused on their nest building preparing to incubate their eggs and expand their family.

The swan is one of the most important symbolic creatures in all of yoga. It represents the breath and the connection of the finite to the Infinite. The symbolic swan can take us from our tiny individual self to our expansive higher Self.

In Sanskrit, a swan is called a hamsa and an accomplished yogi is called a paramahamsa (meaning transcendent swan). A yogi is one who gracefully glides across the ocean of life to liberation from time and space.

In other words, just like the swans I came across along the city lakeshore, being a yogic swan means living in the world with homes and traffic and humans side by side (all that stuff that can sometimes rub us the wrong way) while remaining cheerful and energized and focused on expanding ourselves.

yoga swan incubating eggs
The nest is built and the incubating has begun!

Since swans incubate their eggs for about forty days I’m hoping I’ll get to witness those swan eggs hatch into baby cygnets when I return to Canada to begin the kids yoga teacher training in Burlington. That would be a great summer treat!

That got me wondering, what yoga plans do you have hatching this summer?

If you’ve been incubating the idea of becoming a kids yoga teacher then the Burlington 95 hour, 12 day certification which starts July 23 is a great way to get certified within two weeks. You still have time to take advantage of the early registration discount. The early registration deadline is approaching fast on June 30, 2017.

If you’re already a kids yoga teacher then I’ve got some links below to some earlier posts with ideas for the summer.

I hope you hatch something wonderful this summer!