Kids Yoga

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

5 Quick Tools for Kids Yoga Teachers

Times are busy so here are 5 quick tools for kids yoga teachers:

Kids Yoga Tool #1: Updated Free Yoga Alphabet to Learn Names for Back to School

Free Yoga Alphabet Printable Download — Get this free Alphabet Poster by clicking on the Poster above or the link – no strings attached

I updated the Free PDF of our Yoga Alphabet Poster, changing the Letter U to Umbrella (and pose Reverse Table Top). It used to be Shoulder Stand (U for Upside Down), but some schools don’t allow Shoulder Stand Pose.

This printable poster is really helpful to learn the kid’s names in a new classroom.

Do the first letter of each child’s name and you’ve got yourself a kid’s yoga class!

Kids Yoga Tool #2: Racial Equity Resource

Because everyone has a responsibility to educate themselves and the children in their lives to stop racism. This website has very valuable resources including these Social Justice Standards

Kids Yoga Tool #3: Free: Kids Yoga Teacher Training Workshop and Check-In

We meet online for a free kids’ yoga teacher training with an activity from the Young Yoga Masters’ manuals for you to play and teach! You’ll also get your kids’ yoga questions answered with Lead Trainer, Aruna, who has been teaching yoga for over 20 years.

Then meet other kids’ yoga enthusiasts in the small group activity.

It’s all online through Zoom.

This free check-in is for:

anyone interested in enhancing their kids’ yoga skills.
those taking the Young Yoga Masters training,
and graduates of the training,

It’s a chance to connect with old friends and meet new people who are into yoga and mindfulness for children.

Registration is now open for the free Training at the link below.

You can also watch the replay of last month’s check-in there too.

Free: Monthly Kids yoga teacher check-in

Kids Yoga Tool #4: How to Meditate in Stressful Times

“Meditation is an important part of getting nourishment as human beings.”
– Parampreet Singh, Meditations Questions

If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting my husband, you can hear the insights he shares from 40 years of meditation practice on his podcast: Meditation Questions. Here is one of my favourites about How to Meditate in Stressful Times.

Kids Yoga Tool #5: Create a Sales Page that Sells!

I signed up for a course with my remote business mentor called Sales Star Masterclass. I like this trainer, she swears like a trucker, but amuses me to no end, and helps me stay on task to complete my goals. These are affiliate links, and I also paid for these courses myself and am currently taking the Sales course to help me review my sales pages. I have also paid to take:

If you need help in any of these departments, I recommend these courses because they are reasonably priced, helpful, and I find them enjoyable to get through (unlike other courses I have paid for that are too dry/boring to get through). Check them out to see if this is for you.

That’s it for the tips and tools for this month.

Aruna

Teaching Yoga to Boys

What happens when you are used to teaching one age group, then get a class with a whole new demographic?

I got a letter about this from Jeri Cresson, a Graduate of our 95 Hour Training. In it, she shares what happened when she taught her first group of boys.

Dear Young Yoga Masters,

Over the past few years, since my training at Young Yoga Masters, I have been working exclusively with the preschool age group. I’ve used your methods, frog yoga cards, themes, and games to develop an effective and engaging program at our Dojo.

We’ve created structure and focus to the practice of our littlest ones, helping them become quiet and still. They learned to alternate, at will, between wild playful abandon to quiet stillness, cooperation, focus, and attention. They began recognizing cues for when each was most appropriate.

It is sacred, glorious PLAY!

Learning to Teach Kids Yoga to a New Age Demographic

the cover of the inclusive yoga module of the kids yoga teacher training shows a superhero male yogi on a rocketship doing the cobra ygoa pose — The Inclusive Yoga manual cover.

However, I found myself with the opportunity to use my training with a new group of boys, in the 7-9 age group. I was afraid that I might not be able to transition from the younger age group to this one. I didn’t need to worry, as it turned out.

I cracked open the Inclusive Yoga manual and tried the Yoga Man vs. The Stressor activities. The Universal truths contained within them just flowed naturally – and suddenly, the sun salutation that started as rote memorization turned into a meaningful sequence.

The “why” dawned on me, as I was (with trepidation and anxiety) pouring over the what and how.

It was triggered when I reviewed how to introduce the breath – breathing in the Big Me, breathing out the Little Me. And I mentally added to help me realize: Breathing out the little ol’ me.

Deepening My Understanding of the Breath

I realized these 4 parts of breath:

Observing Stillness, in intentional solitude and contemplation, is a normal, still, but a conscious breath,
The Breathing in of Prana -the secret power of everything – that which is infinite and Universal,
The breathing out of the little me – is what I can personally choose to do to take action with the energy and power that I have been given,
and finally, a silent contemplative suspension of breath, feeling, experiencing gratitude, and taking inventory during rest before beginning the entire cycle over again.

a kids yoga teacher uses her whole body to demonstrate yoga breathing, with her fingers beside her nose to give kids a visual cue to breathe through the nose — Breathe in the Big Me, Breathe out the Little Me: Use your fingers beside your nose to help the visual learners remember to breathe through the nose.

From an Ordinary Person to a Hero!

“I realized that Yoga Man was once, just an ordinary person, just like me. But he learned how to harness the power of breath…”

I realized that Yoga Man was once, just an ordinary person, just like me. But he learned how to harness the power of breath, intention, focus, action, rest and reflection to outwit and outmaneuver The Stressor at every turn!

Each day he trained with this secret weapon so his powers grew. He became so strong he could leap over obstacles, dodge danger, and even rescue others – almost effortlessly.

In class we reviewed the yoga sequence, practiced with breath, and used the Yoga Man stories about the secret powers he can use when confronted with problems and challenges. Then we played a game of throwing stars.

Taking an Intentional Breath for Focus

a yoga superhero doing yoga cobra pose to help boys like yoga using images they enjoy — Yoga Man – the Yoga Super Hero doing cobra pose

Without any cues or prompting I noticed students stopping to take aim, taking an intentional breath, and then exhaling automatically with the exertion of their throw. When they did this, they were more accurate and more powerful.

Then they realized how much the breath helped.

It was magical. They were genuinely filled with glee, realizing that they, like Yoga Man, could harness the secret weapon of Breath.

Class ended with an age-appropriate, short savasana, then they joked around, touselling each other, as boys will do, each talking excitedly about how they were going to try out some “Breath Power” on something or another.

And their moms, clad in their own yoga clothing smiled, knowingly, checking that one task, “Get my boy to settle down and breathe” off the list.

Best,

Jeri Creson

Program Director – The Dojo Covington
Covington, LA, USA

New Orleans Kids Yoga Teacher Graduating Class of 2017 — Jerri (2nd from right) graduated from the 95 Hour Training in 2017

Try the Sun Salutation for Boys

Yoga Man uses breath to stay calm when facing The Stressor. I created The Yoga Man Training download and added it to the Inclusive Yoga Module because too many boys, including my three nephews, thought yoga was something their mom’s do.

Getting boys involved took some thought to get boys to participate. I even got two of my nephews to be my models in this video. The other nephew did the original drawings that eventually got digitized in Yoga Man!

Yoga Man does the Sun Salutation.

We are at Kilbear Provincial Park, in Ontario, Canada.

Check your volume and press play to bring yoga to your children!

Halloween Scares: Social and Emotional Learning in Yoga for Children

Watch this Video on Kids Yoga Teacher Training for Halloween Yoga Ideas

Halloween is full of spooks and scares and gives kids yoga teachers a great opportunity for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

Here’s a short video where I show you how you can play with SEL in your kids yoga classes.

Social and Emotional Learning for Preschool Children

One of my favourite activities in preschool yoga is play-acting emotions. It’s so much fun to act out fear, sadness, excitement, greed, happiness, suspicion, and more with children in a yoga story. With this age the story doesn’t have to be complicated, its simply exploring emotions in a playful way and helping children discover many ways to deal with the emotions.

One of the keys is letting kids connect to the concepts they already know from yoga class.

Instead of telling them to take a deep breath, ask them, “I’m scared! What can I do?”

Let them tell you to take a deep breath. The lesson will sink in deeply when they make these connections for themselves over and over.

Kids Yoga Teacher Training

I use both SEL and stories in our kids yoga teacher training modules. Not because kids are supposed to learn them, but because they are fun. The learning is the added bonus that comes with a yoga and mindfulness practice.

a boy doing yoga on a pumpkin orange yoga mat — More Halloween Yoga Poses for Kids

Have a Happy Halloween filled with Kids Yoga!

Aruna

Lead Trainer of Young Yoga Masters
Yoga Alliance Registered Children’s Yoga Shool,

Important Child Development Lessons from a Canadian Teenage Grand Slam Tennis Champion

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Last Saturday, for the first time in the hundred plus years of professional tennis, a Canadian won a Grand Slam Singles Championship. It was an event celebrated by Canadians across the world and also by us at Young Yoga Masters.

Nineteen year old Bianca Andreescu credited yoga and meditation as a big reason why she succeeded in achieving her goal of becoming a tennis champion. Even in the heat of competition, meditation helped her stay composed while facing home crowd favourite Serena Williams at the U.S. Open final.

Andreescu started meditating when she was 12 years old and she makes it a priority even now, every day. She took time out to meditate the morning of her U.S. Open victory.

In a press conference afterwards, she said:

“I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is I meditate…I think it really helps me get a good jump-start to the day. Not opening my phone or anything, not getting too overwhelmed… just to get in tune with my body, my mind. I visualize myself having a good day…I feel like a lot of people work on the physical part of things, but I think the mental part is the most important because it controls your whole body, right?”

Teen queen 💋#USOpen | #WomenWorthWatching pic.twitter.com/yKyucG6AtE

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2019

Keeping Focused Under Pressure

Staying focused is no easy task when you have to track a tennis ball served at 130 miles per hour and you have to return it with accuracy. Returning a serve is a crucial skill to develop.

In fact, being able to return a serve might be the most crucial skill you can develop as a tennis player. If you can’t return a serve properly, you’re never going to get a break point which means you’re never going to win a set or a match or a championship.

We heard tennis champion Andreescu say yoga and meditation help her return serves better.

There’s another area in which it’s really important to be able to return serves better.

Teaching kids literacy and life skills!

That’s right, the idea of serve and return has been identified by child development scientists as the key factor in developing literacy skills in children.

What is Serve and Return in Child Development?

Serve and Return in the context of child development refers to the practice of having real conversations with kids. Teachers (and parents) look for moments when a child might point something out or ask a question and we take that as a SERVE and use it as an opportunity to engage the child with a response which is the RETURN. The objective is to get a back and forth conversation going with the child in which they feel heard and understood. This exchange helps the child build language and life skills.

For example:

Serve (child): “I like dogs”

Return (adult): “Dogs are fun, what do you like about them?”

The adult can keep returning the child’s serve in a way that engages the child about dogs or animals or a family member who loves their dog.

Example returns:

It’s amazing the number of different dogs in world (conversation can extend to types of dogs)

Did you know wolves and dogs are related (conversation can extend to other animals)

Grandma and Grandpa sure do love their dog don’t they (conversation can extend to family life)

How to Notice a Child’s Serve

A child’s serve isn’t always verbal. Sometimes it’s physical. The Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University explains,

Is the child looking or pointing at something? Making a sound or facial expression? Moving those little arms and legs? That’s a serve. The key is to pay attention to what the child is focused on. You can’t spend all your time doing this, so look for small opportunities throughout the day—like while you’re getting them dressed or waiting in line at the store.

WHY? By noticing serves, you’ll learn a lot about children’s abilities, interests, and needs. You’ll encourage them to explore and you’ll strengthen the bond between you.

Child Development scientists have found that having conversations with children is a more effective way to improve literacy skills in children than just teaching them a bunch of words. When kids have conversations with caregivers their brains develop better and their literacy skills improve.

Teaching Kids Yoga Literacy Skills

Group of Kids Talking with Yoga Teachers — Having conversations at Yoga Literacy weekend.

In each Young Yoga Masters training we emphasize the importance of listening to children and talking with them and not to them or at them.

This follows from the yogic and mindfulness principles of compassion and empathy and understanding. We’re motivated to be kind and understanding to children because we want them to be kind and understanding too.

But it’s heartening to know that child development science is revealing this way of being with children, the serve and return method, also helps them gain literacy and life skills.

The fact that it might one day help them win a tennis championship is just an added extra bonus!

If you’re interested in using yoga to boost kids literacy skills, the Yoga Literacy Certificate is for you. The next training is the weekend of September 28-29, 2019 in Toronto. This weekend is the deadline for Early Registration Savings. If you’re interested, you can register here.

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.