Kids are Eating a Wheelbarrow full of Sugar….

I just can’t resist passing on this TED talk with chef Jamie Oliver.  He became an inspiration for me after he did the TV series on changing the food served in school cafeterias (watch to around the 10 minute mark for Oliver’s rant on this topic).

But one of the most jaw dropping part comes around the 11:30 mark where kids try to identify common vegetables – and get most of them wrong.

And the wheelbarrow full of sugar is just from the MILK kids drink at school over five years.

Take a moment and watch the video and find out how all these problems are treatable!

Today’s kids are expected to live 10 years less than we are expected to live.  All because of unhealthy eating and living.  The future of kids yoga needs to include Yogic eating.  This will help teachers develop a healthy yoga business and a healthy lifestyle. We can educate kids, parents, and even other teachers about yogic eating.  It includes healthy foods, snacks, and how to cook healthy meals (especially vegetarian).

Once you know how, cooking at home is less expensive, taste better, and according to Jamie Oliver, helps you live longer.

Jamie Oliver and a thousand smiling yogis agree!

5 Benefits of Kids Yoga

Yoga is Playful and Helps Kids in So Many Ways

Guest Post by Susan White

(Note from Aruna:  This week I’ve been attending to some family matters as well as my yoga classes and Teacher Training so I hope you enjoy this guest post, which may be especially useful for those marketing their kids yoga classes. I’ll be back next week with some new stories and games.)

This post is written by Susan White, who writes on the topic of Radiologist Technician Schools . She welcomes your comments at her email id: susan.white33@gmail.com .

We all know that yoga has benefits beyond the physical alone and that if you’re a yoga enthusiast, you’re likely to be in the fittest of both physical and mental health. But how many of us think of the benefits that this ancient eastern art holds for kids? When it comes to health and fitness for children, we focus on a sport and outdoor play rather than think of exercising at the gym or following a workout routine. But another form of exercise that offers them various advantages is yoga, a fact that is not as well known as it should be. Yoga helps children by:

1. Enhancing concentration: When your child gets used to the asanas or postures of yoga, they automatically improve their concentration skills. Ancient sages used yoga as a form of meditation, and their powers of concentration are legendary. Your child learns how to sit still in one place and focus on what’s important as opposed to letting their mind wander and be distracted easily. This helps them in their lessons and at school, boosts their attention span and improves their grades.
2. Increasing flexibility and balance: Yoga helps improve flexibility and balance and tones their muscles too. It makes them stronger and less likely to suffer sprains and fractures through accidental falls.
3. Improving general well-being: Kids who practice yoga regularly feel good about themselves and are healthier and happier than those who don’t. They feel both mentally and physically rejuvenated after a yoga session and this improves their mental and physical health.
4. Boosting confidence: When your child is able to display great agility and flexibility, it does wonders for their confidence. Their improved performance at school also helps boost their popularity and their self assurance. They become more poised and start to believe in their abilities. This feeling provides them with the adrenaline they need to achieve success in all their endeavors.
5. Relaxing their minds: Even kids are subject to a great deal of stress these days because of their workload at school and the high expectations that their parents have for them. They are pushed to be achievers at every single point of their lives, and when they fail, they take it to heart and become depressed. Yoga helps them relax and de-stress when they feel upset or depressed. It soothes their frayed minds and helps them get back to a normal mental state.

Children are more flexible and agile than adults, so the earlier you get kids started on to yoga, the more benefits they gain.

Kids Yoga Teacher Training

This photo was from my last kids yoga teacher training course – can you believe it was 4 months ago!  That was a fun class – each group is a different mix, but I don’t think I’ve ever taught a training with so many yoga teachers in it.  In this class we went deeply into what to do when you get in front of the kids.

Some of the trainings have more daycare teachers or school teachers and parents.  These folks know a lot about the classroom management side of things and so we go into yoga more.

The in-person trainings cover everything you need to know.  You find out not only what you didn’t know, but also what you didn’t know you didn’t know!  That’s the trickiest part of learning – when you don’t know you need to know something.  When I first started teaching children I didn’t know how to manage a class.  I didn’t know I needed to set guidelines and boundaries with the kids and I got walked all over.  When I figured out that I NEED TO KNOW this – then only could I find out HOW to do it.

In-person training illuminates all this because it allows for interaction with the trainer but also the other people attending and all their experience.

That being said, I invite you to come and experience my Kids Yoga Teacher Training.  I won’t go into too much detail as I know many of you are in other countries, provinces, and cities.  But I invite you to mark the date for the April training for an edu-holiday:  come take the course and see Toronto.

But for those reading in Toronto you may be interested in the six week Training starting January 12.   It’s special because it’s the first time I’m pairing the course with a Family Yoga Class.  As you know, it’s one thing to talk about teaching kids, but another to do it.  It helps to actually see children doing yoga.  So that’s what we’ll do here.

Also for the Torontonians (that what we call ourselves here): You are invited to join in the Family Yoga Class.  Especially for those with kids, but also for those who want to bring out the kid in you!  This class is open to all.  So feel free to join even if you just want to do an extra yoga class each week.  Guaranteed to be more fun than your average yoga class.

Here are the links:

• 6 Week Kids Yoga Teacher Training – Co-op Course (18 hour Certificate) – Starts Tuesday, January 12 – click here.
• Family Yoga Class:  6 week series starts Tuesday, January 12, 5 – 6 pm – click here
• Spring Kids Yoga Teacher Training Weekend – save the date – April 30 – May 2 – click here.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I’d love to see you there.

Aruna Kathy Humphrys
Aruna@YoungYogaMasters.com

Medical study – Yoga Helps Some Kids with ADHD

This week I’m taking a sixty hour Yoga Teacher Training called Vitality and Stress, learning all different aspects and qualities of stress. My favorite so far has been examining our “stress monster” personality. Sounds like something that could work in kids yoga – don’t you think?

Here’s an intersting article and video on how yoga helps relieve stress, balance cortisol levels, and create a better state of mental health. About half way through you’ll find this:

One thing we’re also understanding is that low levels of stress can be motiviting.  Its the unrelenting, ongoing stress that we want to avoid.

Hope everyone has a low stress week. I’ll have some more tips next week.

Aruna Kathy Humphrys
http://www.youngyogamasters.com/

Announcing: Kid Yoga Teacher Training Dates

Announcing the next Kids Yoga Teacher Training Dates
This Kids Yoga Teaching Training course gets you ready to teach kids yoga and avoid the problems that new teachers experience.  With a tested six week kids yoga curriculum filled with yoga and activities that kids love. You will also discover additional poses, games, meditations, and songs to build the skills and confidence to design your own classes.  This course will equip you to spread the health and joy of yoga with children at home, in daycares, studios, or in the classroom.

1. New Program:  12 Hour Training + 6 Hour Co-Op Training (6 weeks): Toronto, Ontario, Canada Starts Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2. 12 Hour Training Weekend:  Toronto, Ontario, Canada
   Friday, April 30 – Sunday, May 2, 2010

Who Should Attend the Kids Yoga Teacher Training:

Attention:  Those who want to give kids the life-long rewards of healthy bodies and happy minds.

• Yoga Teachers
• School Teachers
• E.C.E.’s (Early Childhood Educators)
• Doctors, Therapists, and Kids Specialists
• Specialty Kids Teachers
• Teaching Assistants
• Parents
• Grandparents
• Those who work with kids
• And all those who love and care for kids

Teaching Kids Yoga Training is for you!

About the Course:

Connect with kids from toddlers to tweens with a meaningful yoga practice.

Young Yoga Masters is a unique Kids Yoga Teacher Training program that will give you the tools to explain yoga and meditation to kids.  It is for those who are just starting out and also for those who teach kids regularly and want to rejuvenate their lesson plans with inspiring ideas and activities.

For Developing Focus & Keeping Imagination Alive
Teaching Kids Yoga features age old postures and meditations that can build self-awareness and confidence. The stories from Ancient Secrets of Success for Today’s World by Tulshi Sen inspire teachers and kids alike.
Take your classes from good to awesome!  In this weekend workshop you will discover:

• Classroom Management: How to gain kid’s cooperation, work with groups, and build passion for yoga,
• Child Development: An overview of the ages and stages of children’s abilities and development,
• Yoga Fundamentals: The fundamentals of yoga and meditation and how to present them to kids,
• A six week class curriculum based on Ancient Secrets of Success for Today’s World by Tulshi Sen – a tested program that inspires kids, filled with inspiring kids yoga, meditations, games and stories.  This curriculum tells you exactly how to introduce yoga to kids in a way they can understand and apply.  It will give you the tools to create a meaningful yoga curriculum to teach in your kids classes;
• How to develop your own kids yoga classes for different ages, time frames, and settings from the living room to the classroom;
• Quick Yoga: Quick, everyday tools for calming and centering for kids and adults;
• Rejuvenation: An amazing course to connect with others and nourish your soul.  Practical and personal development that’s full of imagination and fresh ideas.

For full course details link here:  http://www.youngyogamasters.com/in-person-training/

Please contact me if you have any questions about the course.  I’d love to see you there,

Teaching Kids Yoga – New and Improved

Teaching Kids Yoga is moving from Blogger to a new website:

For several weeks I’ll be posting on both blogs while I figure out what I can do to keep some of the ranking I’ve build up for two years blogging on Blogger. Then I’ll switch over all posting to the new site.

I invite you to check it out and continue to read and comment on my new site.

All those who receive e-mails posts, you will be automatically switched. If you would like to start to receive the blog in your e-mail enter your address here:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Change Your Feed to My New Address
If you follow my blog in another way, you’ll have to change to the new address. Go to the new address and click the RSS feed or follow button.

If you have ANY questions – leave a comment and we’ll figure it out. I’d also love your comments on the new look. If there’s anything else you’d like to see, feel free to offer constructive feedback. I think the new location is better organized for over 140 posts!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at www.YoungYogaMasters.com!

Yours in Teaching Kids Yoga and children’s total health and balance,

Aruna Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com

P.S. I’ve created a new e-mail address: Aruna@YoungYogaMasters.com. My other e-mail addresses will forward to this address now so they still work!

P.P.S. For all those bloggers and entrepreneurial types following my blog, the main reason I switched is because there is more control this way (Wordpress). I bought a pre-made template and created pages. I wanted to be able to include all my kids yoga info on the blog rather than sending readers to another site.

Plus my husband is a computer genius and this is part of his business – I highly recommend him, although I am definitely biased. You can let me know if you want more info on starting a beautiful blog like mine, or switching formats, and I’ll put you in touch with the expert.

Kids Yoga Animal Poses

One yoga teacher in the kids yoga teacher training course asked me a question that every new teacher must ask when doing kids yoga:

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!)

Plus many other great books and videos. There are also some great blog posts on Yoga Animals here at:

Stuffed Animals for Yoga Class Help Kids Focus from the Yoga in My School blog

Here are some scary animals like bats and Spiders in this post: Halloween Yoga for Kids from the Childlight Yoga blog.

I have to admit I haven’t included a yoga animal story in my teacher training curriculum. 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 that was more than just pretending to be poses, I figured this was already available.

Yet this question helped me realize that animals and yoga go together so naturally, it is a fundamental of kids yoga. So I’m going to cover it here and include this blog post in my teacher training manual. I’m grateful for people’s questions and feedback because they also show me what can be added to improve my training course.

Here are my current top ten favorite yoga animal poses:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Frog: squat and stretch your legs like a frog warming up and then jump!
   
4. Cobra Pose
5. Downward Dog
6. 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.
7. Cheetah: move quickly on all fours like a cheetah running across the land
8. Camel Pose: See the picture above.
   
9. Unicorn: Make your hands into a magical unicorn horn over the centre of your head then gallop.
10. Donkey Kicks

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, but you’ll quickly find out animals they like to do. You can also suggest that there are those who feel some of the yoga poses came from watching how animals stretch. Then ask them if they want 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.

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?

Get Started Teaching Yoga for Kids

How to Teach Kids Yoga

A lot of people find my blog because they’re asking “How to teach Kids Yoga.” It’s what most of the people in my teacher training courses want to know and it is an important query.

The query reminds me of a saying about teaching that was emphasized when I became a yoga teacher,

Teaching Yoga Your Way

I have a confession to make.

In my first attempt to teach other adults about kids yoga, about seven years ago, I basically compiled a bunch of kids yoga ideas that I learned from other people’s books, DVD’s, and workshops. I took things from the daycare that I worked in too. These things definitely worked with kids. The classes were fun and the training was effective. But a part of me didn’t feel good about it.

I didn’t want to just “borrow” other people’s ideas. And I didn’t want to just play pretend class after class. At one point I realized if I wanted to keep teaching kids and train teachers, I needed to create a program that was unique and meaningful.

How to Explain “Yoga” to Kids?
I started to examine the things that connected with me in yoga and how I could teach these concepts in my kids yoga classes. I started with the idea of what Yoga is. How to explain “Union,” which is a very mystical and deep concept, to kids. That became the first week of my kids yoga curriculum.

I began noting how the kids reacted to different themes and how to phrase them so they really made an impact.

Then, a curriculum emerged of my favorite yoga themes. I felt relief. Not only was I teaching something that came from within, I enjoyed teaching it a whole lot more. I could not go on, class after class, pretending to visit the zoo! Doing yoga without any depth.

Kids Yoga Training that is More than Fun and Games
This is what makes my Kids Yoga Teacher Training different from others. Sure we pretend and play games, but we also talk about the ideas of yoga and meditation that make it more than an exercise class. Of the hundred teachers I’ve trained so far, all of them have loved it not only for what it does for their kids yoga classes, but also what it does for them.

Awakening imagination, finding your voice, and creating your own story. Don’t you think this is what life is about! Doing it Your Way.

I invite all those who feel that yoga is more than an exercise class to come to my next Kids Yoga Teacher Training on the weekend of Sept. 26 & 27. This twelve hour kids yoga training is like no other – guaranteed. It is based on the teachings of my mentor, author of Ancient Secrets of Success for Today’s World, Tulshi Sen. It contains wisdom to build the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. It will train you to connect with kids Your Way.

Even if you’ve taken other kids yoga trainings, you’ll be amazed at what you learn in this transformational and extremely playful weekend. There are still a few spots available. Register by this Saturday you’ll save $40.

The full details are here. If you’re the kind of person who wants to teach kids more than stretching….I’ll be expecting you there!

P.S. Thanks to Adrienne for letting me know my blog was named in The Top 50 Yoga Blogs for a Healthy Mind and Body.

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