SCHOOLS PEP Grant to The Accelerated School (TAS) for Yoga Ed. Trainings:

TAS received a 3-year PEP Grant to provide Yoga Ed. trainings and workshops to LAUSD. Launched this fall of 2005, Yoga Ed. now teaches monthly 2-day Tools for Teachers workshops for classroom teachers along with 5-day and 7-day trainings for PE teachers and qualified yogis.

For more information on schedule and registration:
www.accelerated.org/yogaed.php

LAUSD Nutrition Network to offer Yoga Ed. for Second Year:
The USDA is funding Tools for Teachers professional development in-services for the second year through grants to LAUSD Nutrition Network. By popular demand from teachers, we anticipate teaching Yoga Tools at over 90 schools! Our goal is to support the improvement of health/wellness nationwide by helping students and teachers be more aware, physically active and eating more fruits and vegetables. www.lausdnutritionnetwork.org

UNIVERSITIES

Yoga Ed Tools for Teachers at Syracuse University:
Donna Acox, Trainer, has been approved to teach the first Yoga Ed. Tools for Teachers course at Syracuse University through the School of Education! This EDU 500 level course will meet on Wednesday evenings from 5:45 - 8:45 p.m. in the Spring semester of 2006.  The classroom has enough space for 45 people to practice and play.  The University is even offering Financial Assistance for the course to help with enrollment. www.yesu.syr.edu

Loyola Marymount University Continues to Support Yoga Ed:
LMU is offering education CEU's for all Yoga Ed. workshops and trainings.
2-day = 1 CEU
5-day = 2 CEU
7-day = 3 CEU
www.lmu.com

In addition to participating in TOP (Teacher Outreach Project) and giving classroom teachers a 20% discount on yoga classes, Yoga Works is extending that discount to Yoga Ed. Instructors as well!  

Yoga Ed. will be issuing ID cards to all Yoga Ed. Instructors so you can take advantage of this opportunity.   Stay tuned!

Collaborations with Local and National Yoga Studios:
Yoga Ed. is currently planning trainings with major studios chains:
Yoga Works, Exhale and Golden Bridge
In order to reach more yogis and meet the growing demand for Yoga Ed. Instructors!           

http://www.yogaed.com/members/links.php

More 7-day Yoga Ed. Instructor Trainings Planned for 2006:
In addition to the usual venues, Omega in NY, The Crossings in TX, Kripalu in MA and YES, Yoga Ed.'s calendar is filling up with new 7-day Instructor Trainings scheduled in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami, Esalen and Shambala.  

http://www.yogaed.com/schedule.php                           

CONFERENCES

Omega Yoga Conference in Miami, FL
The 2 Yoga Ed. workshops scheduled for November 12-13, 2005 at the Path of Yoga Conference were sold out!   Both the introduction to the K-8 Curriculum and the Yoga Tools for Teachers sessions were enthusiastically received with participants responding that they learned a lot, had fun and were excited about new possibilities.  

The Director of Physical Education and Health from Palm Beach School District has already contacted us to integrate a Yoga Ed. Program.   To meet the demand for Yoga Ed. in Florida, we are planning an Instructor Training in Miami in June 2006 at The Standard Hotel and Spa.

www.standardhotel.com

3 Yoga Ed. Workshops at Learning Brain Expo in San Diego:

Eric Jensen, educator, author and founder of The Brain Store, has scheduled 3 Yoga Ed. workshops for the Learning Brain Expo in San Diego, January 13 - 15, 2006.   Teacher participants will learn about using Yoga Tools for personal health, classroom harmony and improved testing.

www.thebrainstore.com

OUTREACH

TOP (Teacher Outreach Project) expanding:
With Yoga Ed. Instructors spreading the word, yoga studio participation in TOP is growing. This means more classroom teachers are practicing yoga! Please continue to promote TOP in your communities. Print and deliver the invitation to both the teachers you reach and the studios you know.

http://www.yogaed.com/teach_outreach.html

INSTRUCTOR SUCCESS STORIES

I am finishing the last days of the Laguna Beach Unified Schools  - Elementary School PE Teachers training, on their first (6 week) unit of Yoga Ed.  It is going GREAT!  I am impressed with their desire and motivation to do something outside their expertise and am reassured as I watch them that this program is not just for Yoga Teachers.   It is valuable for anyone.   Understanding the basic principles of alignment and self-awareness are fabulous tools to have in life and in teaching! 

I also recently received the evaluations from the 8th graders as they completed their first unit of Yoga Ed.   Again, I am impressed and excited that the Yoga Ed. training was effective and that the classes continue to be a huge success for both the students and their teachers.  Yoga Ed. is an inspiration and I am constantly grateful for the opportunity to share it!!! 

In Pittsburgh, Joanne Spence started the "Yoga in Schools" non-profit and currently teaches the Yoga Ed. Program at 3 schools funded by the Grable Foundation.

Joanne writes: We are seeing about 550 students per week in three inner city schools in Pittsburgh.   We are on track with our fund raising to see 1000 children a week in the 2006/2007 school year.   The teachers seem genuinely supportive and say they feel supported by the program.   They are eager to have us back.   We are learning a lot about working in larger school systems.   The challenge is huge and the neediness of many of the children can feel, at times, overwhelming.   However, we remain convinced that Yoga in Schools (using the Yoga Ed Curriculum) is very worthwhile and inspiring us to dig deep and live large.   We continue to "be the change" and love what we do every day.   It is a privilege to serve as yogis.

Nicole Kroger teaches hearing-impaired children at North Elementary School, Villa Park, IL. She completed the Yoga Ed. Training in August at Omega and started teaching it at her school the next week!
                          
Nicole is amazed at how quickly Yoga Ed. is being embraced:

YE is incorporated into the classroom curriculum for all SASED students who attend North Elementary School in Villa Park, IL.   SASED is a special education cooperative that stands for School Association for Special Education in Dupage County, located in Naperville, IL.   SASED teachers and students are loving YE and 2 of our SASED sites (over 60 students) are using YE as part of their daily curriculum.  

YE is extended to all students at North School as part of an after school enrichment program beginning October 25. This program is being offered to students in grades 2-5.    We raised over $400 so each student could have their very own new yoga mat!   Additionally, Fairview Elementary School in Darien, IL has agreed to sponsor YE as part of an after school program beginning Jan. 2006, funded by the PTA. 

Madeline Marchell, in Hunterdon County and Morristown, NJ, reports:

I have been truly inspired by taking the Yoga Ed. Certification.   I believe that this program works because it gently integrates Yoga Education into the western world.   When I utilize Yoga Tools with teachers and students, we are all on the same page, speaking the same language.

I teach Yoga Ed. at several venues in my community:
Health Quest, Family Fitness Center  
Home-Schooling groups for PE credit  
Morristown Memorial Hospital/Mind Body Center to adolescents
School In-service staff development days
Atlantic Health Systems
Pediatric Hospital and Day-care

I am also submitting a proposal to introduce Yoga Ed. at a local Yoga Expo. Wherever I am, I share Yoga Ed. and am rewarded by the difference it makes!   

Lily Goodale is growing Yoga Ed. in Belfast, ME:

At the Captain Albert Stevenson School, we have begun to teach Kindergartners and Third Graders. Yoga Ed. has been well received by both teachers and students.   The first question children ask on Monday mornings is, when are we having yoga? !    The Third Graders are even integrating their study of yoga into their curriculum unit on the human body and health.

I have also had to address the concerns of some parents as to the value of yoga for academics.   I invite them to come and observe or even participate in yoga class.   They experience first-hand the benefits of Yoga Ed. and the importance of balance in the already stressful and pressured lives of their children. I explain that through yoga, kids have the opportunity to let go, have fun, relax and just be, which has been documented to actually enhance learning, reading and creativity.

I also teach Yoga Ed. at a local private school as an elective. All the children love it and most choose it weekly as their elective of choice.

As for funding, we are in the process of applying for grants to cover salaries. We hope to find a Maine based company such as L.L. Bean to support us in the next year!

In Austin, TX, Mary Olmstead, Stacey Loop and Allison Baker are enjoying working together as a team:

In August, we taught our first Tools for Teachers in-service at Bedichek Middle School, where Mary teaches middle school.   It was well-received, and teachers were very excited about trying out Yoga Tools in their classrooms.   We have another two workshops scheduled at the Rise School of Austin, which was established by parents who wanted to provide a learning environment that could accommodate children with and without developmental disabilities and with special needs.   The Rise School is affiliated with the University of Texas and is an instrumental part of UT's teaching training so we are very excited.   In January, we also have a workshop scheduled at Child's Way Learning Center pre-school.  

Individually, we have all experienced much enthusiasm for yoga in the classroom.   Stacey recently conducted a workshop at a pre-school focusing on how yoga helps kids with special needs, and continues to teach her kids' yoga classes.   Mary is working with yoga in her middle school environment.   Allison is teaching at the pre-school and elementary level. She is finding an amazing amount of support from parents that are concerned about their kids' fine-motor skills and are interested in how yoga can help develop these, as well as help address attention issues.  

Antonella Caruso brings Tools for Teachers to Yonkers, NY, and shares her process and advice:

Dear Yoga Ed Teachers: 

I wanted to share some exciting news. My proposal to teach Yoga Ed Tools for Teachers has been approved by the Policy Board for the Yonkers Schools Teachers Association (YECAC - which is a member of the New York State Teacher Centers).    The course will be held Feb. 4, 11 and March 4 from 9am-2pm as a 15 hour continuing education professional development program.   It was embraced because it meets NYS Health, Physical Education and Family and Consumer Sciences Standards.   They will be purchasing the Tools for Teachers Manual as well. Yeah!

The Director of YECA, Paul Diamond, deserves my deepest gratitude for believing in the program and me.   As a result, Yoga Ed. will be introduced to a huge population of teachers in Westchester County, New York in 2006.  And I look forward to now selling it to other school districts in the area as well.   I will email the official course description once it makes it to their cyberspace program manual.

I'd like to add that I credit my success to the in-depth research I did to prepare.   On the internet, I found the names of principles, administrators of schools and school districts as well as the organized organizations in this area that provide continuing education for school teachers.  I then put a standard letter together and sent it out to each one. 

Yonkers responded with an email.  When I called back, I requested some assistance on filling out the application and the Director agreed. Our conversations were my opportunity to ask key questions and really listen to his concerns, needs and goals.   With this information, I was able to write my proposal so that the Policy Board, which is supposedly very conservative, would see Yoga Ed. in a beneficial light for its teachers and students.  I gave them a substantial amount of information demonstrating how yoga education could support them in addressing their issues.  My proposal included some of the bibliographies and research on the benefits of yoga for kids from the Yoga Ed. materials as well as other information from the website.    I know now that other schools will jump at the opportunity to invest in Yoga Ed. Tools for Teachers as well. 

What I've learned in this process is to cultivate patience, to really listen, to reflect and respond thoughtfully and appropriately, to follow through with action and to not be attached to the outcome.  My advice is: Do your homework.   Read up on your states education standards in PE, Health, Professional Development, etc. Then, don't be afraid to think big and live your intention.
Happy New Year with love from Antonella

Please send us your stories and news for the next newsletter in February 2006.          

Happy Holidays, Tara and Leah