About Yoga Ed.

ABOUT YOGA ED.

Endorsements

Educators

		Yoga practice is an effective means of teaching children how to “strengthen and nourish the integrity of their central nervous systems.” It is also helpful in fostering some of the habits of mind that help develop students as “optimal learners. Yoga Ed. is the best, most extensive, and most thoughtfully infused Yoga curriculum that exists in education today.

		Gessner Geyer, MA., Ed.M., Harvard University Consultant & Director, Brainergy, Inc

The potential for Yoga Ed. to transform a classroom is extraordinary. It teaches students through movement and breath to develop better self control and focus.

Marlene Canter, Board President,
Los Angeles Unified School District

"I have witnessed firsthand how yoga can help the students concentrate, focus and relax enough to take in new and difficult information."

Lara Naughton, Arts Coordinator

As a first grade teacher, I see enormous benefits to using yoga in the classroom. The kids love it and it really helps in getting them focused on learning. It is the best behavior management I have used, and we can do it together. I recommend it to all teachers, wholeheartedly!

Holly Ellman, TAS

Yoga Ed. provides teachers with tools to assist us in staying relaxed and focused in the classroom while promoting a model of learning through which our children can rise to their highest potential, both as students and as human beings. Thanks for an inspiring and enjoyable training!

Rebecca Shanley, Sheridan St. School, Grade 2

The Yoga Ed. workshop helped me understand the power of yoga practices I already use in the classroom, like breathing exercises and chair poses. It also provided a number of new exercises and games as well as a child-yogi language that will help my students visualize and understand the purpose of poses.

Lisa Helene Donovan, Ramona Elementary Grades 3-5, Special Day Class

Teachers need to relax and rejuvenate. When they learn these Yoga Tools techniques, they can pass them onto their students. I know I have. Yoga Ed. has been a life-saver for me.

Sandy Christenson, Metropolitan High SchoolGrades 10-12

As the Director of our Lower School , I am impressed with both the Yoga Ed. curriculum and with how great the instructors are! The program really seems to center the kids. They come into the Yoga room with all sorts of feelings and energies, but they all leave with a certain focus and peacefulness. It is a natural fit for children who lead active and busy life styles.”

David Lyons, Director Aspen Country Day School

Our Thursdays with Suzanne Blumberg, who teaches Yoga Ed., are so special. The children enjoy the physicality and creativity of yoga, which Suzanne ties into whatever we are studying, whether it’s poses representing states or poses which correlate with a certain science unit such as the rainforest. Yoga Ed. is a valuable part of each week. Thank you!

Kathy Reppa, first grade teacher AES

I am having a great time doing Yoga Ed each Friday with my class. They love it. Today 8 kids came out of the class saying "I LOVE Yoga Ed! I wish we had it every day!!" Also, a cute comment came from a boy in my class the first day - he said, "When are we going to meet Yoga Ed?" He thought Yoga "Ed" was a person!" We talked about maybe having a mascot named "Yoga Ed" for the class.

Sara Lev, Kindergarten Teacher, Wildwood School, Culver City

I received the materials that I ordered from Yoga Ed. and I want to say that your "Tools for Teachers" manual and activity book is excellent!!! I am very impressed with your extensive research and magnificent activities – Yoga Ed. is truly a professional organization!

PS – The students in my middle school (grades 6-8) after school Yoga Club just love the Pretzel deck - and Yoga! I told them about your school and they all said, “Wow! I wish we could do yoga everyday!”

Kate Bunsey, Teacher in Cleveland, Ohio

Yoga Instructors

		I want to thank you again for such an awesome workshop. This has been one of the most deeply rewarding experiences of my life and I am honored to be a part of the Yoga Ed. community!

		Lauren Goldstein

I left the Yoga Ed. Instructor Training feeling empowered and confident, the qualities this curriculum inspires the child to be.

Kari Settler

Yoga Ed. is the miracle the children and I have been waiting for.

Gerri Dalzell

The Yoga Ed. K-8 Program and Curriculum is “A Course in Miracles” for anyone who wants to teach yoga to kids.

Audrey McCann

My expectations were so surpassed! I feel so rich with opportunity and passion to teach and share Yoga Ed. with children and schools.

Miriam Stein

I found what I’ve been looking for.

Jacqui Compton

I am writing really to share I FINALLY just gave my first Tools For Teachers workshop to 45 Faculty members!!! and man- did I have to use my breath practice for the hour before...and during:) It was so fun and went great- it was AMAZING to see
all their energies shift from one exercise to the next.

The best part was moving from the breath exercises - where they became totally relaxed to playing Back to Back - to "Can't Touch This"...they were like 10 years old again. When I had them sit back down and notice how they felt after the game - the head of the school belts out--"WOW I was just so relaxed and feeling how tired I was after the breath stuff and NOW I'm completely ENERGIZED"- with a huge smile on his face. I was like--- YES!!! exactly!- that's what games can do- ENERGIZE mentally tired, burnt out kids!!! It was so cool to see them see it, feel it, be it!!!

C.B., Yoga Ed Instructor, Washington, DC

Wow! Yoga Ed is awesome. The school year has begun and so have my Yoga Ed. classes. The response from the children to the Yoga Ed Curriculum has been fantastic. You should see the huge smiles on their faces while we're playing Yogi Benders! Starting yoga class with a game is brilliant. They're great fun and the children let off lots of steam. I'm finding that they're much more able to focus during the rest of the class. Time in, breathing, yoga poses, visualizations -now I see how it all fits together. The school halls are alive with yoga! I have so many requests -from teachers, parents, for private classes. I'm thrilled. I'm loving teaching and having a lot more fun. I even have an assistant! That alone makes the teaching experience completely different. I actually end a class feeling energized rather than exhausted. A big, heartfelt THANK YOU!

Just another Yoga Ed. note...

We did yoga assessments yesterday with the 3rd and 4th grade classes. It was so interesting. I learned a lot about each child and how they view themselves. It was very clear who are the over achievers, who have great self-images, who are hurting inside. The simple use of pencil and paper and the individual markings was interesting. I know they learned new and interesting things about themselves, too. Both my assistant and I were amazed at their focus, their effort and their cooperation

...one boy, who has a number of challenging issues(some degree of autism, inability to focus, etc.) was able to breathe smoothly and evenly in time-in for 108 seconds!

I almost skipped this lesson thinking it wasn't going to be received well in a Montessori school...I'm so glad I didn't!

I want to share a triumphant moment with you! Yesterday, I taught Yoga Ed. to a group of 8th graders. Bev, their Life Skills teacher asked me a few months ago to offer this class as a way to help her students deal with stress. She presented the challenges: a tough group, fiestier than any other 8th grade, some big behavior issues, mostly boys... and I added a few challenges of my own: very little experience working with this age group, I didn't know any of the kids...I said yes anyway because I wanted the opportunity to try.

The class was AMAZING. Bev could hardly believe what she saw before her eyes. "Wow, you had them in the palm of her hand," she said to me. "They loved it." And the ultimate compliment by an 8th grade boy, "That was really cool."

Deborah Van Handel, Yoga Ed Instructor, Washington Montessori School, CT

I'm seeing my yoga students transform before my eyes. I'm awestruck by the potential and graceful power of Yoga Ed. I've been working with Chloe, (14 years old) for 4 weeks. Suddenly, a door for her has opened wide. She has gone from being quiet and shy to bursting with aliveness. Her mother said that doing yoga is the best thing she has ever done. I feel privileged to work with her. I know that I am riding a current that is much larger than Chloe and I can articulate.

Jaqui Pailing, Yoga Ed Instructor from Hawaii

I can't thank you enough for the Yoga Ed. training. I was doing an adventure course in the Adirondack's this week for the Syracuse University freshman and a few of the students got up at 5:30 a.m. to do yoga with me. I was able to practice my Yoga Ed material and they loved it.

A few days later I was working with 45 resident assistants at Paul Smith's college and was asked if I could give a motivational speech to them. I had about 5 minutes to prepare. I had had them all day in the woods and they had just sat through a 1 hr. workshop and were done! It was 8 p.m. So I looked up tired in the Yoga Ed. Manual and started the workshop off with elephant breath, partner and chair yoga. After that, the group was completely energized and the one hour motivational speech was a big success. I even had a 26 yr. old RA, whom I never thought I could reach, stop me the next day on my way home to tell me thanks for my speech, which had really resonated with him. I'm still glowing.

Brian Kenealy, PE and Yoga Ed Instructor, Syracuse, NY

Parents

		It is absolutely amazing to try something so new to the mind and body and know after one class that you want it for your life!

		TeNesha Mosley, Parent and Development Executive

		My daughter Kaesah likes yoga class very much. She says that she feels more calm and relaxed and can concentrate better.

		Maria Carillo, Mother of first grade student

I used the Yoga Ed training to introduce a session in my son's third grade classroom. The children were completely engaged by their ability to use their imaginations and create mountains, rivers and forests in their classroom. As noisy and giggly as they were at the beginning by the time we had moved into a quiet relaxing visualization everyone had become calm and focused. The classroom teacher was thrilled and excited and is looking forward to repeating the experience.

Zoe Topsfield, parent at the Foundations School Community, Van Nuys, CA, 2-3 graders

Yoga Ed is an essential program for all schools. The program helps schoolage children get ready for learning by developing high self-esteem, focus,concentration, and releasing stress through physical activity.

Stela Oliviera, Nutrition Network, Los Angeles , CA

Students

		Yoga Lion pose makes me feel really proud.

		Toni Cuevas Kindergarten

		Tree pose makes me feel joy.

		Victoria Porras, Kindergarten

Yoga has lots of poses like Tree. Ms. Ann teaches us to balance. Yoga makes me better.

Jocelyn Prado 1st grade

Yoga is a special way of stretching. Yoga makes me feel like I am special. Yoga is a great thing.

Christopher Porras 3 grade

Yoga makes me feel calm, smooth and relaxed. My favorite poses are camel, crow, headstand, handstand, shoulder stand. Yoga is fun like the world is upside down!

Devanta Maudlin 4th grade

My favorite pose is crow. It makes me feel safe.

Yong Kim, 4th grade

Yoga makes me feel so free and powerful. I'm like a mountain and I get my own space. I'm higher than the sky and I am strong.

Jesse Babiesca, 6th grade

Yoga equals a shining light in my heart.

Tiffany Turner, 7th grade

Y - stands for youth that is what yoga brings
O - stands for outstanding which is how yoga makes me feel
G - stands for gracious which is how I feel about yoga
A - stands for attitude which is what yoga helps change

Yoga is for Life.

Celeste Gardner, 8th grade

Y – You feel well rested when your thoughts drain out of your head
O - Outstanding when you feel good about your accomplishments
G – Grateful for having the opportunity to do yoga
A – And most of all, you feel as light as a feather

Jasmine Griffin , 8 th grade

Yoga is energy
Yoga is fun
Why don’t we all breathe as one?
Yoga is finesse
Yoga’s not forcing
And it’s not like a chicken roasting!

Alejandro Ayala, 7 th grade

Yoga is me and you
So don’t feel blue
Feel flexible and have
Rhythm when you come
Into this room
Never listen to other people
When they are making fun
Of you, only think about
The teacher and you so
Never feel blue when
You come into this room.

Taylor Payne, 5 th grade

Yoga is refreshing
Yoga is light
Yoga is flexible
Yoga is life.
Yoga is my future
Yoga is everything…

Javier Lopez, 5 th grade

It seems that every pose I do, I become it.
When I do airplane, I feel myself
Taking off into the night…
As I do Warrior, I feel
The rush of strength flowing
Through my body…

Edgar Lopez, 8 th grade

Listen to the air
Listen
Listen to everyone’s breath in unison
Listen
Listen to the sea
Listen
Listen to the soft music
Listen
Listen to the teacher give instructions
Listen
Listen to everyone

Dann Sanders, 8 th grade