The Full of Joy Yoga 8-hour yoga & mindfulness in the preschool classroom training is for teaching kids ages 2 – 5 years. This training is interactive and comprehensive and incorporates music, stories, games & props in a fun and exciting way that will engage all preschoolers. You’ll learn yoga poses, partner poses, group poses, yoga games and mindfulness activities, breathing exercises, relaxation and visualization techniques and more! You will learn how to incorporate activities throughout the day to use as transitions, as well as create your own 20-30 min yoga class. Date: November 5, 2022 Where: The Nest, 56 Stoney Creek Road, Branford (with a Zoom option) Time: 9am-5pm with a lunch break from 12:30-1pm Investment: $250.00 Help your students to: Learn tools for focus and concentration learn to self-regulate and manage emotions increase strength & flexibility gain body awareness, sensory & motor skills build confidence, self-esteem and develop… Read More »
Why YOU, Yes YOU Should Start a Gratitude Practice
and how a gratitude practice can bring more joy to your life. The definition of gratitude is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Benedictine monk, Br. David Steindl-Rast, suggests that two qualities belong in our basic definition of gratitude. The first is appreciation: You recognize that something is valuable to you, which has nothing to do with its monetary worth. The second quality Br. David mentions is that gratitude is gratis: freely given to you. Robert Emmons, perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, also argues that gratitude has two key components: “First, it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.” In her book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life, Angeles Arrien writes: “Gratitude is essentially the recognition of the unearned increments of value in… Read More »
How to Create a Mindful Glitter Bottle
This glitter bottle represents how our minds can settle. It is an activity that your kids can use as a mindfulness practice. Why the glitter bottle? We are always looking for tools to calm our kids. This one in particular is extremely calming – they are mesmerizing AND give us a window inside our brain. But first we must explain why we use this glitter bottle. Kids tend to act out when they are struggling and sometimes have difficulty sharing what is going on. When they can’t find the words to explain how they are feeling, we need to be able to demonstrate the connection between our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. This glitter bottle is one of the most powerful visual metaphors for what is going on in our brain and the connection between our feelings, thoughts and behaviors. It allows us to practice mindfulness– the practice of being still… Read More »