Yoga for Kids Breathes Life into Learning

New Tools for Schools Easily Integrates into Curriculum

Feb. 21 , 2005, Michigan City, IN - The award-winning YogaKids^® International program introduces a proven teaching solution for children ages 5-12 with the primary goal of creating less stress and greater success for teachers and students. YogaKids Tools for Schools links movement and creative activities to the subjects educators need to cover over the school year. Fun and easy-to-use yoga lesson plans are a springboard to explore a full range of classroom curricula - from the creative arts and physical education/health, to math, history and the sciences.

The YogaKids Tools for Schools program is a complete package that integrates in-depth teacher training, materials, classroom media and ongoing support. A comprehensive binder includes a teacher’s manual, lesson plans, poster and assessment tools. Also included are colorful pose cards, award-winning YogaKids DVDs and on-going teacher support from six hours of in-depth training to on-line reference and teacher forums. With these elements, educators learn how to easily incorporate yoga into their lesson plans and classroom management techniques, helping students manage their energy and stay centered throughout the day.

Leading academics at Purdue University have evaluated and approved YogaKids Tools for Schools as a continuing education and teaching program. Researchers from the Purdue University and Indiana University Schools of Education have also developed a measurement tool that allows each school to evaluate the benefits the program delivers. This gives teachers and administrators data to report to school leadership, boards, and parent-teacher organizations and demonstrate the value of their investment in the program. YogaKids has also been endorsed by health and wellness experts, Andrew Weil, MD and Deepak Chopra, MD.

“YogaKids Tools for Schools is the culmination of over 20 years of collaborative work with children, teachers and other professionals. We have creatively and meticulously melded what we know about the benefits yoga for kids brings to ‘whole child’ education with the actual tools educators need to put this kind of program into place,” explains the primary developer and recognized yoga authority Marsha Wenig. Her award-winning book, YogaKids: Educating the Whole Child Through Yoga, is included in the YogaKids Tools for Schools program.

“We know school boards are counting pennies and teachers are strapped for time, and we were very mindful of these realities when we put the teaching solution together,” said Wenig.

Tools for Schools can be scaled to the needs and interests of each school and district. It can be implemented one teacher at a time, by classroom or school-wide. Expert YogaKids facilitators around the world have been trained to help teachers and administrators launch Tools for Schools in their environment – be it public, private, under Montessori and Waldorf systems, as well as within other certified educational programs.

Amongst the many benefits that educators, parents and children can derive from Tools for Schools are:

• Increased subject retention and improved test scores
• A more participatory and community oriented learning environment
• Less stress and more fun for both teachers and students
• A positive attitude toward learning and life
• A higher degree of self-confidence and self-esteem
• The ability to relax, self-nurture and even sleep better
• Enhanced communication and problem solving skills
• Better posture, increased fitness and improved self image

About YogaKids International

YogaKids International is the original provider of yoga, yoga fitness and educational products for children, based in Michigan City, Indiana. The organization’s mission is to promote peace, understanding, health and education…one child at a time. Over a million families have been introduced to yoga through the YogaKids DVD series. YogaKids has established a network of thousands of highly trained facilitators who offer classes, programs and training to communities and schools around the world.

Marsha Wenig, founder of YogaKids International, is a pioneer in the field of yoga for children. She is the pre-eminent voice and one of the nation’s leading experts on yoga education for children. Tools for Schools is the culmination of Marsha’s years of extensive research and work in the field of yoga education. The program, designed specifically for children and how they learn, sets the standard for in-school yoga education programs.

Marsha is a board member of the United Council of Yoga (Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports), presents internationally and is published extensively on the subject of yoga for children. She and her husband, Don, a yoga instructor for 30 years and co-founder of YogaKids International, have dedicated their life’s work to helping children around the globe discover that learning is fun, exercise feels good and taking care of the body is easy.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

From dogs to caterpillars

Sarah Palermo
Sentinel Staff

All of a sudden, the room was full of caterpillars - laughing caterpillars that crawled toward one another at the center of a circle, while grown women watched from the edges of the room, a few laughing themselves.

The giggling crawlers were really a group of toddlers helping Marsha Wenig, the founder of YogaKids International, demonstrate the program to adults hoping to take yoga to kids back home.

YogaKids, an internationally recognized program, was born of Wenig's desire to share yoga with her own children.

"I didn't start practicing yoga until I was 30," Wenig said. "When I had children, I watched them and I thought, 'Wouldn't it have been great to get these tools when I was growing up?

She began incorporating yoga into her creative writing curriculum with the California Poets in the Schools program in Los Angeles in 1986.

After a move to Indiana, she began teaching yoga to her daughter's Montessori pre-school class in 1991, and YogaKids was born.

After building her curriculum in her own community, she produced the YogaKids DVD in 1997, which brought fame and renown to the program and Wenig.

Mary B. Frost said the adults came to Keene from all areas of New England, a few from other parts of the country and one from as far as Bangkok to study with Wenig, who was called a "yoga luminary" by The Washington Post in 2001. Frost, of Marlborough, organized the recent event at the E.F. Lane Hotel.

Wenig's schedule does not let her demonstrate at these events often, Frost said. In fact, this was the first time this year she was involved in a session, and she is scheduled to teach at only one more, outside Chicago.

Some of her students will move on to a year-long program to become certified YogaKids facilitators, while others will take what they learn straight into their classrooms or homes.

All of her Keene students learned YogaKids is not much like the disciplined practice many adults consider yoga.

For one thing, these downward-facing dogs are encouraged to bark to their heart's content.

Wenig "shows you that you've got to have the kids have fun. It's a totally different yoga than what you or I would do," said Kathy A. McCoy, who works with special-education students in Connecticut, while watching Wenig wiggle on the ground with the kids.

"Let them play!" Wenig said is the central point of YogaKids.

Until the kids start asking for specific instructions, YogaKids isn't about holding the poses perfectly, she said; rather, it's more about building self-esteem. "It's about teaching for the heart," Wenig said.

YogaKids uses the theory that different people learn using different senses. Some kids learn best by hearing, while others learn best by doing, for example, according to Frost, a certified YogaKids facilitator and trainer.

The class is often structured around a book or lesson, she said.

Before Frost started organizing events like this, she taught the YogaKids curriculum in schools, private homes and the YMCA.

"We would make a story about the poses, like say 'Let's go for a walk in the woods,' " she said.

"We could even design class around what a class was studying, and reinforce what they were doing anyway."

For many of the 21 women learning the YogaKids curriculum in Keene, lessons from yoga are just as important as lessons from books.

"This is great for self-esteem building, and for developing ways of coping with stress, especially," said Kim A. Morse of Westford, Vt.

Jennifer L. Schutzius of Surry, whose two daughters Hannah C. and Molly J. Schutzius took part in the demonstration, also sees physical benefits for her kids.

"I wanted them to learn yoga when they were young so they learned how important it is to stretch and take care of your body," she said. "It helps center them, too. Kids don't relax at all."

McCoy, who plans to add the YogaKids curriculum to her work with special-needs students in Connecticut, agrees.

"There's so much anxiety kids are going through today. A lot of behavior issues stem from that," McCoy said while Wenig led the kids through the poses.

"Yoga can equip kids with the skills they need for life. It can empower them."

As McCoy finished speaking, Wenig started a call-and-repeat exercise with the kids while they moved into a position known as Warrior 2.

Standing firm on the ground with their legs apart and their arms stretching out to the sides, the kids repeated a mantra after Wenig.

"I am strong. I can do anything I set my heart and mind to."

April 11, 2007

Stress Relief Goes Kiddie

From yoga classes to luxurious massages, find out how you can tap into the emerging luxury market catering to overwhelmed kids.

By Kristin Edelhauser

With yoga classes and spas for dogs popping up across the country, it makes sense that parents would be splurging on these services and related products for their children as well. Sure, some may roll their eyes at the notion of today's youngsters, who have been spoon-fed luxuries such as cell phones and iPods from an early age, needing stress relief. But in pursuit of good parenting, tales of adults over-scheduling their kids with activities to "enrich" and "improve" them have become common.

"The intentions are honorable," says Paul Kurnit, clinical professor of marketing at Pace University's Lubin School of Business in New York City and founder and president of Kurnit Communications and KidShop. "But the results are often stressful. Kids want more time to hang out, do nothing and just plain chill."

That's where these hot kid-centric businesses come in. We found companies both large and small giving overwhelmed youngsters the chance to unwind and de-stress with friends in fun, comfortable settings. "This [trend] is likely to continue, grow and morph into more and more kid-specific versions of adult comfort, relaxation and pampering,” Kurnit predicts. And with children and teens influencing $600 billion a year of their parents' money, according to a retail analyst with Kizer & Bender Speaking, it's a market worth considering.

Next Generation of Yogis

Some flexible entrepreneurs have discovered that it's never too early for kids to start practicing yoga. “When a child learns to meditate at an early age, they have an extraordinarily valuable tool for life," says Shana Meyerson, founder of Los Angeles-based mini yogis. "Yoga teaches children how to step back from stress, put things in perspective, take some deep breaths and re-enter life from a calmer, more open perspective." Her studio, which offers yoga instruction for both children and adults, generated more than $100,000 in gross sales last year and continues to grow by about 20 to 30 percent each year.

Expanding beyond studio classes, YogaKids International, founded in 1991 by Marsha and Don Wenig in Michigan City, Indiana, sells DVDs and how-to books for young yogis, in addition to the classes, programs and training it provides to communities and schools around the world through a network of facilitators. YogaKids also recently began offering YogaKids Tools for Schools, in-school yoga education programs.

Marsha says the company has sold more than 500,000 DVDs for children ages three to six. “The sales of our products and trainings continue to grow as the value of the market becomes better understood and more widely accessible,” she adds. Caryn and Monte Harrell, the owners of Fitness Beginningsin Happy Valley, Oregon, an online retailer of fitness videos for kids, have noticed the same trend. Though the site originally offered more traditional work-out videos, Monte says once they added yoga videos and products for kids, such as kits and mats, to their site, yoga became one of their best-selling categories.

Buddhaful Kids Yoga, based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, has found another way to expand yoga beyond the studio: yoga birthday parties. "They are the rage," says the company's owner and author of Breathe: Yoga for Teens, who performs two to three yoga parties a week. "Kid and teen yoga is booming." She says her classes are always full several months before a sessions starts, with a wait list of about 10 to 15 eager yogis per session. Her average student is about 10 years old, though she teaches children from age five to 17.

Spa Treatments for the Tween Set

Along with yoga, spas get top billing as a way for adults to relax. From cotton candy mini-facials to modified massages, businesses are altering their treatments to appeal to a younger audience.

Resorts adding children’s services and treatments to their spa menus include the Spa Grande at Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii. Seizing the opportunity to cater to younger guests, Spa Grande introduced the "Keiki" spa menu in 2005, featuring treatments such as a wave massage, tropical facial and a chocolate-coconut body polish. Last year alone, the spa performed more than 6,000 spa treatments for children ages 6 and up.The most popular treatment: the chocolate coconut massage, which averages about 44 requests per month.

Smaller day spas are also benefiting from the trend. Metamorphosis Day Spa, based in New York, was created in 1997 by Cleo Londono, an esthetician, and David Gakshteyn, a massage therapist. Though the spa initially offered treatments solely for adults, Londono saw the potential for children’s services around 2004, when she began giving treatments to her own children as a way to spend more time with them. "Later, I thought other parents--and kids--might feel the same way," she says.

And she was right. Sales for 2006 topped seven figures. Londono says her average tween customer is about 12 years old and usually arrives in a group of girls. One of the most popular kid’s packages at Metamorphosis Day Spa is the candy land package for children ages nine to 12, which includes a cotton candy mini-facial, a half-hour massage with vanilla milkshake cream, and a bubble gum manicure and pedicure.

The spa industry is also taking its offerings mobile. Beauty on Call, an on-location beauty and spa company with services available in Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange County, California, recently added a new division catering to kids. Founder and president, Stacey Koerner-Roney says the new division is providing a major boost for the company. The parties feature age-appropriate beauty and spa treatments like nail polish changes, makeup application, chair massages and mini-facials.

Relaxing in Style

If there's a market for yoga and spa treatments, there's bound to be a market for dressing the kids during those activities. Cypress Luxury Bed & Bath Amenities, based in Sheffield, Massachusetts, provides hotels and spas around the country with bathrobes. One of their products: the Cypress children’s shawl robe is a kid-size version of their best-selling adult robe. CEO Gene Faul says a few of the spas and resorts requesting a large number of children’s spa robes include Pebble Beach Resorts, The Breakers Hotel & Resort and Lake Austin Spa Resort.

Sleepyheads.combased in Hopkins, Minnesota has gone a step farther by offering an entire product line of lounge and spa-wear for children. In the beginning, the company only offered adult pajamas and loungewear. But it didn’t take long for them to receive requests for kids' items. Each year, the website has seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in children’s loungewear and sleepwear sales. Francoise Shirley, president and CEO, says the website had sales of about $2 million in 2006.

Of course, little yogis need to be comfortable--and stylish--too. Jennifer Abrams and Sara Abrams Luber, sisters and co-owners of Sugar Tush, say that after the birth of their children, they noticed the void in hip and comfortable clothing for their babies. So they took matters into their own hands and created a line of fashionable yoga frocks for babies and children up to age six. They even offer matching yoga tops for moms and their kids. "We would take the babies to yoga class and dress them in our tees and tanks," Abrams says. "The response was instant and overwhelming.” Celebrity moms like Courtney Cox and Michelle Branch have even sent thank-you notes to the duo telling them how much they love their clothing.

If the yoga and spa scenes aren't your thing, you can still explore how to make this market work for you, even if that just means tweaking one of your current products or services. But to meet the needs of this ever-changing demographic, it’s important to stay on top of the trends they're following. In the world of children and teens, there’s nothing worse than being out of the loop. "Be facilitative, be kid aware, kid conscious and kid responsive," advises Kurnit. "Make new products and services that truly enrich through comfort, relaxation and physical stimulation that both kids and parents will appreciate and enjoy."