Come Play Yoga!

I'm wildly distracted today as I sit down to write my weekly blog.  One of my bosses at Karma Kids Yoga just had her first baby yesterday!  It'll probably be several weeks before I get to see her again and meet her beautiful baby girl, but I'm still so antsy with excitement!

I've been wanting to write a blog about what I do at Karma Kids, and so today seems to be the perfect day to do that!

Even though I've been working at Karma Kids for 6 months now, I haven't written about it or children's yoga in general very much on my blog.  I've wanted to, but I just haven't known what to day.  A million and one adorable things happen every single day there, but I don't think I'll be writing a blog about the yoga adventures I take with the kids (even though yesterday we went on a dragon hunt in the forest, which was AWESOME!).  It doesn't always make sense outside of the magical studio!

I've mostly been working with the toddlers, and when I work at the desk, that's usually the age that I'm exposed to just because of the hours I work - I don't tend to work when classes for 7-9's, tweens, and teens take place.  I do want to get comfortable with the older ages, though, and so today I'm excited to start assisting an amazing teacher on a special yoga class.  It's called Everything Yoga, and each week we'll have a different theme - Butterfly Yoga, Group Poses, Circus Yoga, Yoga Games...every single trick up the Karma Kids sleeve will be done in this class for kids ages 5-9 at Friends Seminary just east of Union Square.  It'll be great for me to work with Kelly, one of the senior teachers, and to learn to deal with a wider age range - the kids range from 5 years old to 9 years old, which I imagine will present unique challenges!

I have found such unbelievable joy and discovered such passion for teaching kids.  Aside from being incredibly silly and fun, it's so rewarding to see positive changes in kids.  It's hard to say this without being cliche or corny, but kids are our future.  It's so gratifying to be able to take part in the development of children's lives, even if it's a small part.  There's nothing in the world like being on the receiving end of a wildly enthusiastic hug from a 5-year-old, or hearing a 4-year-old student say, "I love you!," or getting concerned pets on your 'boo-boo' from toddlers who want to help make you feel better.

There's going to be an article about the benefits of yoga for kids in the New York Times at some point (not sure when - they've been interviewing some of the KKY staff), and there has already been an article put out by the Wall Street Journal, along with a video featuring my awesome workplace, boss, and my beautiful friend Laura teaching a class.

Read the article and definitely watch the video - the kids are so funny!  You can find both here - the video is to the left.

While you're at it, check out our website - http://www.karmakidsyoga.com - and recommend us to anyone you know with kids or who is pregnant in the NYC area!

In other non-kid news, I'm about to start reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in the spirit of my Conscious Kitchen, Omnivore's Dilemma, books-about-food reading streak!  I loved Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and am so excited to read this book.  Who knows, it could be my next Book Report...