Posts about yoga teacher training programs, what to expect, how to prepare, and how the journey shapes your practice.

Yoga Teacher Training with Fever Yoga Cycle Strength

Yoga Teacher Training in Grand Rapids

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Choosing where to complete your first 200-hour yoga teacher training in Grand Rapids is one of the most meaningful decisions you’ll make in your yoga journey. This isn’t just about learning postures or earning a certificate. It’s about where you deepen your awareness, build integrity in your practice, and learn how to live yoga beyond the mat.

Yoga Teacher Training will Transform You

At Fever Yoga Cycle Strength, yoga teacher training is not designed to be rushed or surface-level. It is intentionally structured to guide you through long periods of meditation, reflection, and embodied learning. You’re not only developing the skills to teach — you’re reshaping how you relate to breath, stillness, and your own inner landscape.

Classical Yoga Theory and Vinyasa Yoga Theory

The program unfolds in two distinct phases. The first half of the training is rooted in classical yoga theory, where you study alignment, structural awareness, and the integrity of each posture. You build a deep understanding of how and why poses work so you can teach safely and with confidence. The second half of the training evolves into vinyasa, where you begin to understand sequencing, the seamless blending of postures, rhythm, and cadence. This is where your teaching voice starts to take shape as you learn how to guide students through fluid, intelligent movement.

Fuse Knowledge with Embodied Presence

Our Yoga Alliance accredited yoga teacher training program blends anatomy, sequencing, philosophy, and energetic awareness, but the real foundation of the training is presence. We believe that teaching yoga requires emotional intelligence and nervous system regulation just as much as physical understanding.

Community is at the Heart

Fever’s training is rooted in community. Trainees receive discounted studio membership so you can continue practicing alongside what you’re studying. Graduates consistently share that the experience feels transformational — not because it is intense, but because it creates space to pause, integrate, and observe yourself in new ways.

Guaranteed Support Long After Training Ends

After certification, the support doesn’t disappear. Fever offers mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities so you can transition from student to teacher with confidence. This is not a program that sends you out alone with a piece of paper — it’s a pathway that helps you build your voice as a teacher and your trust in your ability to hold space.

About Your Your Yoga Teacher Trainer

Shannon Austin ERYT YACEP (LMT) teaches with a rare blend of technical precision and intuitive presence, holding students to clear, intelligent alignment while guiding them into a deeper relationship with their own internal awareness. Her classes are known for strong shape-building, layered cueing, and methodical sequencing that develops integrity of form before fluidity of movement. You will learn how to see bodies clearly, coach structural alignment with confidence, and then weave those shapes into seamless, rhythmic flows that feel intentional rather than rushed. This is not choreography for performance — it is disciplined embodiment that teaches students how to inhabit each posture with strength, clarity, and meaning.

Be Prepared to Dive Deep

This yoga teacher training is not for everyone. It asks you to be present with yourself, to slow down, and to engage in the internal work that yoga invites. But if you are willing to commit to that process, your first 200-hour yoga teacher training at Fever YCS will become more than an education. It will become a foundation for how you live your practice every day.

 

What changes after you finish yoga teacher training

What Changes After You Finish Yoga Teacher Training

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Most people expect yoga teacher training to change how they practice. What they don’t expect is how it changes their relationship with being a student. Somewhere along the way, the mat stops feeling like a place to disappear into and starts feeling like a place where you are always listening.

When Your Personal Practice Becomes Shared Practice

After training, many teachers notice that the time they once devoted to their own movement is now spent guiding others. Teaching becomes its own form of practice, but it isn’t the same as moving purely for yourself. Your awareness is outward, your attention split between bodies in the room, breath patterns, pacing, and emotional tone. For some, this is deeply fulfilling. For others, it can feel like something subtle has been lost.

Learning to Sit in the Teacher Seat

Even when you attend classes as a student, you rarely experience them the same way again. You hear cueing choices, notice sequencing patterns, and track the rhythm of transitions. You are still receiving, but your “teacher ears” are always on. This shift can sharpen your skill, but it can also make it harder to simply be held by the practice.

The Gifts of Seeing From Both Sides

One of the greatest benefits of yoga teacher training is the change of perspective. You begin to understand what it means to truly hold space. You see how much energy it takes to lead a room with clarity and calm. Compassion deepens — for teachers you once judged, for students you once didn’t understand, and for yourself when things don’t land perfectly.

The Quiet Grief Nobody Warns You About

There can be a gentle sadness when your personal practice no longer feels private. The mat that once belonged only to you now carries responsibility. This doesn’t mean the magic is gone, but it does mean it is different. The relationship matures.

Living in the In-Between

The real work after yoga teacher training is learning how to balance both roles — how to remain a devoted student while embracing the responsibility of guiding others. It is a lifelong conversation, not a destination. And for those who stay with it, that conversation becomes one of the richest parts of the path.

Choosing your first 200hr yoga teacher training

Choosing Your First 200 HR Yoga Teacher Training

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Most people imagine yoga teacher training as something you disappear into for a month somewhere beautiful and far from home. You fly across the world, practice nonstop, receive a certificate, and return as a teacher. It sounds transformational — and in some ways it is — but it skips one of the most important ingredients of real learning: integration.

Learning Without Integration Doesn’t Last

In compressed programs, you absorb enormous amounts of information in a very short period of time. Philosophy, sequencing, anatomy, cueing, and personal processing all happen at once. The experience can feel profound, but there is rarely space to pause, reflect, or apply what you’ve learned in real life. When the training ends, you return home and are suddenly expected to embody everything without having practiced it in your actual environment.

Why Staying Local Creates Depth

Completing your first teacher training at your home studio allows the work to live in your everyday world. You practice between weekends. You observe your own patterns outside the training room. You teach sample classes to people you know, in spaces you trust. Instead of yoga becoming something that happened on a trip, it becomes something that slowly reshapes your daily life.

The Role of Time in Becoming a Teacher

Becoming a yoga teacher is not about mastering content. It is about learning how to listen — to your body, your breath, your students, and your own reactions. That listening develops through repetition, rest, and relationship. A long-form training gives your nervous system time to absorb the work instead of rushing through it.

When Destination Trainings Make Sense

Travel-based programs can be incredibly meaningful — but they are often best approached once you already have teaching experience. After you understand how to hold space, manage energy, and build sustainable routines, going abroad becomes an enrichment rather than a foundation. At that stage, the environment enhances what you already know instead of trying to replace it.

Your First Training Sets the Tone

Your first yoga teacher training quietly establishes how you relate to yoga for the rest of your life. Choosing a program that allows you to stay rooted, supported, and reflective creates a path that lasts longer than any certificate.

What it really means to teach yoga for a living

What It Really Means to Teach Yoga for a Living

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Teaching yoga isn’t just learning how to lead a class. It’s stepping into a way of working that blends leadership, emotional intelligence, physical endurance, and personal responsibility. Most people enter training thinking about poses and sequencing, but the real work begins when you realize that teaching is as much about who you are as what you say.

Teaching Is Only a Fraction of the Job

The hour you spend on the mat is the smallest piece of the role. Real teaching of yoga lives in preparation, study, communication, time management, and emotional regulation. Over time you discover that consistency matters more than performance. Your students don’t need perfection — they need reliability, steadiness, and presence.

The Shift from Student to Leader

One of the quietest changes in yoga teacher training is how you see yourself. You stop blending into the room and start shaping it. Your tone sets the emotional temperature. Your pacing affects breath. Your pauses create space for people to feel safe inside their bodies. You’re no longer just participating — you’re guiding nervous systems.

Why Sustainability Matters More Than Talent

Raw ability will get you started, but it won’t keep you going. Many gifted yoga teachers burn out early because they never learned how to conserve energy or set boundaries. Teaching becomes unsustainable when it’s driven by over-giving instead of regulation. Longevity comes from learning how to lead without draining yourself — physically, emotionally, and mentally.

The Hidden Rewards of the Work

What keeps teachers in the yoga profession isn’t applause or flexibility. It’s the quiet moments — watching someone trust themselves again, witnessing growth you didn’t force, and realizing that your presence made someone’s day a little lighter. These moments aren’t flashy, but they’re the heartbeat of teaching.

The inner shift nobody talks about in yoga teacher training

The Inner Shift Nobody Talks About in Yoga Teacher Training

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The moment you stop performing yoga

Most people enter teacher training thinking they are deepening a physical practice. What they don’t expect is the quiet identity shift that happens when yoga stops being something you do and becomes something you inhabit. You begin to notice how often you rush through sensations, how quickly you abandon your breath when things get uncomfortable, and how much of your life is run by habit rather than choice.

Unwinding samskaras in real time

Yoga philosophy teaches that samskaras are the grooves left behind by repetitive thought patterns and behaviors. In yoga teacher training, these patterns surface in unexpected ways — impatience with yourself, comparison to others, resistance to slowing down. It is not theory anymore. It is embodied observation.

Integrity in posture, integrity in being

Alignment is no longer about perfect shapes. It becomes a mirror for personal integrity. When you learn to feel where you collapse, brace, or bypass effort in a posture, you start recognizing those same patterns in your daily life. The yoga mat stops being separate from who you are. It becomes a reflection in real time.

What it takes to become a yoga teacher

What It Takes to Become a Yoga Teacher

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Most people assume becoming a yoga teacher begins with learning postures — and in many ways, it does. The body is where we first notice patterns: how we move, what we avoid, what we force, and what we soften. But the deeper work of teaching happens in the same place — within our own experience. Becoming a yoga teacher isn’t about perfecting poses; it’s about gaining the clarity, steadiness, and integrity to guide others through theirs.

The physical practice matters. The postures matter. Alignment matters. Breath matters. Anatomy matters. What happens in the body is not separate from what happens in the mind — it’s the gateway. And to teach yoga well, you have to be willing to step into a transformative process that begins on your mat and radiates outward into every part of your life.

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1. Integrity in the Body Creates Integrity in the Self

One of the most surprising parts of yoga teacher training is realizing how deeply asana reveals the truth. Physical integrity — alignment, attention, presence — reflects inner integrity. The way we move is the way we think, and the way we think is the way we live. In training, postures are never just shapes; they’re mirrors.

To teach yoga is to understand how the body communicates: where there is effort, where there is avoidance, where there is collapse, where there is strength. You learn how to see bodies clearly and how to work with them skillfully — beginning with your own.

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2. Inner Work Is Not Optional — It’s Central

Yoga teacher training is not simply an education in technique. It’s an unraveling. A looking inward. A widening of awareness.

The teachings ask us to see our samskaras — the habitual patterns and internal narratives that shape our experience. They ask us to examine where we’re stuck in our lives, because we can’t guide others through what we have not faced ourselves.

This work doesn’t require perfection. It requires honesty.

Teaching yoga isn’t about delivering a script. It’s about holding space with presence and humility — and that can only come from lived practice.

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3. The Yamas and Niyamas Are Not Philosophy on the Side — They’re the Foundation

Ethics are not theoretical in yoga. They are embodied.

Ahimsa, satya, tapas, svadhyaya — these principles become deeply personal when you’re practicing, studying, and teaching.

They influence how we speak to students, how we speak to ourselves, how we set boundaries, how we show up, and how we care for the work.

Yoga without yamas and niyamas is simply exercise.

Yoga with them becomes a path.

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4. Asana, Breath, and Sequencing Are Skills — and They Matter

Teacher training is not just reflection and philosophy.

There is craft to this work:

•   intelligent sequencing

•   understanding functional anatomy

•   why postures progress the way they do

•   how to breathe with purpose

•   how to see misalignment

•   how to build strength and expand capacity

Students may come to yoga seeking calm or mobility, but the structure beneath the experience matters.

A strong class looks effortless, but it is not accidental.

To teach yoga well, you learn to design experiences intentionally.

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5. Teaching Begins With Listening

The best yoga teachers are not the ones with the most complicated poses — they are the ones who see their students clearly. To teach yoga is to cultivate presence. You learn to listen with your eyes, your hands, your voice, and your intuition.

You learn how to offer options without judgment.

You learn how to meet a room full of different bodies, different stories, and different nervous systems — all in the same hour.

This is work that requires empathy, awareness, and practice.

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6. A Yoga Teacher Is Always a Student

Training does not deliver a final answer — it opens a doorway.

You leave with more curiosity than certainty.

More softness than rigidity.

More perspective than performance.

Becoming a yoga teacher is not the end of something, but the beginning of everything — a lifelong practice of learning, recommitting, and growing.

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7. Who Yoga Teacher Training Is For

Yoga teacher training is for people who feel called to do meaningful work.

It’s for people who want to understand themselves more deeply.

It’s for people who know the physical practice is only one part of what yoga offers, and who want to learn how to share that in a way that is grounded and real.

It’s not about being perfect.

It’s about being awake.

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If you’re feeling drawn to this work

Our Yoga Teacher Training program at Fever Yoga Cycle Strength is built to honor the whole spectrum of practice — asana, pranayama, philosophy, sequencing, anatomy, meditation, and the deep inner inquiry that makes the teaching authentic.

If you’re ready to step into the process, learn more here:

👉 Learn to Teach Yoga

Think you can teach yoga?

Think You Can Teach Yoga? Get Certified.

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5 Questions to Ask When Considering a Yoga Teacher Training Program

Whether you’ve decided you want to teach yoga or simply dig deeper into your own practice, it’s often daunting to sift between yoga styles and teaching methods to decide where to complete your teacher training. That’s why we’ve pulled together five questions to consider when selecting the best teacher training program for you.

1. Is the yoga teacher program Yoga Alliance Certified?

As the international governing body for yoga, the Yoga Alliance sets the standard for teacher training programs. If you hope to teach yoga at some point in your future, make sure you look for this certification – otherwise you won’t qualify for insurance. We know, insurance doesn’t feel very yogic, but this certification basically says you’ve got a stamp of approval to teach yoga.

2. What is the yoga teacher training schedule like?

All teacher training programs start out with 200 hours. Some are immersion classes – meaning you’re cramming the entire program into two weeks. These make it quite difficult to retain the information or get enough practice before teaching. At Fever, our program is extended over 3.5 months to help ensure you have the depth of knowledge and experience needed before beginning to teach. As a bonus, this type of program is perfect for people leading busy lives with work or family commitments.

3. How does the yoga program teach anatomy?

At first, this may not seem like the biggest deal when you’re trying to memorize all the Sanskrit names for postures or figuring out how to properly sequence. But anatomy is huge!! You must understand alignment and muscular engagement before you become a yoga guide. A solid understanding of human anatomy will enable you to bring a high level of consciousness to your teaching as well as prevent injury. Make sure the program you select has a strong focus on anatomy. Fever offers 11 modules in anatomy training in relation to yoga.

4. How does the yoga teacher training program balance the subjects it teaches?

Each yoga teacher training course devotes a minimum number of hours to subjects like posture, anatomy and philosophy, but each course also emphasizes different areas and brings its own style. What matters most to you? Spiritual training, a focus on alignment, or ample time to practice teach? Pick a program that speaks your language. If you’re looking for emphasis on ALL of these things, you should definitely consider our program. We hit all the bases necessary to take your practice and your skills to the next level.

5. What are the instructors like?

Your studio instructors will be a large part of your training, from their knowledge to their personality to their years of experience teaching. Take some time to research the teachers at various studios, read reviews, and take public classes from them. Make sure you feel that the teachers are incredibly knowledgeable in the field of yoga and can guide beginners and seasoned practitioners through a safe and thorough experience.

Fever | Yoga Cycle Strength offers a 200 hr Yoga Teaching Training Program

You’ll learn about human anatomy, including posture, integrated movement and the prevention of common injuries. You’ll study philosophy, including the eight limbs, and the Sanskrit language. You’ll practice sequencing, incorporating meditation, classical yoga, vinyasa breath & movement, and the use of props. Additionally, you’ll receive unlimited support for the duration of the program.

Make sure to register early for a special early-bird discount. For more information about our course visit our Teacher Training Page. If you have questions, please call: (616) 805-3603 or email: admin@feverycs.com

 

Introducing Kundalini Yoga

Introducing Kundalini Yoga

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What is Kundalini Yoga?

“The primary objective of Kundalini is to awaken the full potential of human awareness in each individual; that is, recognize our awareness, refine that awareness, and expand that awareness to our unlimited Self. Clear any inner duality, create the power to deeply listen, cultivate inner stillness, and prosper and deliver excellence in all that we do.” – Kundalini Research Institute

Yoga itself has dozens of variations in philosophy and style. Some are structured as a physical workout while others put a strong emphasis on meditation. Kundalini is a little of both – an uplifting blend of spiritual and physical practices that incorporates movement, dynamic breath, meditation, and chanting of mantras. Its aim is to awaken higher consciousness in its practitioner by activating energy centers throughout the body.

In Sanskrit, the word “Kundalini” means “coiled snake.” Early Eastern religions believed that everyone possesses a divine energy at the base of the spine. It’s something we’re born with, but we each must strive to uncoil it. Through Kundalini, we turn potential energy into kinetic energy, awakening our Higher Self.

3 Practical Reasons to Try Kundalini Yoga:

Often referred to as the “yoga of awareness,” Kundalini focuses on the expansion of your sensory awareness. It is one of the most powerful and complete yoga practices you’ll encounter, as it creates an aligned relationship between the body, mind, and soul.

Building Awareness Will Expand Your Life: Kundalini yoga is designed to strengthen your intuition and willpower. As you unravel the energy within you, you’ll gain awareness and an improved presence in the world, resulting in new opportunities and experiences.

Discover the Magic Outside of Your Comfort Zone: Kundalini combines so many elements, from stretching to breath work to sound meditations. The spontaneous nature of each class will keep you light on your feet and ready for anything.

Find Your Voice and Share with the World: Kundalini yoga helps us find our voice and discover the courage to use it kindly and effectively.

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of, or practiced, this form of yoga before. As always, Kundalini asks that you honor yourself, move at your own pace, and listen to your body’s needs – asking for adjustments and modifications when necessary.

3 reasons to become a yoga teacher

3 Reasons to Become a Yoga Teacher in Grand Rapids

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If you’re feeling drawn to yoga teacher training, you’re not alone. Across Grand Rapids, more and more students are stepping beyond weekly practice and into the deeper study of yoga — not just to learn the postures, but to understand themselves, build community, and share what yoga has given them.

Becoming a yoga teacher isn’t about mastering poses or performing flexibility. It’s about stepping into a practice that strengthens the body, sharpens the mind, supports nervous system health, and opens the door to personal transformation. And when you do that work in a city like Grand Rapids — a city full of movement, art, growth, and connection — the experience becomes even more meaningful.

If you’re wondering why now, and why here, below are three reasons to pursue yoga teacher training in Grand Rapids.

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Reason #1: Yoga Teacher Training Deepens Your Practice From the Inside Out

Most students enter teacher training expecting to learn posture names, anatomy, and sequencing — and yes, you will. But what surprises people most is how the training changes their relationship with their own practice.

Asana becomes more than movement.

Breath becomes more than breath.

Awareness becomes the center of everything.

Training teaches you to feel the difference between effort and strain, strength and force, balance and collapse. You learn how your body organizes itself, where you hold tension, and how patterns in movement mirror patterns in thought and emotion.

That internal clarity is one of the most valuable reasons to become a yoga teacher. You don’t just become more confident in poses — you become more connected to yourself.

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Reason #2: Yoga Teaching Builds Real Community in Grand Rapids

Yoga isn’t practiced in isolation. Grand Rapids has a uniquely strong yoga community — small enough to feel personal, big enough to create momentum. New teachers quickly find themselves surrounded by students, mentors, peers, and opportunities to teach.

Teaching yoga is collaborative.

Teachers support each other.

Students are loyal, curious, and engaged.

Becoming a yoga teacher in Grand Rapids isn’t just about stepping into a profession — it’s about joining a community. You meet people who share your values, your passion, your curiosity, and your desire to make a difference.

And if you choose to teach, you have the chance to support others in their practice — physically, mentally, and emotionally. Teaching becomes a way of giving back to the city you live in.

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Reason #3: Teaching Yoga Is a Path of Growth — Personally and Professionally

Yoga teaching is not limited to studios or full-time careers. Many teachers integrate the practice into their existing professions:

•   healthcare

•   fitness

•   bodywork

•   education

•   corporate wellness

•   counseling

•   athletics

•   leadership

•   personal development

Some teach weekly classes.

Some teach at multiple studios.

Some lead workshops.

Some build their own businesses.

Yoga teaching creates possibilities — both internal and external. You gain confidence, presence, clarity, communication skills, and the ability to guide others through meaningful change.

And whether you teach publicly or not, the training itself transforms the way you move through the world.

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A Final Note: You Don’t Have to Know Whether You’ll Teach

One of the most common questions people ask is:

“Do I need to want to teach to take yoga teacher training?”

The answer is simple:

No.

Many people enter training for personal growth — and discover the desire to teach later.

Many enter planning to teach — and feel drawn inward instead.

Both paths are welcome.

What matters is that you feel called to go deeper.

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If You’re Ready to Explore Teaching in Grand Rapids

Our Yoga Teacher Training at Fever Yoga Cycle Strength is designed to honor the whole practice:

asana, breath, anatomy, sequencing, philosophy, meditation, and the inner work that makes yoga teaching real.

If you’re curious about the next step, learn more here:

👉 www.feverycs.com/teacher-training/

Grand Rapids needs more teachers who are grounded, present, and connected.

If that’s you — we’d love to support you.

5 tips for teaching yoga to your kids

5 Tips for Teaching Yoga to Your Kids

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Today we’re thinking about all our parents, educators and anyone who works with children. Have your kids ever tried to climb on your mat with you, or watched with eager eyes as you practice yoga? If you’re a teacher, do you ever find yourself in need of a way to help your little ones release some stress in a controlled fashion? If you’ve never tried teaching your kids a yoga pose, now’s the time.

Children live in the fast-paced world of busy parents, school pressures, after-school hobbies, competitive sports and more. Encouraging them to develop a yoga practice can help counter these stressors. Starting yoga early is a wonderful habit for children. Yoga encourages self-esteem and body awareness with a non-competitive physical activity. It helps them feel more focused, calm and confident. From antsy five-year-olds to exhausted fourteen-year-olds, yoga offers a handful of benefits that help kids re-energize, release stress and increase their self-awareness.

5 tips for teaching your children yoga:

  • Focus on the basics– Start with simple yoga poses, such as Downward Dog, Tree Pose or Warrior II. Show them the proper form, but expect quite a bit of wiggling and mistakes as they learn. If you have a group of children you’re teaching, try a form of duck-duck-goose to quiz them on the names of a few poses.
  • Get them their own yoga gear – Let them pick out a fun pair of leggings or a yoga mat. This way, they can begin making their practice their own – they’ll be excited to roll out their own mat and get jiggy with their down dog.
  • Play with animal poses– At young ages, children are naturally quite flexible. Ask them to go further in their poses (when they’re ready). To get started try Butterfly, Cobra, Happy Baby and Tree as these will likely resonate with children. They have the chance to be more playful and silly as they try to maintain balance, roll around, giggle, and try again.
  • Share mindfulness techniques– Allow them to find the present moment and engage with the surroundings around them with their eyes closed. Notice sounds, scents, tastes, energy points etc. they see if they can find deeper breathing without straining or trying to hard.
  • Keep it lighthearted– For young children, you can’t expect their attention spans to last as long as yours. (We’re sure you already know this) Aim for five-ten minute intervals, mixed in with some fun breathing and mindfulness training.

Once you teach your children the basics of yoga and mindfulness, they can begin to incorporate the beloved practice into their own daily lives. Help your little ones realize that movement and mindfulness is a great release from frustrations at school or in their relationships. Show your older children the value of yoga as a stress reliever from the competitive nature of school, sports and clubs.

 

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