Shorty Yoga: A Studio for Kids Yoga

Situated on the popular shopping destination strip of Robertson Boulevard is a space offering something entirely different, yet somehow completely kin. What is it? Shorty Yoga—a studio for yoga for kids, toddler, and babies.

This polished space with a friendly neighborhood vibe welcomes families with children of all ages to join the studio’s modern approach to yoga practice.

Parents and caregivers can drop off young ones, or stay and chill in the stylish seating area complete with La Colombe draft lattes, charging stations, and a clear view of the classes. Parents with pre-crawlers, crawlers, and early walkers can join the popular Mamastay classes at no additional charge.

Dope Kids Like Child’s Pose Too

Shorty Yoga founder Donna Delshad applied her background in branding and marketing in opening the doors of LA’s “really rad” yoga studio where “dope kids” can get into their “child pose, duh.” Delshad was inspired by her nieces to create what she calls a “simplified offering (think SoulCycle style drop-ins and packages, no commitments to multiple week sessions), where kids can practice and parents can take a breather.”

The teaching staff of six is quickly growing as more kids are on their mats. Consistent across classes are the lively music playlists pumping the likes of Justin Bieber, Feist and Daft Punk. Teachers tailor those lists to the energy of the kids in the room.

Props and Games for Kids Yoga

Yoga props like blocks find company among pint-sized fitness balls, colorful ribbon streamers, and a KidRobot mustached rabbit. Games like “freeze dance” let kids blow off steam in free-form movement between focused yoga poses.

Savasana and SHORTY

After forty minutes of active yoga, little ones are invited to savasana. The lights and music lower, bodies become still and kids enjoy a rare and much needed rest. To complete the experience, students are
gifted a bracelet. After each class, they add a bead with a letter of the alphabet that spells out the name of their own practice space: S-H-O-R-T-Y.

As the mantra of Shorty Yoga goes, “May your coffee be strong and your kids savasana be long.”

Where to Find Shorty Yoga for Kids in Beverly Hills

Shorty Kid Yoga
Beverly Hills
333 1/2 S Robertson Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
424.646.3330
shortyyoga.com

Abby Wills

Abby Wills is the co-founder and program director of Shanti Generation, a media program that guides teens to bring mindfulness into life: shantigeneration.com.

The post Shorty Yoga for Kids in Beverly Hills appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Imagine how different the world would be if families regularly engaged in mind-body awareness and integration practices, like yoga and meditation. This could create time for everyone to be themselves, without judgement, in an holistic way. While it is admirable to want to develop a family yoga practice, it’s not always easy. Sure, there are those unicorn families who have their yoga lifestyle so dialed in that family practice just magically happens. For most of us, a few helpful pointers can guide our thinking and lead us to start developing family yoga moments.

Be True to Your Own Practice

As parents or guardians, the most practical and sustainable way to integrate yoga and meditation into family life is to be true to our own practice. Our balanced presence in daily life provides the foundation for yoga to grow in our families. And in our own practice, we enjoy at least some degree of control. For a family practice, it may be helpful to relinquish the need to control and enter the experience with an attitude of allowing and encouraging. I hope the following considerations will help you guide your family to a peaceful experience of yoga together.

1 Drop expectations

If your intention is to create a peaceful family dynamic through yoga and meditation, start by releasing specific expectations that could cause you any stress. For instance, let go of needing family yoga time to be of a certain length or to follow a regimented plan.

2 Create customs around your own practice

Whether it’s an asana practice on a mat or sitting practice on a cushion, or both, let your family know that this is a special time in your day or week. Invite your children to join by being on their own mat or cushion. They can participate or simply be present in a respectful way. You can offer books or coloring supplies near you. If you don’t mind them climbing on you like a jungle gym during downward facing dog pose, let them. If it’s bothersome to you, set the boundary lovingly that you are connecting with your own body. Encourage them to do the same.

3 Seek out experienced children’s yoga and meditation teachers

Look for classes, apps or DVDs to introduce the idea and then build on that. It’s a funny thing, but some kids are more drawn to practicing when they know yoga and meditation exist beyond their own parents. As a kids’ yoga teacher, I found it super helpful to have my own sons participate in classes with other teachers to learn the basics. Then we were able to call on that experience at home. You will also pick up ideas on how to approach the practices in child-friendly ways.

4 Resources including books and card decks are helpful for young kids

A couple of my favorite decks: Mindful Games by Susan Kaiser Greenland and Move With Me Yoga Adventures by Leah Kalish. Both sets are loaded with simple, family-friendly yoga and mindfulness activities. Animal medicine cards or nature-based cards are also helpful. Allow your kids to choose a card and play out the animal or force of nature. For younger children up to age six, stories are wonderful. Let the practices start to grow organically from reading a book or engaging with a deck.

5 Purposeful Timing and Setting

When you are ready to create a more focused time for family yoga, a few considerations can be helpful. First, what is your motivation for wanting your family to practice together? It may seem obvious at first, but the more clearly you articulate the purpose of family practice to yourself, the more able you’ll be to communicate it to your loved ones.

Allow your intention to guide the process. This way, if you meet resistance, you can navigate it gracefully. Next, choose a time and place wisely. What time of day and week seem most balanced for your family? Is there a place in your home that lends itself well to practice?

For my family, a lazy Sunday morning by the fireplace provides a peaceful setting. Or outside on a big blanket under a shady tree. You might also enjoy seizing a moment that presents itself, rather than planning ahead. Go with what feels right to you.

I suggest choosing a time when there is space to play, rather than attempting to use yoga to intervene during hurried or stressful moments. Finally, consider your child’s developmental phase for how much time to spend. For children under three years old, allow unstructured, completely organic engagement with your yoga practice. Pre-school children ages three through six can begin to build up to 20 minutes of playful practice. Children aged seven and up can begin to focus longer, depending on their interest level.

6. Safety first, always

If you are not sure a practice is safe for your child, choose a different one. It’s not important, and can be detrimental, for young children to practice advanced backbends and inversions. Stick to simple, basic postures that involve the least risk of injury or long term alignment impact.

7. Process over progress

Temper the temptation to constantly correct and adjust your little ones postures. Model appropriate alignment. Children tend to resist family yoga time when it becomes too rigid. Partner yoga postures are wonderful ways to connect and breathe together. Sitting back to back and simply feeling each other’s breath is a powerful starting point that can create harmony. Or have one family member at a time take child’s pose while everyone else places one hand on their back. Feel them breathe and send them love.

Allow Mindful Moments in Family Yoga

Family yoga time will likely look and feel very different than your personal practice. Be open to what each family member brings to the situation. Remember that often times the obstacle is the path. Work with whatever presents itself in the moment. In doing so, your family may just experience a mindful moment, whether it involves a traditional practice or not.

Abby Wills

Abby Wills is the co-founder and program director of Shanti Generation, a media program that guides teens to bring mindfulness into life: shantigeneration.com.

The post 7 Practices to Cultivate Family Yoga Time appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“I learned how much power music has and that it affects so much more of the brain…it has so much power over your emotions. It makes you feel happy when you’re sad and it makes you feel energized and calm. Different music can have different outcomes. It’s really cool.”

These words are from Chloe, one of 53 sixth graders who participated in a Music for Social and Emotional Learning pilot program at The Incubator School, a Los Angeles charter school focused on creating entrepreneurs. Coordinated by Frank Fitzpatrick, founder and director of WHY Music, the multimedia, experiential learning program brings together music, movement, and mindfulness – or as Frank says, the 3Ms. Frank’s vision is to show the world how music effects our emotions, relationships, and learning capacity.

A talented cast of musicians, therapists, and teachers brought the 3Ms to life. During Jason Triefenbach’s ArtBeat for Humanity sessions, students created logos that they connected to their dreams via streamers and then used to decorate a gigantic REMO table drum. Megan Kling of HealthRHYTHMS led the youth through a series of drumming techniques to provide a beat to the 3Ms. David Tobocman accompanied Frank on piano during centering exercises set to classical music.

Music was also integrated into the movement sessions that I taught, accompanied by Matt DeMerritt (De La Soul) on flute and Aaron Wills (311) on bass. We led school-appropriate yoga with basic mindfulness practice and creative guided imagery.

Frank shared stories illustrating the powerful impact of music, yoga and mindfulness, (including telling about the time when he used meditation to cope during a shipwreck). Devyn Rush (of American Idol fame) had a captivating story to share in her Hey U.G.L.Y. presentation on anti-bullying.

WHY Music believes music can help youth navigate difficult emotions, connect more compassionately with peers and reach their academic potential. By illustrating the interconnectivity of music and social-emotional learning, Frank offers a formula for music programming in schools. Support these efforts at WHYmusicinschools.com.

Abby Wills

Abby Wills is the co-founder and program director of Shanti Generation, a media program that guides teens to bring mindfulness into life: shantigeneration.com.

The post WHY Music in Schools appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Have you ever found yourself wishing that the practice of Yoga were available to you as a child or teen in school? Fortunately, many kids and young people today will look back on their school days and recall learning downward facing dog and/or breath of fire.

The benefits gained through regular Yoga practice are increasingly well-documented and reported in the mainstream media: From enhanced strength and flexibility to mental clarity and self-connection, we know that Yoga enriches our lives in abundant ways. Yet can Yoga help us learn as well? The answer strengthens the case for cobra in the classroom: There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that Yoga-based programs in schools can aid students by cultivating the qualities associated with successful learning.

Photo: Courtsey of Leah Kalish and Yoga Playgrounds

Yoga has been present in the private school sector and afterschool programs in Los Angeles for more than a decade. Recently, the movement to integrate Yoga into public school curriculum has grown tremendously. Shana Meyerson, founder of miniyogis® Yoga for Kids said, “When I started taking Yoga into the schools about ten years ago most of them laughed at the idea. Now, you’d be hard-pressed to find a school in Los Angeles that isn’t offering Yoga to children,” says Meyerson.

New Roads School in Santa Monica is one example. They have offered Yoga as part of the psycho-physical education curriculum since opening its’ doors fifteen years ago. “Having practiced Yoga for so many years, it was clear to me that the benefit to kids would be enormous,” says Head of School David Bryan. “So much of what we ask young people to do in conventional PE classes asks kids to speed up and takes them ‘outside of themselves’ – into a ball, a goal, a hoop. But Yoga asks them to go inside, to center themselves, to slow down and coordinate their minds and bodies. It is a natural fit for a school setting. And the kids really come to appreciate it,” Bryan says.

Yoga practice certainly fits the bill for physical education (PE) standards, but with PE programs being cut all over the place, how else can Yoga serve a school’s needs and find sustainability in the system? If the well-known physical and mental benefits of Yoga are not enough, leading educators along with scientists are currently researching and revealing the social, emotional and cognitive advantages of contemplative practices such as Yoga. In October, 2009, the Dalai Lama’s nonprofit Mind and Life Institute gathered some of the worlds’ foremost neuroscientists to sit on panels with nationally recognized educators to discuss the current state of education and the changes needed to support effective education programs. “We must prepare teachers to create classroom communities that support mindfulness,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University. “Teachers need to learn to be in relationship. Teachers need skills to help children see their role in building an empathetic society,” Darling-Hammond continued. Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman, echoed these sentiments in her statement, “You can have the fanciest classrooms and abundant resources, but if children don’t feel loved, you are doing them harm.”

Can Yoga practice offer the kinds of skills needed to help create a culture of care and kindness in schools? Richard Davidson, Director of the Lab for Affective Neuroscience and the Waisman Lab for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, during the dialogue stated that research shows meditation practice induces or stimulates processes of neuroplasticity, the changes in the brain which are often as a response to experience or training. “Short-term training in cultivating compassion leads to altruistic behavior,” says Davidson. What does this all mean in terms of learning? According to Davidson, “Negative emotions interfere with our ability to keep information in mind.” Studies show that adults who engage in meditation practice enjoy more skilled emotional regulation, including the ability to return to baseline. Yoga teachers experienced in working with children note the positive effects of the practice on emotional intelligence.

Danay DiVirgilio, founder of YogaBuddies, says that through Yoga practice students “develop an ability to recognize their emotions. These new skills have a positive impact on the way the children think and interact at home and at school.” The connections between learning and emotional regulation were researched and documented in the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) movement which emerged in the 1980s in response to challenges adolescents face including substance abuse, schoolyard violence and peer pressure, according to Dr. Daniel Goleman, psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence. The SEL movement, comprised of educators and scholars from diverse fields including psychology and neuroscience, has made great strides in recognizing how effective SEL programs work to close the achievement gap. In a talk on SEL on The George Lucas Foundation’s Edutopia site, Daniel Goleman identified the core components of effective Social and Emotional Learning programs as: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, impulse control and sound social decision-making. This is helpful information for advocates of school Yoga programs who know from experience that Yoga practice can help kids develop the hallmarks of social and emotional intelligence. Practicing Yoga deepens self-awareness and enhances our ability for self-care, both fundamental aspects of SEL.

Research results reinforce that Social and Emotional Learning programs improve academic achievement. Concurrently, there is a growing body of evidence confirming the numerous social and emotional benefits of mindfulness and meditation. If we want to connect the dots between SEL learning programs,Yoga (including meditation) and mindfulness practices in a way that appeals to school administrators, teachers, parents and legislators, we might do well to follow the lead of creative experts such as Susan Kaiser-Greenland, author of The Mindful Child, who has committed to a secular approach in providing meditation techniques to children and teens under the umbrella of “mindfulness.” In 2007, UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) conducted a pilot study on Kaiser-Greenland’s Innerkids program. This decidedly secular program, located in Los Angeles, taught mindfulness exercises to forty-eight pre-kindergarten students over an eight-week period of time. Results showed improvement in executive function in the brain; one of the associated tasks of executive function is to govern our ability to moderate behavior. The outcomes of the Innerkids program are relevant to schools’ needs. While some of the traditional practices Kaiser-Greenland draws from are culturally connected to Eastern traditions, including Buddhism, she has chosen to include only the universal components of the practices. At the heart of her program is mindfulness.

Yoga practitioners know that an authentic practice necessarily includes mindfulness. One could argue that movement without mindfulness is not Yoga. Furthermore, many, if not most, Yoga programs for schools include a dedicated element of mindfulness practice in the form of meditations, reflections, and even developmentally-appropriate mindful games. In this process, there is frequently an emphasis on drawing out the essence of Yoga practice while setting aside aspects that can create conflict in the public school forum including Sanskrit words related to deities. Rather than “watering down” the Yoga, as critics have feared, these Yoga practices taught in schools have become more refined, distilled and relevant to Western lifestyle. Leah Kalish, founder of Yoga Playgrounds, points out that in order for Yoga teachers to successfully implement programs in schools, “it [Yoga] has to be relevant to [students] and their lives; Yoga has to empower them in ways they recognize.” Perhaps Kalish and Kaiser-Greenland are onto something; the more clear we are about what is actually being offered to schools in Yoga programs, the more the programs will be valued.

There is great power in truly naming what is. Simply saying “Yoga” may not be enough information for some constituents in the school system to support. In fact, for some folks, the word “Yoga” holds a threatening connotation and there are loads of misunderstandings about what Yoga practice really entails. This can be seen in modern-day assumptions, including Yoga is a religion or a cult, or a person must already be flexible to do Yoga. In other historical periods, yogis were seen as sorcerers or magicians. The question then becomes: How do we elevate our field to become a viable solution to the problems schools currently face?

According to Leah Kalish, to reach the next level of sustainability in school-based Yoga programs, there is a need for “more teacher training and support over a longer period of time, such that teachers truly embody what they teach, and Yoga principles can become part of the school culture.” Currently, there are a few dozen teacher training programs in the US geared toward Yoga teachers who want to teach in children and teens in school settings. These trainings range from one-day workshops to 130-hour comprehensive certification programs. The settings for these trainings range as well, from Yoga studios to schools, with varying degrees of time interacting with groups of kids.

“I think it’s important for Yoga teachers who want to teach in schools to spend some time in today’s schools,” says Annie Buckley, long-time youth Yoga educator and author of The Kids Yoga Deck. “I think the biggest mistake people make in approaching any kind of education reform is to buy into the negative thinking that schools are somehow failed or bad and that this new fill-in-the-blank program will fix things. In light of this, it is imperative for a Yoga teacher to draw on compassion and try to understand the place where she will teach.”

In addition to understanding schools, Yoga teachers working with kids would benefit from understanding child development and how students learn. One of the roles of Yoga teachers in schools is to articulate the value of Yoga as it relates to all types of learning, including physical, mental, social and emotional intelligences. For true education reform and for benefitting students in all areas of their education, it’s not enough to provide fun, adventurous Yoga sessions in a classroom setting. The positive effects resulting from implementing Yoga programs in schools run much deeper. For greatest buy-in from family and teachers, among other reasons, it’s important that the benefits of Yoga and mindfulness practices are communicated clearly if we desire sustainable integration of Yoga in schools.

How Yoga Benefits More Effective Learning

• Chronic stress inhibits learning. Restful yogic practices, such as savasana (relaxation) and pranayama (breath techniques), can invoke the relaxation responses in the autonomic nervous system, allowing learning to progress more effectively
• Postures such as eagle pose and twisting triangle are cross-median movements that help to coordinate communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This can aid in improved reading and spelling skills.
• Balance poses improve concentration and focus.
• Mindfulness helps to alleviate unhelpful negative emotions that hinder memory function.
• Increase resilience and decrease reaction time.

The overall benefits of Yoga programs in schools are too numerous to list here. Krishna Kaur, founder of Y.O.G.A for Youth, powerfully states, “I know without a doubt that Yoga is the antidote to the fear and violence that engulfs our world right now. Our youth are affected as much or more than the adults and it shows up in their addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex and violence. It doesn’t matter if our youth are from affluent communities or the inner cities, they are prone to react to the frequency of fear and violence that is so much a part of our daily existence. They are searching for meaning in their lives and Yoga can provide that for them. Yoga and meditation gives them tools to connect with their power and peace from within.”

Krishna and her nonprofit organization Y.O.G.A. for Youth have brought Yoga programs and Yoga teachers to young people in schools, afterschool programs and detention centers for fifteen years.

Another veteran advocate of Yoga in schools, Yoga Ed Founder Tara Guber says, “Yoga is a powerful life skill that children can take with them into adulthood. As a result of being exposed to Yoga in school, children are learning to focus their attention and to calm themselves; these are two skills that are vitally important for learning and for life.” Yoga Ed currently estimates that their programs are currently in place at over 200 schools across thirty states.

With so many valuable benefits, why don’t we see more schools embracing Yoga as part of their curricula? The answer from most people who have worked in this field is money. As school budgets decline and teachers are being laid off in record numbers, school administrators often view Yoga as a luxury beyond their consideration. The paradox seems obvious. At just the time when schools need the powerful stress relieving practices of Yoga most, there is a hesitance to invest in the face of drastic budget cuts.

Johannes Fisslinger, founder of Yoga Month, may have found a partial solution to help schools integrate Yoga programming even in this financial crisis. Fisslinger developed a campaign titled Yoga Recess to provide classroom teachers with free, developmentally appropriate yoga DVDs. The program is offering DVDs from Yoga Playgrounds, Shanti Generation and their self-titled Yoga Recess. So far, Yoga Recess has received nearly 5,000 requests for free DVDs from teachers across the country. Now, the challenge is to motivate the Yoga community to make donations to fill these requests.

Funding Recess 
In a fundraising effort, music producer and composer Frank Fitzpatrick and his nonprofit organization EarthTones has partnered with the Yoga Recess campaign. Proceeds from Fitzpatrick’s compilation album, Yoga Revolution, featuring artists including Michael Franti, Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Seal, Guru Singh, Wah!, Krishna Das, Donna De Lory, Snatam Kaur, Peter Gabriel and Angelique Kidjo, benefits Yoga Recess.

No doubt, the innovative, inspired leaders of the school Yoga movement will continue to engage in the slow, hard work of integrating the transformative power of Yoga into the classroom. Beyond Los Angeles, across the nation, other groups are doing similar work with much success. As parents and Yoga practitioners develop a deeper understanding of the immediate and long-term benefits of school Yoga programs, they will be able to advocate effectively for Yoga programs in their communities’ schools. More public support is needed to take this movement to the next level.

Support Yoga in Schools:

• Speak with parents in your community about the benefits of Yoga in schools.
• Share research data on the effects of yoga with school administrators.
• Invite a school teacher to attend a Yoga class.
• Donate to Yoga Recess to provide immediate Yoga programming in classrooms: yoga-recess.org
• Support an organization dedicated to bringing Yoga into schools:
  • Updog Downdog Yoga: updogdowndogyoga.com
  • Y.O.G.A. for Youth: yogaforyouth.com
  • Shanti Generation: shantigeneration.com
  • Yoga Playgrounds: yogaplaygrounds.com
  • Yoga Ed: yogaed.com
  • Yoga Buddies: yogabuddies.com
  • miniyogis: miniyogis.com
  • Yogi Beans: yogibeans.com

Abby Wills

Abby Wills is the co-founder and program director of Shanti Generation, a media program that guides teens to bring mindfulness into life: shantigeneration.com.

The post Cobra In The Classroom appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.