Month: November 2024

Say “yoga,” and you might instantly picture the stereotypical thin white woman in Downward Dog or Cobra or Warrior I, or maybe just breathing deeply, face turned toward the sun. Mindful movement is what seems to define yoga. But it’s not the foundation. Where the first yoga sutra states “Now,…

We understand. The list of things you’re trying to catch up on extends well into next year and you can’t possibly slow your pace for a millisecond or else…what, exactly? Perhaps you need to tempt fate and see exactly what happens when you let yourself catch your breath, uncrease your…

Several years ago, I was working with a 4-year old girl who I’ll call “Joy.” She had experienced trauma, and her mother was very worried about her. Joy often had angry outbursts, and her mother wanted to be sure she was providing good support. At the end of one of…

Digital media can present all kinds of challenges for kids. Sometimes, it’s about content – extreme depictions of violence, for instance, or self-harming behaviors. Sometimes, it’s about the theft of time from activities that are critical to children’s healthy development, such as physical movement, free play outdoors, or just interacting…

Ever contemplate why Chaturanga (aka Low Push-Up) feels soooo difficult despite it being ubiquitous in vinyasa yoga classes? For starters, holding your full weight in place with just your hands and tiptoes is hard enough in Plank Pose. But when you bend your elbows, you take away the precious stability…

When we were first designing Yoga Calm, there wasn’t a lot of research supporting what we were seeing work so well with kids in the rural Oregon elementary school where Lynea was a counselor. Over 20 years later, there’s a significant body of literature showing that yoga, mindfulness, and social-emotional…

One of the most indelible and defining moments in my training to become a yoga teacher began with a loud POP! At first, I thought it was my classmate’s back adjusting as our instructor led her into an advanced pose, but the look on her face said, “This is serious.”…

Yoga Calm users know from experience how it can help kids with ADHD. Still, it’s always good to see and know that scientific evidence supports this, too. Such evidence was on full display in a new systematic review that dropped earlier this month, echoing a similar review that ran just…

It’s a challenge most every teacher faces once the new school year begins: Guiding students through the annual shift from more active leisure time to being expected to sit still at a desk for 6 or more hours a day. That’s a pretty significant expectation. Why Movement Belongs in the…