At the end of the year in 2022, my mother and I had an impromptu winter solstice yoga retreat. We planned it as we went, and the intentions set during that time have help me stay focused all through 2023. Not to mention that they have all come to fruition. Meaning that after a year of growing a business, community and relationships, I am now in a much better place than when I was at the beginning of the year. 2023 has been so successful, that we are going to do it again. And this time I am going to share our DIY Winter Solstice Yoga Retreat with you! ?‍♂️ What is the Winter Solstice? Thursday ..read more

During fall the trees loose their leaves in a flourish of color and show us how beautiful it is to let it go. But what is “it” and where does “it” go, really? In my last blog, Finding Balance, I wrote about how letting go helped me to find balance. with work and play. I meant letting go of tasks, obligations, appointments, lists, emotions…etc., etc. Many readers asked the question “when you let something go, where does it go?” and recently I had an experience with a co-worker that made me wonder…What is “it”? & Where does this sh “it” really go? ?‍♂️ What is “it”? “It” is the many many lay ..read more

By the end of the Summer 2023, I was ready to return to the fast paced life of working 3 jobs, doing what I love, and trying to find balance with it all. I’ve been back to work now for over a month as a after school teacher, facilitating creative play in a safe and kind space. So far it has been manageable keeping up with the backend work of building a children’s yoga teacher business, teaching kids yoga classes, and guiding yoga hikes. There have been a few set backs, and I’ve had to let some things go. Finding balance is about being realistic about taking on too much, and knowing when you ha ..read more

At the beginning of the Summer 2023, I wrote a 3 part series of Kids Yoga Blogs about life as a children’s yoga teacher. The last of those blogs ended with the next steps I was taking this summer to build my children’s yoga teacher offerings and business. This is the review of the summer, successes and challenges of all the intentions that I set. Get up to speed by reading the 3 previous Kids Yoga Blogs beginning with Yoga with Ms. Brandon the Lost Year. Let’s begin with a check in on those Goals: ✅ Goal #1: Create a Podcast I did it! Yoga with Ms. Brandon: Meditation and Relaxation Practices ..read more

Here we are in the Summer of 2023 with time and space to create. So now you are all caught up in the “lost year” of Yoga with Ms. Brandon. I decided to take a step back this summer from working at Evergreen Community Charter School in the Summer Adventures Camp to focus on building my children’s yoga teacher business a little more. It was a tough decision though, I had been working within a welcoming and supportive community for the past 2 years. However, when you take the time and make space to create, new ideas, inspiration, and opportunities come to you. And I haven’t wasted any time. I hav ..read more

As a single independent women trying to make a living, living her dream, I needed to work multiple jobs. In the Fall of 2022, when the bookings from guiding yoga hikes became fewer and farther between, I decided to put forth more time an effort in to the Yoga with Ms. Brandon website and try to generate more income from teaching and lesson planning for children. However, I was still pretty busy with the other 2 jobs I was currently working at Evergreen Community Charter School and Namaste in Nature, so I need to make my time worth more and focus on private yoga sessions and yoga birthday parti ..read more

In the Fall of 2021, I took an unintentional break from teaching yoga to children, website development, creating lesson plans and social media. Why? No good reason really, life just got busy. I was going through a separation period from my at the time husband, and had to work 2 jobs just to make ends barely meet. One of the jobs was working for the best after school program in Asheville, NC, Evergreen Community Charter School. A place where I had taught children’s yoga pre-pandemic in the afternoons and summer camps. The other job was with a local yoga and hiking guiding company called Namaste ..read more

Finding the Focus. Did you know that one deep breath can make all the difference? When I was a classroom teacher, I practiced yoga and felt the benefits, so I decided to share the practice of yoga with my students. Unfortunately, I never had enough time for the poses, so I just focused on deep belly breathing for a few minutes each morning before classes. Afterwards, the students were calmer and were able to focus on their academics. However, I still felt like they were missing the yoga practice. When I shared this with my yoga teacher at the time she said, “Teaching breathwork is the best thi ..read more

“The game is called ‘Three Bags of Trash.’ And you are the Evil Trash Bag Monster.” “Would you like to visit our Bug Sanctuary?” “We are playing ‘Zombie Doctor’” “Can we play that ticket game again?” These are just a few of the creative games that the children like to play each afternoon on the playground. I have no idea how these games go, or what the rules are, but they do. When I stop and ask them what they are playing, they get quite and don’t speak. If I go to the area where they are playing and listen in, they get so self-conscious and say, “Why are you over here?” “Will you please leave ..read more

What is it? In my day to day work with children ages 5-7 years in an afterschool program, we facilitate creative play is a safe and kind space. This in itself is a lot of work because there are some children that struggle with body awareness. Body Awareness is how conscious and connected you are to your own body. It is knowing where you are in space and how your space relates to the other person near you. Body Bubbles – Children love to make friends, spend time with their friends, and play games together, but sometimes they can get too close and invade personal space. The children that I super ..read more