Last week was a heck of a week – I was on the Space Mountain of emotional roller coasters.   It was the second week my husband was away.  He’s in NYC taking his skills where they are most needed and being of service.  We’re often flying off to faraway lands to serve but this time our country gave the call so he answered,   The first week didn’t’ seem so bad, I guess it was all the adrenal and stress of him leaving and the reality of our new normal. The second week, last week, that’s when the emotions hit the fan and set in hard for all of us.   When Bill and I were ju ..read more

Mindfulness Ideas We Can All Do During a Pandemic We are certainly living in a time of high uncertainty. As the days of COVID-19, with it’s social distancing and sheltering in place go on,  more people have become increasingly anxious.  Anxiety about the coronavirus, including the effects on our economy, work, school, and our daily lives, it’s undeniable that we are all, including our children, feeling and noticing that pressure.  So, what can we do to better support ourselves, our children and others during this difficult time?   If this pandemic has taught us anything it ..read more

Lately, probably due to the season, I have been practicing Yoga Nidra.  Yoga Nidra or yoga sleep is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping.  It can be a practice on its own or done at the end of a “traditional” yoga movement class, Vinyasa, Hatha, Kundalini, Ashtanga, whatever style you prefer to practice.  It is extremely relaxing and often initiated by a guided visualization. At its heart, Yoga Nidra is a quiet, meditative and restorative practice.   January is the season to restore, replenish and refresh for the new year.  This is the time when bears, squirrels, and frogs bur ..read more

Most of the December holidays center around LIGHT.  The lights of the season serve to brighten up the darker days, warm us when we feel chilly nights and bring a little twinkle to this reflective time.  YoPlay Yoga For Kids “Shine Your Light” lesson plan celebrates the light inside of us and all the things that brighten our lives during this dark winter season.   “You are often tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you”. -Alexander Den Heijer     Life is exhausting! Career and marriage and family and friends.  The responsibi ..read more

  The only thing in life that is constant is change. ~Heraclitus   It may be constant and it may be happening all around us and everyone does experience it every day. But we all don’t feel the same way about change.  We may be more of a Sheldon character where change is very scary and anxiety-ridden.  Or we may be more of a Cher character where we are excited and adapt to the changing times.  Which are you a Sheldon or a Cher? Children sometimes have a hard time understanding change.  This month’s YoPlay Yoga For Kids lesson plan addresses CHANGE  in its lesson “Everything Changes: Fall on ..read more

Why Teach Mudras To Kids? Children love mudras!  Many children and people around the globe use mudras.  Mudras (pronounced moo-drah) are usually practiced with yoga, breathing exercises, relaxation or meditation.   Mudras can be used for self-regulation and body awareness and are typically and can be done anytime and anywhere. What Is A Mudra? Mudras are simple hand gestures that tune us into the subtle energies of the body.  They are yoga for your hands.  Research shows us that mudras engage certain areas in the brain, creating a brain-body connection.   Different areas of the hands are conne ..read more

My youngest daughter is all about space these days. It all started on our camping trip last month when we slept under the stars and saw the Milkyway while having a bonfire on the beach.  Naturally, I ran with her interest and incorporated it into our homeschooling and of course with yoga. As part of our homeschooling, we visit the library on the daily, mostly because it has great wifi and it gets us out of #the.happybus for a few hours every day.  We, of course, had to look at, read and check out several books on space.  We drew and colored the solar system from what we learned in the books an ..read more

We just returned from our #FamilyFieldTrip where we went camping in the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone National Parks.  It was an amazing experience!  The mountains and those Geysers were awe inspiring and spectacular to witness. Preparing for this trip was what inspired this month’s lesson plan: Yoga For Camping. Camping gets us out of our world of clocks, calendars, and schedules.  Tools that cut the now into pieces divorcing us from abiding mindfully in this ever flowing present. “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and the ..read more

When was the last time you laughed like this…. where you snorted, or were doubled over in a belly laugh? With Summer in full swing, it’s time to let loose and have fun!  And you can’t help but have fun when you’re laughing. Children laugh up to 300-400 times a day during their formative years, and this reduces to 10-15 times a day as an adult. Do kids need an excuse to laugh? Not typically.  Kids laugh so easily. They laugh at funny faces, bad jokes, good jokes, and most especially at funny noises.  So introducing kids to laughter yoga is like the easiest thing in the world to do!  You can ..read more