I'm so excited to be back teaching live again. I'm convinced that Storytime Yoga for children techniques are what kids really need in our day and age. Teachers trained in oral storytelling and creating an environment that focuses on eternal time and integrating information in a continual series of cycles, rather than stuck in linear, subject by subject taught methodology. Storytime Yoga blends storytelling, geography, reading, Foreign Language, poetry, writing, art, peace and character education, physical fitness and so much more, so that the child learns while playing and interacting, rather than piece by piece, which bores many kids to death and they get labeled as ADD, ADHD, etc. These trainings draw on the old world of shamanic healing, a storyteller at the head, creating a sacred space for learning and mystical participation in the world to take place. Imagination connects children to the inner world for self-reference, creativity, self-reliance and intelligence of the body. Again, our Western culture is all about the intellect at the expense of the intuitive side. It's a psyche lacking half of itself, to feel and intuit rather to only think, think, think in a linear fashion.
Yoga, meditation, relaxation and breathing really helps ADD/ADHD children with self-awareness, that crucial missing piece, and I'm convinced that a no-traditional classroom is what helps these kids too. They need to move and play to learn. Stories help them self reflect, and stories help all kids see themselves in the story, give them language rhythm patterns programmed into their hearts for creative writing and speaking. Kids get excited about reading more stories and creating their own stories. And they get excited about acting them out with their bodies, moving their bodies to learn, rather than sitting in a desk with their hips tight and backs in pain and their minds so bored that they wander away. Every child can learn, you just have to give him or her the right opportunity. Storytime Yoga trains teachers to tell stories to ignite children from within, and guide them with yoga for a truly successful future as teens and adults.
We study from toddlers to teens, using story to guide them in their lives and their practices. In a world where teens have little hope and not much beyond cell phones and shopping malls for direction, stories and yoga give them an anchor into themselves to wake them up on the inside and reach their full potential. So I hope you join me either in Denver this weekend at Samadhi Yoga, or elsewhere around the country, to train in storytelling to teach children's yoga as well as so much more!
Namaste!