As a yoga teacher, a parent and an occupational therapist, I walk a fine line between embracing the digital world wholeheartedly and high-tailing it to disconnect from it.  Fortunately, my personal guideline of focus on the kind of media to which I expose my kids is what keeps me balanced on that fine line in a healthy way. 

Every family benefits from screen time guidelines that work for the individual family needs, though the individual needs will vary between every family and between every child within each family.  Though I don't feel there are any one-size-fits-all blanket statements for screen time boundaries for any child, I do feel that parents know their kids best, and they can help the kids determine what kind of screen time is right for them.  In my family, I focus on distinguishing between screen time that lifts them towards a more peaceful and empowered life and what kind of screen time limits their function in life or withholds their contributions to the world. When we focus on the quality of screen time and how it supports the individual needs of each child, I think we can find screen time that works for the entire family!  

Once I tease out the quality of screen time, the duration of time usually works itself out.  Given the context of our environment and purpose, I am able to set a time-frame keeping in mind that our bodies need to move big movements for 10 minutes of every hour at a minimum to maintain good cognitive function and self regulation. 

I tend to recommend apps and resources here that support a parent and child through real life as opposed to drawing them away from it.  I also like apps that can involve both the parent and child working together because all research points to kids thriving with increased parental connection.  When screens are utilized as a way for parents and children to come together harmoniously regarding life management, I think that's a tool worth using!  I have done my best to include apps and online resources that would involve both a parent's agenda (teach and guide a child towards a happy, healthy, independent life) and a child's agenda (learn and discover through play).  This is by no means a complete list.  I invite you to comment and share apps that you feel support peaceful living, sensory enrichment and support through modern life.

Here are some resources that I personally and professionally use for sensory enrichment and peaceful family living for preschool and elementary aged kids (many are linked to iTunes store, but are also available on Android devices).

First Then Visual Schedule by Good Karma Applications  cost: $9.99  This is not a cheap app, but when it comes to schedules, you will spend about that for supplies and time spent creating one yourself or buying one online.  This is a time-management, attention and schedule support for those who benefit from a structured environment and  it helps to lower anxiety through transitions. This is a convenient way to carry a schedule with you out of the house.  If kids demonstrate worries about saying goodbye to you at school or demonstrate resistance towards any part of the daily routine, or have difficulty staying on task independently, schedules can be an amazing salve for the struggle.  I use schedules often, even in my yoga classes and private sessions, which helps kids feel empowered and more at peace about moving through a daily routine over which they have very little control.

iEarnedThat  app by Kidoc, LLC  cost  $1.99   This is not your mother's star chart.  It is a multi-sensory way to move towards a goal.  I love that as an app, you can take with you in the community, or help a child move towards a goal in multiple environments.  I appreciate the multi-sensory components of the puzzle element (visual-spatial and visual motor).  I love how the puzzle pieces can be a playful and engaging way to move towards a goal.  Any time you add play and fun into the mix, you encourage intrinsic motivation so that the extrinsic motivation (actual physical reward) ends up just being bonus!  I always love the rewards that strengthen family connection and involve fun family activities such as a special family outing or activity, etc.
From the App store: “Turn any picture of a desired reward into a 3Dinteractive jigsaw puzzle of up to 60 pieces.  Set the goal and have your child earn their reward one puzzle piece at a time.” 

LetterSchool   Multisensory writing app.  Cost: $ 2.99 As an OT, I am compelled to highlight a writing app.  This app is for preschool and younger elementary school children.  I love LetterSchool from a sensory perspective, and how it teaches kids the structured motor sequence of writing each letter.  Both of my kids love it, too!  This is the one of only two apps (the other is Articulation Station) I have included that promotes a more sedentary and individual activity, but since it is a fine motor and cognitive task, I feel it's appropriate.  My kids have enjoyed this app so much, that I began setting an app timer (see  Kaboom  App Timer below) to remind them when it's time to take a break.

Articulation Station: cost: Free (for articualting P) purchase sounds individually up to $49.99 for all sounds and activities. Created by a Speech Language Pathologist and offers practice at word, sentence and story levels (not a substitute for a good SLP, though).  Target sounds can be purchased as needed.  Kids love that you can record their voices for playback.  Articulation is tied into the vestibular, tactile, proprioceptive and auditory processing sensory systems.  Work on one area, and you positively affect the others!  Plus, this is a fun way to work on articulation.  Remember how I feel about fun?  Strongly.  Fun circumnavigates functional deficit.  Play more, my friends. 

Kaboom App Timer  cost: $0.99.  Simple app timer that reminds the kids when it's time to take a break.  It has worked well for our iPad mini, though I notice it doesn't have the best reviews.  Set a time and when the time is up, the device will lock and require your passcode to unlock it. 

Me Moves App:  cost: $9.99  for ages 3 and up.  Visual Motor integration with calming elements.  Also exercises attention, focus, rhythm and timing and bilateral (both sides) motor coordination. This is an expensive app by my standards, but it addresses so many sensory systems in such an engaging way, I feel it would be a disservice to exclude it.  It would be wonderful to use when a child has to be relatively still (waiting rooms, airplanes, cars, etc) because in addition to offering good brain development work, it also has a calming element so desperately needed by many kiddos.  Recommended for ages 3 and up.

Yoga Spinner  App by upside down games  cost: $0.99  Yoga for kids!  What more do I need to say?  Nothing really, but I will anyway.  This app exercises the vestibular system (movement and balance) and proprioception (posture and body awareness) with strength building in a fun game format.  Play yoga by yourself or enjoy partner poses with others!

Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame Street.  Cost: FREE.  For ages 2-5, but my 6 year old loves it as well.  This app works on calming techniques such as belly breathing, and demonstrates examples of creating multiple solutions for solving problems.  I really love this app.  It models deep breathing and offers solutions to common difficulties for preschoolers (such as putting on shoes, taking turns, saying goodbye to parents at school, etc).  And it's FREE!  My 4 year old loves to breathe with the monster, and I have been able to use "breathe like the monster" as a cue for her when she gets frustrated. 

My First Yoga  Animal Poses for Kids.  Cost: FREE    Great for younger kids or kids that need a sensory break. This is a very simple app that demonstrates animal themed yoga poses with audio instructions.

Gratitude Journal 365-Diary for your Happiness cost: FREE or upgrade for $1.99
This app allows you to upload pictures and type in your gratitude.  What an awesome way to practice gratitude with your child!  Many kids with sensory differences or neurological diagnoses (such as ADHD, ASD, Asperger's, SPD) have increased stress responses.  A gratitude practice has been demonstrated to increase mental health, boost a feeling of happiness, lower stress responses and lead to easier time with transitions, changes, and unexpected circumstances, according to recent research.  I highly recommend this app for any kid, though.  Gratitude benefits all humans, and teaching a practice in childhood can be a gift of prevention in adulthood.  I admit, I hog this app for myself.  It's really a lovely practice to do something fun with the cell phone pictures I take every day and turn them into a gratitude journal on my phone!

Sleep Meditations for Kids: by Christianne Kerr  cost: FREE (also see her bedtime meditation app for $4.99)
Christane has a beautiful accent and soothing voice.  This app offers 4 audio tracks that help children up to age 12 calm down and transition to sleep peacefully.  Lest we forget that the screen can just be used for listening, this awesome meditation app reminds us!

Too Noisy App  Noise level meter  cost:  Free or upgrade to $2.99
This app is a wonderful way for parents to maintain sanity in the car when the noise level rises (ahem, I would know).  Also works really well for the environment for which it was designed: a classroom.  I most love it as a biofeedback tool to support a child toward learning voice modulation (how to be aware of and regulate voice volume when a child speaks too softly or too loudly).  I have kiddos that have no trouble projecting voices, so this app allows us to throw a little play into keeping voices at a volume I can tolerate.  Less hounding from me, more ability for my kids to recognize on their own what is too loud and what is just right.

TracknShare LITE -  cost:  Free or upgrade to pro.   A self-help life management journal to track and share your health symptoms, life goals, mood, exercise, habits, and remedies.  cost: FREE
If a child is old enough, he can track this on his own, but I think it's also an amazing way for a parent to track a child's life management to better understand what affects a child's sleep, stress, etc.  Also see it's sister app: Autism Tracker LITE, which is geared more for behaviors that are typical of children with Autism, sensory processing disorders and ADHD. 

Calm Down Now:  cost: $1.99 Empowering tools and relaxing sounds for instant help with panic attacks anxiety sleep yoga & meditation.  This app is geared more toward adults, but I love the sound bank where you can combine different sounds at your own choosing (ocean waves with flute), which is great for assisting with relaxation for sleep.  It's easy enough so that kids can choose which sounds they want to combine as a fun way to relax before sleep. 

Online Resources:
Free website for Visual Learning: Eyecanlearn.com excellent FREE website that I have recommended to many of my clients!  Offers visual attention and visual processing exercises.

Free Website for Sensory Support:  A Sensory Life    http://asensorylife.com/
“Three steps for sensory success...Educate. Embrace. Engage.  Respect a Child's Sensory Differences...It Will Change How You Respond”

Yoga Hammocks with Exclusive Online Kids' Aerial Yoga Demonstrations (shameless plug). This is my version of using the digital world as a tool for managing real life in a well way.  My hammocks delivered to you with exclusive online access for watching demo/instructional aerial yoga videos.  I wouldn't put it out into the world if I didn't believe in it and know it to be helpful to the WHOLE child.  Get more information HERE.

How do you use screen time as a positive tool for your family life?  Do you have any resources to add? I'd love to hear about your thoughts in the comments below!

Recent research demonstrates that mindfulness training increases health, happiness and life satisfaction.  In my kids' aerial yoga classes, mindfulness curriculum is a solid offering.  We learn about the functions of the brain, as well as how being mindful makes us happier, healthier and more successful at being ourselves, no matter our differences.  We make mind jars, learn relaxation techniques, talk about optimism, kindness, gratitude (all yogic principles too, I might add) and learn how breathing, movement and relaxing helps our brains and bodies feel better. 

Mindfulness puts a pause between what we feel or notice and how we react to it.  Mindfulness teaches us to respect and pay attention to how we feel in our bodies so we can better know when we need to cope, retreat, press ahead or buckle down.  The responses I have received from both the kids and the parents have been overwhelmingly positive.
 
Initially, I was inspired to teach mindfulness because of my neurologically focused occupational therapy background and because it was what I wanted and needed to teach my own children.  With each and every class, I am more and more convinced that absolutely EVERY developing human benefits from this type of education.  However, it can be intense and complex information.  Presenting it through the play of yoga increases interest and fun, thus creating neural wiring so they both love and remember it!

As a mother, I am grateful my girls learn the mindfulness principles in yoga class.  It makes learning more fun, and it teaches them coping strategies when they are calm and happy, which is the best way to teach strategies that most likely come in handy when you are feeling quite the opposite.  Additionally, it gives me references for real life.  When their self talk is pessimistic (I can't, this is awful, etc.), I acknowledge how they feel, hear them out, and if it's an appropriate teachable moment, I can also cue them to remember what Optimistic Otis or Pessimistic Pete might say about the situation (characters in our yoga classes) or if they'd like to "stop, breathe and move" to figure out what to do with a problem (like the song we sing in the video).  This helps get my point across in a more positive way than just correcting them, and allows them to make their own mindful choices about self-talk.  Even at 4 and 5 years old, their ability to do so amazes me, which is further confirmation that kids, all kids, inherently want to do their best for themselves and others and will when given the opportunity to learn how to do so. 

Mindfulness training and yoga is especially important for kids with any of the following:  sensitivity, big spirit, frequent worries, ADHD or sensory processing differences.  Studies show that kids with these natural make-ups will shift into fight or flight/stress response quickly without much warning, and they will need coping tools and self awareness training when they are calm and happy to gain better control and self-regulation over their nervous system responses.  These kids can take their natural make-ups and use them as the strengths that they are with the gift of mindfulness. 

Check out a few examples of how we playfully learn about mindfulness and ourselves through kids' aerial yoga classes:

 1. Turn that frown upside down.  Literally!  Get your kid to invert the head either by picking them up yourself or by having them turn upside down any way you can imagine!  Inversions help bring the nervous system back into balance!  Ever see your kids turn upside down on the couch, bed or chair edge?  Or hang upside down from a trapeze or playscape?  Or lean way back in a kamikaze head dive to invert their heads while you are holding them on your hip?  Or do "down-dog" yoga pose at an early age as if they'd been attending class for years?  They do that because the head inversion feels GOOD and it is regulating to the nervous system!  

2.  Breathe!  I know it's cliché, but it seriously works.  It is the one voluntary way we can shift from the fight, flight or freeze stress response to a more relaxed state.  But just telling a kid to "breathe" doesn't usually work well.  We need to practice it in playful ways regularly in everyday life when they are calm for it to work as a cue when they are approaching stress or melt down status. 

You can cue your kids in a fun way during the day by asking them to send a "b-mail", which is a breathing message to your brain to tell it to relax. Cue them in the car, as they are settling down for bed, before you go into a restaurant or any place where they are expected to be calm. How  many messages will they send?  How full can they make their inbox?   Or see how many times they can make a pinwheel spin in one breath by breathing out slowly through pursed lips for as long as possible.  We also light candles at the dinner table and see if each child can blow them all out in one breath.  This increases the exhale duration, which primes the nervous system for a more relaxed state and helps all the calming neurotransmitters do their good work in the brain. 

Once your child knows how to practice breathing it can work for you like it did for me in the middle of the night last night when my 5 year old jolted me out of slumber at 2am with a case of "the worries."  We practiced imagining the thing that was worrying her, then blowing it out with a long breath like the kind we do when we are spinning a pinwheel as many times as we can or blowing out lots of candles on a birthday cake.  5 breaths later she was ready to go to sleep again.  No kidding, it can be that easy!  It works like a  fast acting anxiety med without all the side effects!  The best part about it is that you don't have to be a kid to get the benefits.  Breathing with long exhales works on ALL human brains.  

3.  Physically connect without talking.  Our brains work best and get bathed in "happy" neurotransmitters and hormones when we receive positive touch from loved ones.  Research shows that positive touch creates neural wiring for deeper emotional connection to the person offering/receiving touch.  And better emotional connection means better team work when you are together.  See if you can send your message of love or support  to your child through your body language only.  Kids get so much verbal feedback, and most of it is about what they can't or shouldn't do.  Sometimes they just need a quiet, calming presence with loving intention focused on emotional connection instead of verbally praising or correcting outcomes and behavior.  Physical touch by way of firm pressure (try palms of hands instead of fingers) is tolerated best and generally calming to the nervous system. 

In my house, if we are at a distance (across a room or across the yard), we might hold up the American Sign Language sign for "I love you."  When we are close to each other, we give "hand hugs"  and do a deep pressure massage at the end of the night. Sometimes, when we are walking outside or on the way to school we pretend we are sending the morse code by hand holding and squeezing in a pattern.  We end the code with one long squeeze before we talk.  Then we see if the other can guess what we "said".  Or we write each other love messages on each other's backs (with firm touch--light touch can be too ticklish or uncomfortable) by drawing pictures or writing words.  These physical connection practices also teach mindfulness, which has so many positive benefits towards mental health!

 It's easy to add self-regulation sensory strategies into your family's everyday life! No need to add it to your plate.  Just attach it to what you already do!  May you enjoy peace, connection and better self-regulation that finds you through these practices!

 I'm putting the final touches on the Sense of Peace sensory and yoga based workshop for parents this week.  I created 10 principles, on which I based the workshop, but I'd like to share these principles with everyone because I think they are like  wise guiding arrows that help uncover the way along this obscure parenting path.  If we can put these principles into place, we can demonstrate to our children a happy, peaceful adult life well worth the childhood efforts of self-regulation and mind/body health.

1.    Kids wholeheartedly want to do their best for themselves and others!  Children want to demonstrate behavior that is good for themselves and their families.  When behavior is out of line, unhealthy or socially unacceptable be sure to check for sensory triggers first.   Try to look at the child’s experience through a sensory lens including evaluating all of the day’s activities leading up to the behavior.

 2.   Educate. Experiment. Over & Over. Kids experiencing a sensory difference don’t understand that others may experience the same sensory information differently unless they are taught this concept repetitively in many contexts.  Practice and experiment with various tools or methods to best understand your and your child’s sensory needs.  It's ok if they need 57 repetitions.  At least, try to let that be ok.  Then, as soon as you are both cool with it, know the needs may change and vary as the body and mind matures and develops.  Soap.  Rinse.  Repeat.  You can do this.  I promise.
 
3.  Be your child's scaffolding, and add a healthy serving of yoga and sensory enrichment to be the mortar for their materials. Much like building a complex architectural structure with different angles and convolutions, raising a child is a complex development.  Every kid needs external, solid scaffolding as her brain constructs and develops.  This external scaffolding, like that of a building, provides stability so the child can build upon herself and grow. With maturation, that stability is internalized so most of the scaffolding can be taken away and the child can stand independently through the weather of life.  The parent’s compassion & guidance, along with sensory enrichment, breathing techniques, and sensory modifications are the strong, solid scaffolding and solid mortar for the raising of a child.  Now, I don't mean helicopter through your child's development, but I do mean support your child with compassion, education about the need for movement and breathing, and just keep a rooted and calm presence.  Often, what they need most is just the silent solid strength of a parent beside them, guiding them upright when they might collapse, but just connecting next to them as a solid presence as they begin to hold on their own.    Remember; where there is construction, there are always periods where things get messy, dirty and precarious!  Keep calm, carry on through the hard hat zone and know that organization arrives with further structural completion.

4.  Front load to avoid the meltdown mother lode.  When it comes to sensory differences, you are going to spend extra time addressing the issue any way you approach it, so remember to frontload some preventative measures and invite sensory enrichment as well as yoga and deep breathing into the daily routine to save you time on the back end of a meltdown or emotional stalemate.

5.    Integrate sensory and yoga or deep breathing into your every day routines as they are.  Don’t add sensory enrichment or yoga to your already full plate!  Be gentle with your busy self!  Instead, integrate these approaches into tasks you already do (bear walk from the kitchen to the bathroom, do some deep pressure massage as your child is settling into bed and wrapping up the day's routine, gallop on your walk to school, offer a fidget toy in the car as you drive, etc).  This increases meaning and purpose, which increases the positive effect on the brain and self-regulation.
 
6.    Move, breathe, hug.  The brain is designed to require frequent movement of various kinds and to receive positive physical connection from others to best attend, process information and learn.  Deep breathing is the most efficient way to come out of a stress response.  Be aware that our modern day life typically does not naturally provide the necessary level of movement, breathing breaks and positive physical connection. It is our responsibility and health necessity to build these experiences in for ourselves.
 
7.    A few minutes does a body good!  Relaxation techniques and sensory enrichment are practical and efficient! It takes 20 minutes for a brain to shift gears out of fight, flight or freeze, but as little as 3-5 minutes to change self-confidence  and self-talk when utilizing movement, breathing and posturing.  For a 15-20 minute appropriately applied sensory rich activity, the positive effects can last hours!
  
8.  You can positively help the whole shebang!   Sensory strategies and yoga are all encompassing and integral.  You can’t work on one thing without affecting many others!  What benefits a part, benefits the whole!  Additionally, sensory strategies and yoga don’t "change" the child, but allows positive neural wiring that supports the child as he is and allows him to thrive authentically amidst natural tendencies and sensory differences.

 9.  You have 'em?  Me too. And that's a good thing! We all have sensory differences, and we all naturally self-regulate using sensory strategies whether we are aware of it or not (walk when you talk on the phone?  Cross your legs and wiggle/bounce your foot when sitting? Take a breath and sigh when you are tired/frustrated/at wits end?).  We all have sensory differences and preferences and tendencies.  They are actually GOOD for us!  We only need to offer environmental modifications or support/advocate for these differences when they interfere with the ability to move through life with peace and ease.

10. You are the expert.  Yoga is the light.  Sensory is the path.  A child’s primary caregiver(s)/teachers as well as the child are the best experts on what the child needs are to support his or her natural tendencies so that he or she may thrive in any natural environment and grow to be his/herself.  A primary caregiver can have the greatest insight and make the most significant impact on the way the world is shaped for the child. You know yourself and your child best.  Trust your instinct, but continue to learn each other and physically connect with each other.  The two of you are intimately and beautifully intertwined.  Stand strong knowing that just like yoga brings the mind and body into healthy union, understanding sensory differences for children and accepting them as they are with support, love and sensory enrichment brings you into healthy union with each other and sustains a sense of peace amidst any of life's chaos.

There aren't many offering kids aerial yoga at the moment, and I chalk that up to the fact that it's quite new to the studio world, and it is a unique fusion of the synergies between sensory integration/enrichment exercises, yoga, mindfulness & brain training, and acrobatics.   It takes a niche training to know how to offer that combo, but it just so happens, my life path brought me extensive training in each of those areas, priming me to see what an incredibly beneficial mind/body tool aerial yoga can be, especially for kids.  
   
However, because it is so integrative and so all encompassing, it's not so easy to explain in a few words.  I've made a little video (above) to demonstrate the incredibly well balanced mind body class that packs fun-factor, sensory integration, life-skills, and mind/body exercise into a 45 minute span.

I'll sum up a class in just a few words here as best as I can:
We work on positive self talk, and optimism paired with mindfulness strategies as supported by the research in recent neuroscience.
We utilize the 3 major sensations for increasing brain organization and regulation:
    1. Vestibular (balance and movement through space)
 2. Proprioceptive (joint compression, joint traction, heavy work of the body)    3. Tactile (discrimination between temperature, texture, light touch & deep pressure).
We work on breathing techniques to learn how to shift from fight or flight into a relaxation response and to self-regulate big emotions.
We learn social skills, compassion & empathy skills, peaceful principles such as caring for others and our environment.
We use play to increase attention to and engagement in the work of the mind & body. 
We encourage a creative space to honor and develop creativity and generating multiple solutions for life tasks.

After a decade of helping people transform the way they live and perform in their daily lives, I know firsthand how important it is to also include the mind in a physical practice, to utilize the sensory systems, to develop positive self talk, and dedicate to relaxation practice and breath work.  The mind reflects the body and the body the mind.  We are incredibly interconnected and we cannot tease one from the other.  Aerial yoga honors that complexity, yet it allows flexibility and modification for the individual need. 

I truly believe children want with all of their hearts to do their best. Given the right tools and information for how they can help themselves, they can feel empowered.  I got awfully tired of writing to insurance companies about all the things that are "wrong" or "atypical" about a person.  And so I began balancing out my medicalized career by teaching yoga, which holds the perspective that we all have differences, and it is precisely those differences that make the world a more balanced and productive place. 

One child may dislike having her feet off the ground or stepping on raised surfaces (what we call gravitational insecurity in the therapy world), and another may swing emphatically for hours on end and leap from raised surfaces with glee (a child needing proprioceptive and/or vestibular information to better regulate the nervous system).  In aerial yoga, we can lower the swing or raise it, we can meet the child where they are and help them use their natural state of strengths to find their authentic potential. 

It's ok if a child hates to wear shoes.  We don't wear them in yoga.  We welcome a child that is always wiggling, rolling around and squirming like he's got ants in his pants.  The yoga hammock is quite accepting of movement.  It's fine if a kid is fearful of going upside down.  We just use the mirror (to give them visual feedback) and gradual graded opportunities paired with fun and peer support to meet them where they are.  It's fine if your child doesn't know how to sit still.  The yoga hammock allows a child to be still, but still receive movement from the hammock's gentle sway.  We work our way toward stillness as the child demonstrates need.
 
Whomever your child is, whatever your child's needs are, they are perfect for aerial yoga and aerial yoga is perfect for them.  And if you are still reading, I have a feeling you are the perfect parent for your child because you are obviously learning, reaching out, trying your best with the understanding you have for the benefit of the light of your life.  And that, my friend, is all yoga. 

If you check out my daily schedule and to-do list, you would probably conclude that I don't technically have time to write this blog.  You may not technically have time to read it.  For many families, life is so incredibly busy and scheduled these days.  We have commitments, appointments, careers, technology and families that pull us in many different directions.   For me, this kind of stretch and hurried scheduling can translate to stress in my own body, and despite being a yoga teacher and licensed therapist, I am not immune to it by any means.  Unfortunately, I know I'm not alone in my overscheduled life and exposure to stress.  However, I have the advantage of knowing what symptoms of stress look like.  I have tools to manage it, and I know what kind of negative impact ignoring my stress could have on my health and my children in particular.  So I regularly address it.  Over and over again.  I look stress in the eye and invite it to yoga with me at least 3 times a week where we then shake hands and agree to part ways. The more I do yoga, meditation and mindfulness throughout the week, the less I see of stress and the happier I am.  Personally, I'd like my children to have those same advantages and tools within their reach so that they can have more self-control over their stress and feelings within their bodies at a much earlier age than I did.  Actually, I'd like all children and their parents to have the tools and knowledge yoga offers because the truth is, modern family life with the wisdom and health management of yoga is a heck of a lot easier than life without it.

According to data from the American Psychological Association, most Americans are suffering from moderate to high stress, with 44% reporting that their stress levels have increased over the past 5 years.  Interestingly, stress on a parent can take a toll on a child even if the parent feels that they are keeping their stress under wraps, and I'm not just pulling that statement out of my root chakra.  A recent study says that 69% of parents say their stress had only a slight or no impact on their children, but 86% of children say otherwise.  Additionally, almost a third of children reported that within a only a 30 day time frame they had experienced a physical health symptom associated with stress such as headaches, stomach aches or difficulty sleeping.*  

The good news is yoga, meditation and the mindfulness teachings offered within a yoga class can be the perfect solution to learning how to live a healthy, more mindful life in a fast moving, stressed out society.  Recent studies show that meditation and breathing techniques such as those taught in yoga class can shift the brain out of stressed mode and trigger the relaxation response of the parasympathetic nervous system.  Additionally, I might add that to teach children yoga, is to offer them the chance to thrive among the chaos, and to allow them to embody valuable life skills and health management strategies they can use their whole life though. 

As an Occupational Therapist, I have attended a decade worth of career related trainings that are dedicated to improving therapeutic progress and increasing an individual's functioning in life.   However, I have found the therapeutic application of yoga to be the most holistic, integrative and effective for making changes and improvements in the whole individual more so than any other.  My experience allows me the insight to see that when both parents and children receive education and training, the results and transformation falls deeper into the heart of the family as well as the individual, increasing a sense of connection and strong imprinting for the longer haul.

Recently, when I asked my 5 year old what would happen if she couldn’t do yoga any more, she said it would be "bad."  Then she looked at me with a solemn stare and said that if she couldn’t do yoga ever again she would turn into “a sad, sad puddle.”   As a yogini, I can relate.  As an OT, I know that emotional intelligence and self-awareness she used to express herself in that statement was taught and reinforced through yoga.   As her mother, I know what joy and delight the games, music and movement of yoga brings her.  I know the outlet it offers her for dealing with the stressors in the environment to which she is incredibly sensitive.  I feel her yearning need for compassion and gratitude deep within the depths of my own heart.  Without the wisdom, practical life tools and health benefits yoga offers, she might be a sad, sad puddle of a girl trying to find her way in this world.  I wholeheartedly agree.  Lucky for her, her mother is a yoga teacher.  And lucky for me, I've got two daughters that really love yoga.  

For anyone interested in seeing and feeling exactly what I mean about all this parent/child yoga stuff, I'll be offering a mother daughter yoga class on Saturday, May 4th  from 10-11am.  A mother/daughter yoga practice together is a creative way for a mama to nurture her own physical and emotional body while also modeling a healthy example and empowering her daughter with wisdom and life skills to meet the challenges of her journey with confidence, love and a really effective bag of tricks.

Join us for mother/daughter yoga!  We will practice acro yoga, partner aerial yoga and floor poses side by side to further our positive communication and joyful shared experiences.  No experience required.  Register here under the workshops tab 

Also, a summer program of mother & daughter yoga is coming!  Stay tuned!

*From American Psychological Association, Stressed in America, January 2011, Vol
42, No.1

This week was a monumental one.  Our doors opened up.  My heart filled up to the tippy top with love and support from you. Yes, you!  I felt as if I was teetering out on this limb of hope, blind faith and big, scary dreams.  Still do.

Fortunately, I've got yoga.  My old standby.  My solid rock.  Yoga is the one thing that relieved my pain from my neck and back injury all those years ago.  It was also my saving grace from the heartache of infertility before I got lucky twice over.  Maybe yoga wasn't the only end all be all salve for what ailed me, but it was my doorway to understanding myself and my body with a bit more insight and compassion.  It was and is.   

So now, on account of a very supportive husband, lots of elbow grease, and week nights and weekends full of effort, I've got an intimate little aerial yoga studio in my house.  My house!  If you hadn't been here previously, you might never know it used to be a dining room that housed my china and big family dinners until just recently.

These days, when the kids are driving me toward unyogi-like behavior, when I'm walking a fine line between confidence and fear, when I'm blank for direction, I just go in that room.  I breathe and move.  Breathe and stretch.  Breathe and
unfurl.  Breathe and flip.  It's like magic for me, and I hope it will be for others, too.

This week I watched as friends and neighbors came to this post-dining room sanctuary and laughed, mustered courage, turned on their heads and surprised themselves with their own capabilities.  They even smiled while they were there; suspended upside down in the yoga hammock, despite the fact they might be a little unsure. 

They did that for themselves, and I was lucky enough to witness it.  That's why I'm here, spending all my waking (and some sleeping) hours to make Yogapeutics happen.  Because we all need to surprise ourselves sometimes, and it's so amazing to see it when we do. 

For me, yoga has always been a metaphor for life.  If we can take a breath, create a safe and supported space and dare ourselves to lean back into the wide arms of gravity to do an aerial yoga pose turned on our heads; then perhaps, when life requires the same of us, we will be that much more confident and graceful for the task.  Furthermore, when the world is looking as if it's been turned upside down, maybe we can still smile and find the joy, despite the fact we might be a little unsure.

I hope you, too, might come and surprise yourself, try something new, take the accomplishment you feel with you on your journeys. First time around or again and again, I invite you.  I'd be delighted to see it and support it.  I'd be honored to celebrate it with you.

Come as you are or as you were.  It doesn't matter how you come, just come!  I promise you'll see the world differently, even if only because you are turned on your head.

Feel good & live well,
Lindsey