Mindful Beginnings: To Essential Guide to Yoga and Mindfulness with Children Ages 0-5

This book, written as a 6 module course will prepare parents, educators, yoga instructors, and enrichment professionals alike to do yoga with young children in educational settings AND to facilitate child-caregiver yoga classes as well.

(Registration for the accompanying course coming SOON! If you purchase the book prior, you will receive exclusive discounts!)

Target age group: Infants 3 months-5 years. Also includes yoga sequencing and meditations for new parents, people that care for children, and anyone else that is helping raise our youngest children.

This PDF textbook comes with 2 Yoga Card decks; Yoga with Dragon, a four-card yoga pose poem perfect for children ages 1-5 and Let's Make Shapes, a yoga lesson plan and six card yoga deck, perfect for yoga with children ages 2-7! These add fantastic value because you will be EQUIPPED to go out and teach.

Module 1: Deep dive into YOU

The things you know, the things you NEED to learn, the practices you do, the self-care you are establishing. Wherever you go, there you are!

• What is yoga? What is little m mindfulness? What is Big M mindfulness? All of these questions are answered and put into perspective from YOUR unique lens.
• Tools, resources, and your success plan for how to have a sustainable self-care ritual perfect for your life right now! How-to for making SMART goals that support you prioritizing yourself, incrementally and sustainably.
• Relationships ARE EVERYTHING! Build trust, rapport, communication, and connection to make your relationships the main attraction of your teaching. Whether it's with your own little loves or part of your business, we examine the relationships required to build strong programming both in the yoga studio and educational settings.
• Practical and actionable ways to manage and set expectations and normalize all forms of participation to relieve stress from parents and educators that want to support you as you teach. Take away the ambiguity and help everyone know what to expect and how you can support them.

Module 2: Insights on child development for children ages 0-5

What is going on in the brain, body, and social life of the developing person during early childhood?

• Learn about how the infant body develops. What yoga activities can support the child based on their needs and development, and why? Let's learn about what to expect and how to work with sweet babies.
• We will look at the psychosocial theories of Freud, Erikson, and Vygotsky and see how they relate to infant and toddler/preschooler yoga. We look at how these models can help to offer classes that support human development and foster this between caregiver and child.
• Then we move into toddler and preschooler development. What are they like, how they learn, and what do they need to feel ready to learn. Learn about why how you speak matters and what you can do to refine your speech.

Module 3: Teaching Methodology, Intention, and Educational Philosophy

The trifecta for planning effective classes that have a sound foundation in early childhood development.

• Why are you doing what you do? What is your personal, educational philosophy? What is your intention? Let's get out of autopilot and ready to connect, serve, and offer up authentic and age-appropriate yoga.
• Help to define yoga and mindfulness for children in simple, clear terms.

The teaching methodology, applied in each of four settings:

• Yoga with infants in an educational environment
• Yoga with infants and caregivers in a yoga studio setting
• Yoga with toddler/preschooler in an educational setting
• Yoga with toddler/preschoolers with caregiver in a yoga studio setting

Class Methodology: the seven components to making a complete, balanced class for each of the four settings above. Examples of how and what to do in each circumstance.

Module 4: Adaptations: How to teach yoga to different age groups in different settings

The different forms of participation for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers: We need to normalize ALL forms of learning and welcome them into the yoga space. When we equip the adults in the room to recognize forms of learning and readiness, we all win!

• Consent: How to gain permission from infants and how to understand when they take away consent
• How to gain infant trust
• Yoga for children with additional and special needs and why blanket inclusion is not safe or effective. Learn tools and tips for inclusive classes

Module 5: Movement

This module contains yoga poses, postures, and holds for baby, infants, preschoolers, and adults. Each pose and activity comes with detailed how-to instructions and illustrations.

This module includes:

• little m meditations
• breathing techniques
• meditations for toddler and baby
• yoga poses for adults (all prenatal and postnatal safe)
• holds for babies (how to hold the baby with sound posture)
• poses for baby, toddlers, and preschoolers and for adult and child, together
• songs for children (yoga sequences through rhyme and rhythm)
• Yoga with Dragon and Let's Make Shapes yoga sequences

Includes POSTER of Yoga with Dragon

Module 6: Planning and Presenting

Combine all you learned to make your own lesson for each type of class that you wish to teach. We provide a sample lesson plan for each kind of class AND a template for you to plan your own!

Appendix and Materials

• You get two articles about yoga with early childhood by Lara Hocheiser jam-packed with knowledge and tips, definitions.
• You get your own self-care planners, the yoga card decks for Let's Make Shapes and Yoga with Dragon (over $30 in value!)!

Mindful Beginnings is a 121 page PDF you can view on your laptop, tablet, or phone.