Discover how to give a fabulous foot massage to keep your tootsies looking their best for summer sandals. Its always a treat to give someone you love a foot massage. This video demonstrates how to use two simple, environmentally friendly products, which can be made at home. The lavender foot scrub is ideal to exfoliate, soften and calm, while the peppermint foot balm will cool, soothe and nourish. As well you’ll learn basic foot massage techniques including reflexology to improve function of the internal organs, eyes, ears and pituitary gland. You’ll finish by engaging the joy & laughter of youth with a classic foot rhyme. Try it and enjoy spending summer with gorgeous feet and a smile on your face.

Lavender Foot Scrub

1/4 c Sea Salt/Epsom Salt

2 Tbsp oil (any vegetable oil will do)

1/8 c baking soda

3-4 drops of lavender essential oil

Peppermint Foot Balm

1/4 c shea butter

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 oz piece of beeswax grated

10 drops peppermint essential oil

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Guest post by Jennifer Bell

Yoga: Good for Body, Mind, and Social Life

The ancient practice of yoga has been shown to have numerous biological and psychological benefits. For instance, by decreasing psychological stress and developing a more balanced and wholesome approach to the body, blood pressure is also lowered. For these reasons, yoga is useful for children and adults.

Childhood Social Benefits

Beyond the individual, yoga continues to develop complexity and nourish inter-connectedness. By dissolving some of the unnecessary barriers between the body, the mind, and the world, yoga can also increase social skills, social abilities, and the quality of a child’s social life.

It can be very difficult for a child to break the ice around his or her peers and engage in conversation, play, laughter, and all the little intricacies that blend into even the smallest and most insignificant social situation. By enhancing consciousness of oneself and the world around oneself, yoga can improve the ability for a child to jump into this very complex world without becoming fearful, distracted, or unnerved.

Why Childhood Yoga is Becoming Essential

Just as it is important to start schooling early in life so that a child can grow up to master a wider range of skills in a more thorough way, so is it important to start yoga early in life. This allows a child to develop a strong base as quickly as possible so that they can weather the potentially traumatic phases of life that occur while growing up. With this early and vital boost in self-confidence, self-awareness, and social consciousness, your child can go on to greater and greater things in being sociable.

Important Other Benefits

Don’t forget that these aren’t the only benefits to yoga. There are still the hugely important physical and psychological benefits. The mind can be a very frustrating place, hyper-charged, and capable of running in circles for hours and hours. Yoga gives people the tools that allow them to calm their mind and be here, in the moment, right now. By improving blood flow, mood can be increased, which improves energy and so on. All of these factors are interconnected and circle back upon each other in feedback loops, improving all aspects of a person’s life in a comprehensive and holistic way.

There was a time when yoga was considered optional for even adults. Since then, time has gone by and the technological media through which we interpret our lives, form our opinions, perform work, transport ourselves, chat with friends, entertain ourselves, and much, much more has become more complicated and breathlessly fast. Because of these developments and the general quickening of life, yoga is becoming essential for both adults and children if we are to flourish in this constantly changing and potentially stressful world.

This guest article was contributed by Jennifer Bell from Health Training Guide. Jennifer is a freelance writer and mother of 2 based in Los Angeles, CA.

Check out her site to learn more about medical assistant training and other exciting health careers.

Above Photo Credit: Axel Buhrmann

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What to expect when you attend kids yoga summer day camp

Children are often intrigued by the idea of yoga camp. However they and their parents may not have any idea of what they are really going to be doing during their time at camp. Here is a list of some activities you can expect from a well organized kids yoga camp.

Yoga Poses: Children will learn numerous yoga poses and spend time each day practicing physical yoga. In doing so they will develop strength, flexibility, balance and confidence. However, many camps are half day, or about 3 hours long. Logic, and a child’s attention span, tells you that children will not actually be practicing yoga poses the entire time. What else happens at yoga camp?

Mindfulness Activities: Learning to tune into your mind with awareness and compassion is an essential skill to developing emotional and social intelligence. Mindfulness activities may include meditation, mindful eating, mindful listening, mindful movement, breathing exercises, communication games, and more.

Yoga Games: There are numerous yoga games ideal for camp environments. Games teach social skills, patience, turn taking, reinforce concepts, and provide oodles of fun. Some of my fave yoga games include Yoga Jenga, Musical Mats and Swami Says. Visit the Yoga Games page for a full listing to make your yoga camp the best ever!

Stories: Children love a good story. By combining physical movement with creative story telling the stories take on new dimensions, fully explore meaning and integrate learning. Yoga Adventure Stories, children’s literature classics and creative story telling all find a home at kids yoga camp.

Environmental Appreciation: Part of practicing yoga is learning to appreciate and care for the environment. Many of the yoga yamas and niyamas support eco-conscious living including ahimsa (non-violence) brahmacarya (conservation) and tapas (self-discipline). Re-duce, re-use and re-cycle will be taught in word and deed.

Crafts: Imagination and creativity abound at kids yoga camp. Crafts teach fine motor skills, reinforce themes and develop a sense of accomplishment. They also form a link between the child’s camp experience and home where children can share what they have learned and proudly display their crafts.

Music: From chanting to expressive movement and much more music is an integral part of yoga. Mantra yoga is the yoga of sound. Kids yoga camp may use a Tibetan Singing Bowl, drums, and other instruments to create sound or have numerous songs on a kids yoga playlist to encourage creativity & self expression, teach rhythm & coordination, and improve mood & well-being. Discover the benefits of music in a Kids Yoga Class.

Relaxation: Imaginative relaxation helps children to de-stress and increases self-awareness. They may float on clouds, drift down a river or imagine their favourite colour. Each day of yoga camp will include some form of relaxation leaving children refreshed and renewed.

This summer Yogainmyschool.com is offering week long Kids Yoga Camps at The Water Garden at The Enjoy Centre. Running July 11-15 from either 9:00-12:00 or 1:00-4:00 children aged 5-11 can experience a yoga intensive made just for them. Call 1-780-504-5022 to register.

For more information on kids yoga camps visit Benefits of Kids Yoga Camp.

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Saucha in Your School & Life

At a recent Teacher In-Service training which I taught one of the participants was looking to collect donated mats in order to have a set for her classroom. I encouraged her to do this as many people don’t know what to do with their gently used mats when they acquire a new one or may have an unused mat at home (gasp, horror!) One of the most important aspects of collecting donated mats is how to clean them. It was especially important in this case seeing as her students have a variety of special needs including compromised immune systems.

Regular yoga mat cleaning needs to be something on your yoga radar – odor, germs, bacteria…need I say more. Unfortunately, many people have no idea how to do this, or even that it needs to be done until the odor becomes rather offensive and child’s pose is no longer a pleasant experience. My favourite explanation is by Eco Yogini because it is eco-friendly and doesn’t involve compromising the yoga mats with detergent or the washing machine.

The recipe is simple.

• one part vinegar
• three parts water
• 10 drops tea tree oil (optional)
• a couple drops lavender oil (optional)

When I do this I simply toss the mat into the tub, just barely cover with warm water, add a couple glugs of vinegar and some dashes of tea tree oil. Swish vigorously for 2-3 minutes. Lift the mat from the resultant brackish water, shake off excess and hang outside on an overcast day.

In a school environment you’ll want to make cleaning yoga mats a regular occurrence as a general public health and wellness practice as well as to preserve the yoga mats for use during the years to come. The easiest way to do this is to have the students spray & wipe after use. Yes, this is an extra step at the end of yoga class, however it will teach respect for the supplies, instill basic cleanliness habits and demonstrate responsibility (you used it, you clean it). You could also make this part of the duties of the school’s Yoga Club which you’ll organize just to get out of having to clean 30 yoga mats all by your lonesome on Saturdays.

Yoga is much more than a number of poses done on a mat. Saucha (one of basic tenets of yoga known as yamas & niyamas) means cleanliness of body, heart, mind and environment. Practice saucha today and clean your yoga mat. Better yet, show a child or teenager how to clean their mat and share this knowledge with the next generation of yogis.

If you enjoyed this post be sure to subscribe (e-mail or RSS) and get tips on yoga for kids and teens delivered directly to you. Also sign up for the YIMS Newsletter and download a copy of our FREE e-book The Pet Store.

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Child Led, Child Friendly DVD a Winner

Enter to win a copy of Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle DVD by leaving a comment below mentioning one quality of an eagle which you admire.

Yoga Calm’s new DVD entitled Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle is sure to captivate. Inspired by Ryley’s song about eagles (which is used during the guided relaxation at the end of the yoga class) Flying Eagle encourages children to identify with an eagle’s positive traits of vision, strength, freedom and gentleness.

I absolutely love that the entire class is inspired and led by children. Young Haley leads the class with poise, confidence and clarity. She hands off the teacher’s mat to student leaders who take over during various activities and who receive compliments for their efforts and willingness to lead. Haley is matter of fact with her presentation using vocabulary, poses and visualizations appropriate for an elementary aged audience. The children modeling the class represent average children everywhere and help to encourage all to participate and adopt a “can-do attitude.”

The class itself is well thought out and includes breathing exercises with props (hoberman sphere & rock), floor work, standing poses, sun salutations with variations for ability & strength, partner and group poses, reclined twists and a final relaxation. There are 15 different activities in 20 minutes which may feel a little fast but which provides great opportunities to pause and explore at your leisure before pressing play to continue. Other kids will find the pace perfect to keep them engaged and active.

In addition to the yoga class there are also short bonus segments including:

1. a talk about eagles by naturalist Steve Engel of the Audubon Society
2. an interview with Lynea & Jim Gillen, founders of Yoga Calm
3. a Focusing Fun Silent Ball activity with ADHD expert Dr Jeff Sosne to build focus and encourage eye contact.

Enter to win a copy of the DVD by leaving a comment below regarding the admirable qualities of eagles.

For additional entries:

• Visit YogaCalm on Facebook and post on their wall about the giveaway
• Share this review on Facebook with an @yogainmyschool.com mention (multiple entries allowed)
• Tweet about the contest on Twitter with an @DonnaKFreeman mention (multiple entries allowed) “Check it out! Flying Eagle Kids Yoga DVD #giveaway @DonnaKFreeman @yogacalmkids http://bit.ly/iurfve”

This contest ends May 31, 2011 at 9:00 pm MDT. Enter often and share generously! Good-luck.

Visit the Yoga Calm Store if you’d like to purchase a copy of Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle – US$16 +S&H.

I received a copy of Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle and other promotional material from Yoga Calm for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Lisa Kelly, the winner of a copy of Kids Teach Yoga: Flying Eagle DVD from Yoga Calm. Upon learning of her good fortune she said, “Looking forward to drawing inspiration from Flying Eagle! Thank you Donna for your continued hard work in helping other teachers spread the yoga-for-kids love. We are very lucky have you as such an amazing resource.”

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Guest post by Jane Sanders

The nutrition of our children is a huge concern for all parents. We want our kids to grow up to be as healthy and happy as possible, and what they put in their bodies plays an enormous role in their overall well-being. Many parents struggle with finding inexpensive ways to feed their families nutrient-rich meals, but with a few simple tips, all parents can adequately provide their families with the nutrients they need without breaking the bank.

Don’t Follow the Fads

Keeping your family’s diet up-to-date with the latest food trends typically isn’t very economical. Diet magazines and fad diets will often display the latest research on what is and isn’t healthy, but it is important to keep in mind that eating healthy is not a recent phenomenon revealed to us by the latest scientific research. People have been eating healthy for thousands of years, and it is typically more cost-effective and healthy to stick to the traditional types of health food. What is meant by traditional? This simply refers to eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, whole grains, and minimally processed foods. Bananas, broccoli, carrots, and many other extremely healthy produce items are still very inexpensive at all times of the year.

Pay attention to Sales

Grocery stores are always promoting themselves by occasionally dropping their prices. If you live in a town that has several grocery stores, pay attention to newspaper ads and coupon books to see which store has the best prices. Stores will often have fresh produces and meats at drastically lower prices for a short amount of time, and if you can stock up during a sale, you can save a lot of money.

Cook a lot at a time

When you’re cooking your family a healthy meal, make it easier on yourself by cooking large quantities at once. It is usually just as easy to cook for four people as it is for ten, and by cooking more, you can freeze the rest for later. This will allow you to buy and prepare a lot of food while it is in season or on sale, and have it for much longer. Also, it will make life a lot easier as you will have a variety of healthy meals already prepared in your freezer.

Plant a garden

Even in places with very cold climates, a seasonal garden can be very cost effective. For a minimal price, a simple raised-bed garden can be installed in any yard. Seeds for a variety of fruits and vegetables can be purchased for about a dollar. Throw a few green bean seeds down in the spring, and by August you will have a freezer full of healthy, organic vegetables.

While these are just some of the basics for cooking healthy and inexpensive meals, they provide some guidelines for keeping your family healthy and a minimal price. Don’t be afraid to get creative, there is always a way to improve the health of you and your family without breaking the bank.

This article was contributed by Jane Sanders from DebtManagement.net. Visit her site for tips on choosing the right debt management service.

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