guest post by Barbara Jolie

It can be very difficult for parents to remember what it was like back in the day when they were teens, so if you have a teenager or two in your household, they may seem like aliens from another planet. The biggest problem with teenagers, the problem from which nearly every middle and high school kid issue arise, is their inherent lack of self-confidence. And while self-esteem usually comes with time, it must absolutely be actively built. Here are some easy-to-follow tips to better understand your teenager, and to help her grow into a mature and confident adult.

1. Remind yourself that there is a physiological reason for lack of confidence in teens.

One of the primary problems that causes adults and teens to clash so harshly and so often is that we and our teens are in completely different stages of life, both emotionally and physiologically. Teens so often lack self-confidence because their hormone levels are fluctuating constantly and they are usually going through some physical and psychological growing pains that initiate the proverbial “awkward phase.” As such, it is important to be understanding of this before you try to help your teen build self-confidence.

2. There is a big difference between building self-esteem and over-praising. Do the former.

One big mistake that many parents make is that, in their anxiety to help their teen emotionally develop, they praise every single good deed that their teen accomplishes. While praise is absolutely instrumental in building confidence, when given too much, it completely loses its value. Subsequently, over-praised teens will be the diametrical opposite of self-confident adults. They will never learn to accept criticism, work out their own problems, or deal with failure, all of which are necessary components of healthy self-esteem.

3. Solid diet, hygiene, sleep and exercise habits play a much bigger role in naturally building self-confidence than you think.

If you are a consistent practitioner of yoga, then you probably understand the importance of developing good health-related habits. At the same time, however, teens will often not be as interested in maintaining a good diet, sleeping regularly, and engaging in a consistent exercise routine. As a parent, it is vital that you establish and enforce a daily schedule that emphasizes a holistic and healthy lifestyle. Teens are most able to build their self-confidence when they’ve slept and eaten well. Rigorous exercise is not a must, but engaging in light but, most importantly, consistent exercise, like yoga, swimming, or simply walking, does wonders in regulating mood and performance.

4. A healthy social life is absolutely instrumental. Help your teen build a close-knit network of friends and family.

Especially in modern and developed countries like America, many other things in life take priority over strong social relations. Whether for good or ill, we are an isolated society. Many of the developmental problems that teenagers undergo arise from a sense of isolation. As a parent, you are often charged with the task of guiding your child’s social life. While you can’t necessarily pick your teenagers friends, encourage your child to participate in activities that foster a sense of community and togetherness. Spend quality time with your family, even if your teen doesn’t appreciate it at the moment. They’ll thank you later.

Raising a self-confident teen obviously does not happen overnight. It can be a very exasperating process, but emphasizing the right habits and principles will reap plenty rewards, the dividends of which you will still see once your child becomes a full-fledged adult.

This guest post is contributed by Barbara Jolie, who writes for online classes. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: barbara.jolie876@gmail.com.

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Well known storyteller and children’s yoga expert Sydney Solis joins us to share her wealth of knowledge on teaching yoga through story telling. Founder of Storytime Yoga and author of numerous award winning children’s yoga books, Sydney has a tremendous impact on the kids yoga community world wide. Explore the magic that happens whenever you combine oral storytelling and yoga as children unleash their creativity, develop listening and literacy skills and connect with their inner selves.

Original Air Date: July 6, 2011

Connect with Sydney via Storytime Yoga, the Storytime Yoga Facebook Page and @StorytimeYoga on Twitter.

To sample Sydney’s work see Aesop’s Fables with a Twist: The Farmer and the Fox and The Lion and the Mouse.

To download this or any of many other interviews with leaders in the field of yoga and mindfulness visit Yogainmyschool.com on iTunes.

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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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Author of Mindsight and the soon to be released The Whole Brain Child, Dr Dan Siegel is an expert in how the mind, brain and relationships interconnect and influence our lives. He joins us to address the importance of mindful awareness in youth to foster positive mental, physical and relational health and well-being. With the science to prove it works, Dr Siegel shows us how to focus our attention on the internal workings of the mind helping us to acknowldege thoughts & feelings, let go of that which does not serve, and transform our lives leading to greater health and happiness. Learn more about this essential component to emotional and social intelligence and the easy to implement Wheel of Awareness during this 30 minute interview. Dr. Siegel is the keynote speaker at the International Conference on Mindfulness with Youth held in Banff, Alberta July 15-17, 2011.

Original Air Date: June 15, 2011

Learn more about Dr Dan Siegel’s work on his website or connect with the International Conference on Mindfulness with Youth on Facebook.

Enjoy Free itunes downloads of this and any of our extensive library of amazing interviews. Coming next is Dr Catherine Phillips, founder of the Mindfulness Institute.ca, who will discuss mindfulness in schools.

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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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Butterflies can teach us so much about change, growth and embracing our best selves. Let your inner butterfly dance upon the breeze with these life lessons.

• Let go of the past
• Trust your future
• Embrace the change
• Come out of the cocoon
• Unfurl your wings
• Dare to get off the ground
• Ride the breezes
• Savour the flowers
• Put on your brightest colors
• Let your beauty show

Thank you to Mitzi Coulombe Connel

Butterfly pose and other Bug Yoga poses are great fun!

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Ah, Dinosaurs! Kids love ‘em and most pre-schools, early education programs and elementary schools include units which study these amazing creatures. So if you have a budding paleontologist in your home or are looking for a fun way to get your kids moving, learning and engaging their imagination here are a number of suggestions for Dinosaur Yoga. A word of warning before beginning: some children get scared of an entire room full of kids roaring and imitating dinosaurs and may end up in tears. Be sure to let everyone know that this is simply pretend and for fun. If someone is not comfortable with the noise level or the fierce nature of the poses encourage them to cover their ears or have the entire group be quiet dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Yoga

Dinosaur Breath: Inhale through the nose and exhale with a roar! Repeat. Vary the volume, length of exhale/inhale.

Pterodactyl: Sitting or standing use your arms as the wings in Flying Bird Breath: raise your wings as you inhale, exhale and lower your wings. Vary the speed of each part of the breath to glide, swoop and dive through the air. My classes often fly through the space, skimming over the water, diving down mountain cliffs, soaring on the up currents, plunging to grab a prehistoric fish from the lake, etc.

Dinosaur Nest: Have students become dinosaur eggs in a nest, huddled together in child’s pose. Depending on the number of children, feel free to have more than one nest. One child per nest gets to be the Maiasaura mother and take care of the nest, going to collect food and feed the young as they hatch. Alternatively have them hatch out of their nest and imitate baby Maiasaura – this is super cute.

T-Rex: Stand with feet shoulder’s width apart, knees bent, hips extending behind you in chair pose. Bend arms at the elbows close to your sides, hands hanging down with two fingers extended for claws. Growl and hunt for prey trying to imitate the tyrant lizard.

Velociraptor: Come into Warrior III by stepping forward with one foot, lifting the back leg off the ground and leaning forward. While balancing on one leg use your arms to try to catch imaginary dinosaurs. Repeat on the other side.

Triceratops: Sit in horse stance with legs wide apart, bending the knees. Make your arms into horn shapes by bending the elbows and aiming them forward at an angle, reach the neck long to create three horns and imagine the bony frill.

Brachiosaurus: Version A – stand in mountain pose and reach arms as high as they can to eat leave off the trees. Version B – step into standing splits by placing one foot in front of the other then raising the back leg as high as possible while lowering the hands to the ground and head toward the knee. Use the raised foot as the brachiosaurus’ head to eat with the toes nibbling the leaves off the branches. Repeat on the other side.

Ankylosaurus: Come into Table pose with the hands under the shoulders, knees under the hips. Imagine your back is covered with bony armor. Extend one leg out behind you and gently swing it back and forth using the foot as a club tail. Switch legs and repeat.

Woolly Mammoth: Imitate a woolly mammoth by crossing the arms, keeping the top arm extended to use as the trunk, bend the bottom arm and bring the fist to your chin to create a tusk. Imagine thick shaggy hair and long curly tusks as you slowly cross the frozen tundra and glaciers. Pretend to pick up items off the floor with your trunk.

Dino Stomps: Lift one leg high, say “boom!” as you stomp the foot firmly onto the ground. Repeat alternating legs. This is a lovely way to ground and connect with the earth. Or play Laurie Berkner’s We Are the Dinosaurs while children act out the song.

More Dino Music:

Visit Dinomusic.com.au for lots of fun options.

Game:

Dinosuar Hide ‘n Seek: Have children hide in child’s pose throughout the space. Teacher (or one student in turn) pretends to be T-Rex looking for a meal (keep it fun & light) and dinosaur stomps among the sleeping dinosaurs.

Craft Suggestions:

• Dinosaur Paper Plate Craft from Kids Craft Weekly
• Dinosaur Feet from Activity Village.

Additional Fun:

I fell in love with these cute Dinosaur jokes on book marks to print and give to kids or simply use to have fun with during class.

Much thanks to all those who contributed ideas including Sandi Posey of Enlightened Child, Amy Bevan of The PranaMama, Lisa Flynn of Childlight Yoga, Aruna Kathy Humphrys of Young Yoga Masters and Jennifer Hess of Karmaspot’s Blog. Love it when we collaborate!

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Eoin Finn joins us to share insights on how to achieve bliss in our lives. The Blissology Project encourages doing good, feeling better and creating an upward spiral through the Five Big Easys. Discover exactly how these simple steps can change your life, creating more peace and contentment. Eoin will also share his experience on TEDx Talks and the keys to hammock enlightenment in order to slow down and connect with our inner wisdom and one another.

Original Air Date: May 4, 2011

Connect with Eoin through Facebook, on Twitter @eoinfinnyoga or his website.

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Lynn Hasselberger, founder of myEARTH360, is a woman on a mission to make everyday living environmentally friendly, kind to both people and the environment. Fueled by her eco-passion, she started with custom designed reusable water bottles for kids and has since developed an entire site packed with items from eco-friendly school supplies to green pet products as well as providing eco news and tips on her blog. Lynn joins us to talk about sustainable living with tips on how to make every day Earth Day and much more.

Original Air Date: April 21, 2011

Connect with Lynn on Facebook or Twitter and be sure to check out all the inspiring eco-loving products on myEARTH360.com. The wildflower notecards are my fave!

Coming on May 4th our next interview will feature blissologist Eoin Finn. Don’t miss his 5 Big Easys to discovering bliss.

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