LOG IN/CREATE ACCOUNT

Buy Gift Card

words from our community ~ kids yoga teacher training

Erin Park is a teacher at Lightbridge Academy teaching Pre-Kindergarten. She also works with children that are on the autism spectrum. She has introduced yoga to all she works with. She plans to take all she has learned with her, with all her future experiences. She is also a Work Exchange team member at Yoga Home!  She has written a blog about her experience with Next Generation Yoga and their kid’s training for 2-6 year olds this past September. 
—
Yoga. Something so natural, so pure; something for EVERY BODY, of all different ages. I started my own personal journey with yoga when I was in college. I took a yoga course as a gym credit, and it became my next favorite thing. There were all different people in my class at college, just like here at Yoga Home. The reasons for taking the class were endless (just for a credit, to relieve tension from life, for exercise, because I have done it before; and I would like to do it some more). There were so many reasons for us all to be taking the class, no matter the reason we were there: we were doing it together. To my surprise, I wasn’t just enjoying the class because of the yoga, but also because of the community that it brought in one small room. Sadly, I fell out of the yoga practice shortly after the class had ended.

It wasn’t until later on that I found yoga again; during a hard time in my life, I was between jobs and wanted something to help me feel grounded, motivated, and courageous. I began searching for the best fit for me. I tried a few places that were pretty much the same flow, and feel overall.  That didn’t suit me. Then I eventually found Yoga Home, and man…was I hooked!

Yoga Home has opened many doors for me, including being able to share the practice of yoga with the little ones I work with. I was able to partake in the Next Generation Yoga Teacher Training (ages 2-6) back in September. This was not a typical yoga class–this was full of laughter, silliness, and the joy of being a child again. We transformed ourselves into children of all different ages. My go-to age was definitely four years of age, because I spend my whole day with children of this age. I was able to stop my self-judgement of whether something looked okay or not. Every day during this training was an adventure, I came into the training being excited about what songs we were going to listen to, or which stories we were going to read. 25 year old Erin was no longer, but 4 year old Erin was fully present. We participated in doing traditional yoga poses, even though we didn’t know they were. Our warrior 2 was turned into a surf board as we road the waves off a nearby island. Instead of doing sun salutations, we sang a song to a craft of a sun that we made prior to beginning our practice. During this training we always had something we were experiencing, whether we were a school teacher, a mom, a yoga instructor, etc. We all were in community with one another because we shared the same passion; children.

Just like the end of the class back in college, the end of this training was just as sad. I made connections with all of the ladies that attended the training, and it was bittersweet. But this time, I took everything I learned with me into my daily life. I was able to share it with the students that I teach on a daily basis. My students now expect a morning stretch with Ms. Erin as we listen to our songs. Their favorite song is “The Goldfish” by Laurie Berkner. Also on the rainy days we go on an adventure to somewhere bright and warm.

Not only did this training have an effect on me, but also of the students and the parents of the children I teach. Yoga has become a love in the classroom, parents have video taped their children doing it at home. The first video one of the parents showed me, made me feel so proud as a Pre-K teacher and as a yoga instructor. The connection that was formed between education and yoga has been an inspiring thing to see. My form of teaching has changed, and I love the results.
I have Yoga Home and Next Generation Yoga to thank for the experience, and future experiences they have given me.
—