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Dear Friends,
We have embarked on a new collaboration, bringing together our passion for yoga and children with special needs. Let's be clear, all children are special and all children have special needs. Some children also need a different approach to learning and different levels of guidance and assistance.
Beth:
For the past 12 years, Beth has been Director of Camp Courant, a summer camp for inner city youth that gets them out into nature and into wholesome fun activities, including yoga. During her years at Camp Courant, Beth has interacted with thousands of children. Many of the children are affected by asthma, challenging social and emotional issues and obesity.
Beth is registered with Yoga Alliance at the ERYT 500 level and is a senior faculty member of Integrative Yoga Therapy's Professional Yoga Therapist Training and the Director of the IYT PYT internship program. Beth is the author of the upcoming children's book, "Ogi, Bogi, the Elephant Yogi," a therapeutic yoga book for children with a companion manual for parents and caring professionals.
Karen:
For the past 8 years, Karen has taught weekly yoga classes at an extended day program for children with disabilities. The children range in age from 7 - 21. Some of the children were born with down's syndrome. Some children are on the autism spectrum and others have varying degrees of cerebral palsy. Many of the children have other diagnoses such as adhd and sensory processing disorder. They are all children who experience challenges and yet they are all children first. Karen is also lead yoga teacher and trainer for Synergy Center, which offers yoga and social skills activities for children and youth.
Prana:
Yoga offers lots of tools for working with children but one of the most important is the concept of prana, the life force than animates and supports our physiology. Disturbances in the flow of prana manifest imbalances that affect the health and well-being of all the systems of the body. While some disturbances can be healed using various yoga techniques, understanding the underlying patterns and connections or lack of connection may lead to a different kind of healing, especially for the family.
Whole Child Yoga Newsletter:
We will be sending out monthly newsletters on topics relating to therapeutic yoga for children. If you wish to receive these newsletters, please click on the subscribe link at the top of this newsletter. Step 1: Enter the email address where you want the newsletter to go. Click on Preferences. Step 2: Click on Whole Child Yoga. Step 3: Complete the form (email address, first and last name). Please forward this newsletter to others who may be interested.
May the blessing of light be on you—
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire. (old celtic blessing)
Irish blessings from Karen and Beth, Namaste
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beth@wholechildyoga.us
