Ever dreamed of an education system that puts your child(ren)’s well-being first? An education system that is active, fun and inspiring? Well I certainly did.
My name’s Gemma and I’m the founder of ‘Kids Can Yoga’. I am a fully qualified an experienced school teacher and yoga teacher with a Masters in Psychology. I love working with kids and always have, but felt constrained within mainstream educational settings. I yearned for a more inclusive approach, an education system which not only focused on the academic but also gave equal importance to the physical and mental health of the next generation.
The time came when I felt this was no longer an ideal, but a necessity, and I fused my
knowledge, experience and passion together to create educational yoga classes for children, aged 3-11. I do this by taking a topic linked to the national curriculum and teach it through yoga poses, thereby actively engaging children whilst learning. For example, this winter term we have covered the Arctic and Antarctic, learning about various polar animals, Inuits, auroras, polar explorers etc. and all of these have been learnt through yoga.
The benefits of yoga have been well documented and include improvements to posture,
flexibility, strength, balance, co-ordination, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress
management, memory and focus to name but a few. Isn’t this what we all want for our kids?
Now more than ever, given the unique and challenging times we find ourselves in, these skills have become a necessity for our children, many of whom have been cut off from others of late.
The ‘Kids Can Yoga’ sessions have been running on-line during lock-down and have given children the opportunity to build a community of other like-minded children. This is particularly prevalent in the exclusive storytelling yoga sessions within which children work collaboratively to come up with a story which I then put to yoga poses, all within the same session. This was originally a one-off session to celebrate National Story Telling Week this year, but has since become a regular addition due to popular demand.
I currently run group sessions every Sunday and Thursday online via zoom which individuals can book onto. I also visit schools (though these are currently also restricted to online sessions only) and am available for one to one bookings.
I passionately believe that children are the future and we must invest in that future, right now.
Gemma
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Find out more at www.kidscanyoga.co.uk
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/kidscanyoga1/
Instagram URL: https://www.instagram.com/gemma_kidscanyoga
