Mindfulness for Kids : Kumarah

Using Mindfulness to Empower Kids and Teens

Guest post by Dhaval Patel of Zenful Spirit How can we use mindfulness to empower and connect with our kids and teens? Teenagers and kids nowadays are more inclined to connect socially to people. Attending social gatherings, joining sports, and other related...

Mother’s Day Themed Yoga and Mindfulness for Kids

Celebrate Mother’s Day with Partner Yoga for Moms and Kids Happy Mother’s Day! Get your kiddos moving and active with fun and engaging activities perfect for kids and their parents! Yoga and mindfulness are excellent ways for kids to celebrate their moms, since...

Earth Day Themed Yoga and Mindfulness for Kids

Celebrate Earth Day with Yoga and Learning About Our Planet Happy Earth Day! Get your kiddos moving and active with fun and engaging activities while fueling their interest in nature and our planet. Yoga and mindfulness are excellent ways for kids to celebrate the...

Spring Themed Yoga Poses and Activities for Kids (with Mindfulness!)

Spring themed yoga for kids is a great way to add in some movement and mindfulness to their day. With so many kids yoga poses based on nature and animals, it’s easy to find and adapt tons of kids yoga ideas for the springtime. Plus, when spring is finally here, all...

Fun Irish Themed Kid’s Yoga Poses for St Patrick’s Day

Ireland themed kids yoga poses and lesson plan for St Patrick's Day Everybody loves the Irish! (Well, maybe not the English… But here in the States we love them) My kids at school especially love celebrating holidays. Any excuse to get a little silly and excited,...

A Kid’s Yoga Story Lesson Plan with an Equity Mindset

How do you teach yoga in schools in a way that is equitable for students of color? I'll be honest up front: this might be a tricky topic for some folks to read about, but it's important. I've struggled with naming it for years, and it's still hard to discuss with...

Free Mindfulness Meditation Scripts for Kids [Video!]

Learn how to guide kids in calming imagery for deep relaxation with these free guided meditation scripts for kids. Kids need a mindfulness break sometimes. So does everyone, really. But it’s super important for kids in school especially and kids who need a...

Easy Themed Yoga Poses for Kids [with videos]

Learn how to do easy yoga poses for kids and teach them the poses with some essential kids yoga themes. What is Yoga for Kids? Yoga for kids is different than yoga for adults! Kids as young as babies and toddlers can start to practice yoga by trying fun and themed...

Lunar New Year Yoga Poses and Lesson Plan for Kids

Chinese New Year, or the Lunar New Year, makes an awesome kids yoga less plan What is the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival? Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday celebration of the year in China and many other Asian countries (where it is usually called the Lunar...

Outer Space Themed Yoga For Kids with Poses (and Video!)

Do Yoga and Learn about Outer Space with Kids Do you have kiddos in your life or classes that are interested in outer space or the planets and galaxies? Get them moving and active while fueling their interest by doing some out spaced themed yoga! Themed yoga is...

How to Teach Phenomenal Kids Yoga Classes with Simple Themes

Teaching well-themed kids yoga classes is hard. Yes I know, yoga is calming and fun... but kids are not inherently calm so the disconnect is sometimes very real. Flashback to four years ago, when I first started teaching Movement (Yoga in public schools is becoming...

The Most Fabulous Books for Teaching Mindfulness to Kids

Mindfulness books are a great tool for teachers and parents who hear themselves repeating these phrases often: "Calm down, settle down, take a deep breath, take a break..." Words that I hear myself say over and over to my students every day. Kids are so full of...

Valentine’s Day Heart Themed Yoga Class for Kids

Ready to teach a Valentine's Day themed yoga class to kids? Or bring a little more love into their daily movement and mindfulness? Or are you hoping to entice your little ones to get involved in your yoga practice and need some fresh themed pose ideas? The holiday of...

Yoga Games for Kids: Active Kids Yoga Group Games

We all know that it's super important to get kids moving and active; playing yoga games is one way to do that. Sitting all day is not good for much. And with the Coronavirus and so many more kids sitting longer in front of screens right now, we need to make sure we...

Teaching Kids Yoga for All Ages: from Babies to Teens

Yoga for kids is full of benefits for all ages. We know this already! It’s good for their bodies and their coordination. It’s helpful in keeping them calm and learning about self-regulation. Plus, it helps them focus in school, and be more active instead...

Classroom Management Techniques for Crazy Behaviors in a Kids Yoga Class

Classroom management for kids yoga teachers is hard, Just as it can be challenging for Specialist teachers, small group educators, or folks who see different kids frequently. Classroom management is hard for public school teachers, it's hard in a studio with kids,...

DIY Mindful Zen Garden Craft for Kids

A mindful Zen garden for kids is a simple and fun craft that you can do with your kids at home or in a kids’ yoga class. A Zen garden is an ancient meditation technique developed by Japanese monks to aid in mindfulness. They created large sand and rock gardens to rake...

Kids Yoga Sequences that Keep Kids Engaged

When teaching kids yoga classes, most of the time you want to get the kids moving and keep them active; a yoga sequence can be a great way to do that. You also want to give them time to relax, breathe, and feel calm. Finding a balance between the two can be tricky...

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein: A Free Lesson Plan for Teaching Kids Yoga

Ready for a free kid’s yoga lesson plan based on the book, The Giving Tree? It's an excellent lesson plan for anyone wanting to teach kids about generosity, friendship, and compassion. Scroll down for the lesson plan in the post. If you’ve never read The Giving Tree,...

Virtual and Social Distance Games for Kids Yoga Classes

Need some fresh ideas and games for teaching virtual kids yoga classes? Or moving to socially distant learning soon and want some refreshers on virtual or distance kids yoga games? Well, it’s still winter here in Minnesota, and still the pandemic. I’ve been meaning to...

Winter Themed Yoga Poses and Lesson Ideas for Kids

Do you need some teaching ideas for winter and the holidays for your kids yoga classes? Look no further! I have a huge list of ideas for how to bring the joy and love of yoga during the cold months of the year. Winter is officially here! Well, in Minnesota it started...

2020 Yoga Gift Guide for Kids – Mindfulness and Yoga Gifts

Want the latest (yoga) gift guide for kids with useful and fun gifts that help kids learn social-emotional regulation skills and self-care? Read on! Let’s be honest, 2020 has been a whirlwind, to say the least. Many of us have lost out on many things, and some have...

Must-Have Favorite Yoga Books for Teaching Yoga to Kids

Yoga books are a new and popular way to help introduce yoga to kids. *Post updated December 2020* I love using yoga stories in school, in my classroom, and at home with my nephew. Having an adorable and succinct story to teach kids how to do poses is a great way to...

How to Start a Blog: An Honest Review of “Launch Your Blog Biz” Course

You will be ready to start a blog after learning about this course. Can you really earn money blogging? YES. But you need to know where to start, you need the right resources and clear guidance. Here's where you need to start: 2017 was the actual worst... (At...

35 Simple Self-Care Ideas for the Stressed Adult

How do you care for yourself when you are too busy caring for others? Make sure you have a self-care routine, for starters. Back-to-school can be a stressful time. The same thing with seasonal transitions, pandemics, major weather events, changing jobs, moving, new...

8 Simple Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids

Sign up to get your Free Mindfulness Workbook below! Scroll down ⤵️⤵️⤵️ If you are aiming to raise happy, healthy kids, you might want to start to teach mindfulness to them every day. Why? It has been proven to help kids learn to focus, regulate their emotions, and...

How to Use Meddy Teddy Yoga Bear in a Classroom for Movement and Mindfulness

I don’t know if you have seen Meddy Teddy yet, but the most adorable new yoga tool on the market is even better than before. Meddy Teddy is a bendable, sturdy, and soft teddy bear that can do yoga! The first version that I got, last fall, was really cute and such a...

The Best Library Books to Use for Teaching Kids Yoga

I love using actual books for teaching kids yoga. Books that have yoga poses already included in the story are wonderful, but if you need a book with a specific theme for teaching a kids yoga class you might want to go get a regular library book. Most of my yoga...

Teaching Breathing Exercises with Yoga Poses for Kids

Kids Yoga and Mindfulness Breathing exercises are two amazing ways to help kids start to learn more about their bodies and their emotions. And when kids are feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or unable to focus, yoga poses with mindfulness breathing are an excellent tool...

Benefits of Ashtanga vs Hatha Yoga Styles

Yoga has benefits that go beyond just physical. Which style has the benefits you need? There are a variety of reasons why people practice yoga. It may be for stress relief, mindfulness, fitness, to help them wake up in the morning, or perhaps for spiritual reasons....

Online Kids Yoga Classes to do at Home (Free and paid!)

Kids need movement, they need connection, and you need a little time for peace and quiet. Are you stuck at home with kids? Trying to homeschool them or work at home simultaneously? Maybe you've already tried implementing yoga at home with your kids. It may be going...

Fun and Easy Kids Yoga Games to Play with Your Kids at Home

Having kids at home with you all day can be a lot, but playing yoga games at home can help. These yoga games are great for kids to learn how to do new yoga poses, or simply to get moving while stuck at home. In these current times of COVID-19, many of us are...

How to Start Practicing Yoga with Kids at Home

Can you practice yoga at home with kids? Yoga is supposed to be a calming, relaxing practice right? No interruptions, time to yourself, peaceful and full of good vibes only. Well…. Doing yoga at home with kids nearby (or completely in the way) can certainly...

Kids Yoga Story Lesson Plan Based on the Book Not a Box

Kid’s yoga lesson plans can be hard to create. I know because I used to spend hours every week planning and rewriting lessons for my students aged 5-10. I teach nine 40 min lessons a day, 5 days a week. That is a lot of planning! Now I write up lesson plans on a...

Effective and Simple Ways to Add Mindfulness to Your Kids’ Day

Simple mindfulness activities can be a key tool in the life of an anxious person or child. Honestly, they are helpful in an average person’s life, too! There are many ways to practice meditation and mindfulness. There are courses you take, retreats to go to and books...

Yogi Says: an Easy and Active Yoga Game for Kids!

I got an email from a subscriber recently asking for some ideas for the game, "Yogi Says." Now, I did not invent this game, either the "Simon says" version or the newer adapted version of Yogi Says... But I do enjoy the game and I have played it quite a bit with my...

How to Unite Yoga and Academics with a Growth Mindset

Teaching yoga and academics with a growth mindset I teach yoga in a public charter elementary school, and we have lots of standards for teaching, academic requirements, and plenty of standardized test seasons. Most of the time my Movement class is separate from all of...

Journey: An Active Kids Yoga Lesson Plan for Storytelling

Here's a way to get kids to move and be active while reading and being creative: a kids yoga lesson plan based on the book Journey Movement and literacy. Active kids and a love of reading. Yoga and storytelling. The first year I started teaching yoga at a K-4 Charter...

10 Quick Brain Breaks that Will Get your Kids to Focus

Brain Breaks are an easy way to give kids a little exercise without it seeming like work, and to give their brain a much needed break from the task at hand. Everyone knows how important it is to get up and move when you've been sitting. Not only for adults, but also...

8 Amazing Videos to Teach and Practice Mindfulness with Kids

Mindfulness is an amazing tool. It’s good for kids, and adults, and it’s quickly become a new catchphrase and a popular teaching strategy to incorporate into all classrooms and settings. Mindfulness is gaining some good research, too, on how it can be important for...

How to Make a Mindfulness Glitter Calm Down Jar

In this post: You'll find tips for teaching kids about mindfulness, how to deal with big emotions, and how to make a calming glitter jar with your kids. Calm down! Be quiet! Relax! Kids are constantly loud and noisy this is normal. It's nice to able to help...

Enticing Partner Games that Teach Mindfulness for Kids

Teaching mindfulness to kids doesn’t have to be to just boring sitting still and breathing; in fact, mindfulness games for kids are an engaging and fun way for kids to get excited about practicing awareness. It should feel like it’s something they can relate to. I...

Mindfulness for Kids: Clever Breathing Exercises for Kids to Calm Down

The use of breathing exercises for kids to help them calm down has been an absolute game changer in my teaching life. Kids need to breathe to calm down! Honestly, so do most adults, too. As a person who deals with anxiety and stress (like so many!!), I truly know the...

How to Play Engagingly Creative Yoga Games with your Kids or Students

Kids need to have fun but they also benefit from yoga. Do yoga games work? Kiddos need to be creative, active, and mentally stimulated. They love visuals, they enjoy being leaders (occasionally), and they like to try new things (sometimes!). How do I combine all of...

Animal Yoga ABC Poses for Kids! [VIDEO]

Kids love to pretend they are animals. There are plenty of ABC kids yoga poses to help them in this endeavor. In my kids yoga classes, I try to teach with a weekly theme. Most often we start with several weeks of animal poses, and we use the ABC's to help guide us....

Group Kids “Yoga” Games With a Ball

Need some rainy day games with a ball or indoor recess activities for kids? Want to learn the magic of silent ball on a rowdy group of kids? Or have you worn out the tried and true silent ball and need a new challenge? I’ve been a Movement/Yoga/Mindfulness teacher of...

Yoga Flow: Quick Yoga Sequences for Kids to Slow Down

SO you want to teach yoga poses and sequences to kids and help them learn to slow down, right? Kids need a little more FUN calm in their lives. Well, what happens when kids are just naturally moving and wiggling and jumping and crazy? When they move at the speed of...

Kids Yoga Lesson Plan Ideas for Teaching Gratitude

Is gratitude a part of yoga? Absolutely. Can you teach kids gratitude with the help of yoga? I think so. Many folks who teach kids...

Teaching Kids Emotional Awareness with “My Many Colored Days” Yoga Lesson- with Video!

My Many Colored Days Lesson Plan for Kids Creating a kids yoga lesson based on a book or story is a great way to teach literacy, talk about specific themes, and bring movement to your classroom! It’s also an excellent way to come up with lesson plans for kids yoga in...

How to Set up your Kids Yoga Class for Success

How do you set up a kids yoga class for success in any space: a library, studio, a tiny classroom, an open gymnasium, or a classroom with desks? I have some great ideas and tools to help make sure your children's yoga class goes smoothly wherever you are located. The...

Rain Forest Themed Kids Yoga and Literacy Lesson Plan

My students LOVE tree pose, so I came up with this kids yoga lesson plan based on the book, The Great Kapok Tree. This is a great lesson because you can encompass many themes based on The Great Kapok Tree: the junglethe rainforestSouth AmericaenvironmentalismEarth...

How to use Positive Praise and Affirmations for Kids in a Yoga Classroom

Positive praise and affirmations are essential in helping kids feel good about themselves and learn in a safe environment. As a kids yoga teacher, I have been using mindful language, positive praise, and affirmations with kids for many years. All of these have...

Mindfulness Meditation Games for Toddlers

Want to know how to get toddlers to meditate or how to teach your toddler mindfulness? Or know if toddlers can even meditate? This is how I taught mindfulness meditation to my three-year-old! I'm happy to present this guest post written and submitted by Jamie...

Why You Shouldn’t Believe these 5 Myths of Teaching Yoga to Kids

Learn why teaching kids yoga isn't as easy as you might expect. What misconceptions keep you from being the best kids yoga teacher? I hear this all the time: oh you teach kid’s yoga? How fun and relaxing! They must love it and be so calm and flexible! You must be...

How To Make Beautiful And Affirming Mindfulness Rocks For Kids

When you can make a fun craft activity into a mindfulness craft with positive affirmations and teach kindness at the same time ... that sounds like winning! AND when that mindfulness craft costs you less than $10 a kid you have a windfall. Painting mindfulness stones,...

How to Teach Yoga Poses to Toddlers and Young Kids [Video]

Teaching yoga poses to toddlers and little kids can be a real challenge, but is fun and rewarding! Imagine doing animal poses and making animals noises and reading books and chasing 12 toddlers to get them to do yoga in a big classroom. The biggest issue is...

Creative Halloween Yoga Poses for Kids

Halloween is the MOST popular holiday at my school, hands down. You can’t even say the word “October” without hearing squeals of excitement permeating the hallways. Needless to say, I used this Halloween excitement to fully take advantage of how motivated kids were in...

How to Start Teaching Yoga to Kids Professionally

Want to start teaching yoga to kids? How do you get started? Teaching yoga to kids has not always been a lifelong dream of mine. It was something that I kind of fell into on accident. I always knew I loved working with kids, but I also knew that I didn't want to...

Why Daily Harvest is the company you need to be buying fast, healthy meals from

Daily Harvest for Clean, Healthy Eating Healthy eating shouldn’t be hard. I have been on a hunt for a faster way to make myself healthy meals for a while now. I mean, who hasn’t really? I’ve seen the ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for a variety of companies...

The Best Yoga Games for an Amazing Summer Camp

Summer is a time for games! Can they be yoga games? Absolutely. Indoor games, outdoor activities, and hopefully lots of active games learned from neighborhood kids or camp counselors. I remember the days when I would wake up late, eat sugary cereal, and immediately go...

How to Easily and Safely Do An Inversion Today

I’ve always wanted to perfect an inversion. Especially since I’ve become a full-time yogi and yoga teacher. Headstand, handstand, arm balance, whatever. I loved going upside down when I was little but since getting older it’s gotten scarier and scarier. I’ve been...

Mauerbauertraurigkeit: a short story from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

I have decided to write a few stories based on these beautiful words from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Explicating our feelings and emotions is good for the soul. Sharing those feelings with the wider world can be difficult, but I believe it is of great...

How to Teach Yoga to Active and Energetic Kids

Teaching yoga to kids in elementary school be loud and crazy, those kids are full of energy! I never envisioned myself as a teacher, let alone one in a classroom of unruly, wild, and overactive children. Now here I am trying to teach them how to be calm by using...

The Miracle Homemade Remedy You Need to Kick Colds Fast

Last year I learned about this super simple homemade remedy for the common cold, allergies, or just feeling lousy. It’s easy to make, cheap, you can make it in advance, and it tastes great! Plus, you can add additional ingredients if you want to make it even more...

Self-Care Inspiration in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Ambedo

So the other day I was driving to Madison, Wisconsin to visit my very dear friends and their new baby. I was already full of feelings. I was on my own in the car, so I was listening to a podcast, a TED Radio Hour podcast, to be specific, and I heard about a wonderful...

Why My Cat is My Self-Care Savior

SO I was drinking wine and thinking about self-care tonight. I’d had a good day, I got some work done, my students were well behaved… but I was still feeling kind of crummy. I made Mac and Cheese for dinner and had a glass of rosé. #adulting. Maybe it was the weather,...

Tips and Tricks You Need to Know for Teaching Kids Yoga

Are you interested in teaching yoga to kids, but don’t know where to start? Have you tried a few times and it went ok but not great? Finished your teacher training for adults but really you just want to hang with kids? Have a child at home who could really benefit...

How to Calm a Class (or a Child) Using Mindfulness

Does mindfulness for kids work? Can it stop a tantrum or chaotic explosion in kids? We've all seen and heard kids having a tantrum. The heart-stopping, blood vessel constricting panic it sends me into makes me panic on the inside as well. Kids that are yelling,...

How to Pick the Best Cards for Teaching Awesome Kids Yoga Classes

The first thing I ever got that inspired me to teach kids yoga was an adorable set of yoga cards for kids. It started me on the path to becoming a full time kids yoga and teacher which I have been for the past 6 years. Taking a kids yoga teacher training...

The Best Poses for a Beginner Morning Yoga Routine

Do you ever feel sore and sluggish in the morning? Maybe low-energy, or just groggy? Hopping on your mat and practicing yoga in the morning is an excellent way to start your day. Yoga gives you energy, loosens your muscles, jump starts your metabolism, and lengthens...

How to Stop Hitting Snooze and Get out of Bed Happy!

This post contains some affiliate links. They are only for products that I have personally tried and 100% recommend. Clicking on them may generate a small profit for me at no additional cost to you. Kumarah Yoga is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates...

How Intermittent Fasting Improved My Gut and Brain Health

Diets are not for me. I didn't think fasting was either. As a person who has struggled with body image and eating disorders at times in my life, like many of us, I have tried really hard to stay away from dieting and the stress, pressure, and ultimately...

5 Fun Ways to Teach Kids Yoga in a Class

Teaching yoga to kids was an unexpected blessing that I stumbled across 5 years ago. I took a few courses on Kid’s Yoga teaching after completing my 220-hour RYT training. I was teaching at a preschool at the time and had fun teaching it to them in small doses here...

10 Reasons You Need to Travel Solo on your Next Adventure

Making the choice to travel solo was the scariest decision I ever made. I started my solo travels in college after I studied abroad for six months in Seville, Spain. I was nervous at first; I tried to plan everything and map it all out, which was helpful the first...

How to Use Storytelling for Kid’s Yoga

Storytelling with Yoga? It works! Kids are hard to control in a group. Teaching kids how to move their bodies in a specific way (like yoga) with clear directions is really hard, too. Imagine you have a whole group of kiddos, active and moving, needing something to...

Hello World!

Welcome to my blog about Yoga, Wellness, and LIFE! So, all of the things. Well, I'll try to focus in on the things that I am trying to better in my life. I am a yogi, a children's yoga instructor, a 220 hour trained RYT instructor, a photographer, a Mindful Schools...

Mindfulness for Kids

Kids need more peace, quiet, and mindfulness.