Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

CHAPTER 13: SCHool-BASEd YogA PRogRAMS • 315

Program WebPage brief DescriPtion

YOGA for

Youth

yogaforyouth.org The YOGA for Youth mission is to provide urban youth

(grades 1 to 12) with tools of self-discovery in order to foster

hope, discipline, and respect for self, others, and community.

The program trains instructors and matches them with

facilities, trains teachers to work with youth to apply yoga

techniques, funds research studies on yoga, and provides

teaching tools for YOGA for Youth teachers and students.

Yoga in My

School

yogainmyschool

.com

Yoga in My School offers teacher trainings (and a

certification), books, classes, and programs for all ages;

provides manuals; offers webinars and training videos; and

sells lessons plans and provides resources for teachers. It

offers training for working with children with special needs,

young children, and teens. Founder Donna Freeman (2009)

authored a book, Once Upon a Pose: Doing Yoga With Your

Kids Has Never Been Easier.

YoKid yokid.org YoKid teaches yoga and mindfulness to children and youth

to support enhanced outcomes for life, health, school, and

leadership. Founded by Ellie Burke, MEd, E-RYT 500, and

Michelle Kelsey Mitchell, MS, RYT 500, YoKid offers yoga classes

for students grades pre-K to 12, as well as the YoKid 20-hour

basic kids yoga training, YoKid workshops (e.g., teaching

mindfulness to kids and teaching yoga to at-risk kids, pre-K

kids, and kids who have experienced trauma), and a 95-hour

kid and teen yoga training certification. The YoKid web page

offers an extensive set of resources and tools. YoKid hosts

the National Kids Yoga Conference (conference.yokids.org).

YogaKids

International

yogakids.com/

classroom-yoga/

YogaKids International, Inc., was founded in 1991 by Marsha

Wenig. The organization’s mission is promotion of peace,

health, empowerment, and education. It sells products,

offers training, and has a non-profit arm called Go Give

Yoga. The organization supports yoga in schools via its

Tools for Schools Program. The Tools for Schools Program

is designed for ages 5 to 12 and focuses on the whole child

by integrating yoga into the classroom. It sells a YogaKids

Toolbox that highlights poses, activities, games, breathing,

and visualization techniques. A 3-hour teacher training

shows school staff how to use the toolbox tools.

Yogis

in Service

www

.yogisinservice

.org

Yogis in Service (YIS®) is a not-for-profit with a mission

to provide access to yoga and yoga’s tools for stress

management YIS provides training for school personnel in

trauma-informed yoga provision in schools organized around

the 10 principles for growth (see web page). The trauma-

informed program is currently being implemented in the city

of Buffalo, New York, and is studied in Somalia and Kenya.

108 Monkeys 108monkeys.org 108 Monkeys is a non-profit that offers yoga as an act of

social justice as well as a 100-hour yoga service teacher

training. It partners with schools, after-school programs,

child care centers, mental health clinics, and more.

TABlE 13.1 Additional Yoga Programs for Schools and Youth (continued )

CEU, continuing education unit; RCYS, registered children’s yoga school.