Interview: diversity and inclusion
A conversation about diversity and inclusion
Our theme for February is Diversity & Inclusion. Listen to our conversation with friend and fellow children’s yoga teacher and entrepreneur, SonJoria Sydnor about the importance of representation and inclusion in children’s yoga spaces.
SonJoria explains the difference between diversity and inclusion and offers ways that all of us can work toward making wellness spaces more equitable and inclusive for all.
This is an important conversation and I hope you will listen in and take SonJoria’s words to heart. Yogi Beans is hosting SonJoria for her signature workshop When Black Kids Do Yoga on July 16, 2023.
BIPOC scholarships are available for all trainings and workshops. Click here to apply!
SonJoria Sydnor is a wife, mother and author passionate about health and well-being. She is the owner of Our Family's Doing Yoga LLC, a parenting educator and certified yoga instructor using her knowledge and voice to empower families and increase representation of black families in the wellness industry.
Visit Our Family’s Doing Yoga for more information.
Find Sonjoria on Instagram @sydnorvillebooks
Book: Our Family’s Doing Yoga
Yoga Activity Cards
Interview: power of intention
A conversation about the power of intention
Lauren, and one of her closet friends Michelle, talk about the Power of Intention.
Michelle Morgan is a writer, director and sometimes actress. She has been working steadily in Hollywood for over fifteen years. Her work has been presented at the Sundance Film Festival, AFI and the Toronto Film Festival. She lives in Los Angeles and the mountains of Idaho with her husband and their animal offspring.
FInd Sonjoria on Instagram @sydnorvillebooks
Set the practice of giving
Giving and receiving is a year-long practice
Giving and Receiving is a Year-Long Practice!
The holidays are a time when giving and receiving is heightened; yet, how can we use this time to set them as year-long practices? We can teach children to give in ways that are non-material and also teach them to be better receivers.
Receiving with Gratitude
Have you ever prompted your child by saying, “what do you say?" after they receive a gift? Or find that you brace yourself when they are opening a gift, wondering what they might say? Hopefully it’s “thank you!” but for some kids it may be “I have this already!” or “I don’t like these!” Teaching children to be gracious receivers is something that we can begin quite young.
Here are 3 ways you can teach your child to be gracious receivers:
Begin a gratitude practice at home. This can be as simple as asking them at the dinner table what they are grateful for from their day.
Focus on the thoughtfulness of a gift, as opposed to the gift itself. Whatever the gift is, the person who gave it put some thought into it. With your child you can reflect on the time and effort it took the gift giver for their thoughtfulness.
Ask them how receiving makes them feel. Opening gifts is very exciting and can bring up a lot of emotions. After the excitement dies down, we can take an opportunity to reflect on how it feels to be given something. You can ask your child how it feels in their heart to be the receiver of a gift.
Giving with Grace
Giving allows us to communicate how we feel about someone. Giving with thought is a practice that we can teach children so that it becomes second nature for them. Here are some ways that we can give that goes beyond the material world.
Buy food and bringing it to a food bank. Many pantries will provide a list of things that they need that they are running low on. Discuss with your child the items that the food pantry is requesting, and then take them to the market to pick out what they want to give. Then, bring them to the food pantry so that they can give it themselves. Involving your child in the process from beginning to end allows them to take ownership and really feel proud of their action.
Help someone in your community. Think of somebody that your child sees often but may not know well. This could be an elderly neighbor, a new family on your block, or their bus driver. Together, brainstorm ways that you can help this person with a small act of kindness. For example, baking cupcakes, offering to help with house or lawn work, babysitting, or even a cup of coffee! No good deed goes unpunished and you can reflect together how it make them feel to give to someone in their community.
Invite your child to participate in the wrapping or cardmaking. Has your child ever gone to a birthday and didn't know the gift they were giving to their friend because you got it already? It's easy to do the shopping yourself, however, involving your child in choosing the gift, wrapping, or creating a card will allow them to feel connected to the gift.
As we enter into the holiday season, we can begin to weave in these practices with the children in our lives so that they become constant practices. Imparting these small acts is one gift that will be with your child for a lifetime.
Give Back
Yogi Beans donates a portion of its proceeds from teacher trainings to various charities. A few of our favorites include:
Appreciation: lead by example
On modeling gratitude and appreciation
Feelings of appreciation and gratitude lead to happier and less stressed kids!
We can teach children to honor and appreciate things we often take for granted such as the closeness of family, friends, food, and a home. Children learn by example. They pick up on the things that we do and say, just as much as the things we don’t do and say.
As parents, educators, and leaders who work with children, we can find moments throughout our day to model gratitude and appreciation. Most importantly, we can specifically acknowledge what we appreciate and why. This gives a power to our words and actions that children can model and call into action.
I Appreciate You Because
We can tell our children what we appreciate about them and their actions. Acknowledging when they clean up their room, put their dishes away, or help a sibling unprompted is an opportunity for us to show appreciation.
Here are some great things you can say to show your child you appreciate them:
Thank you for sharing what happened at school.
Thank you for brushing your teeth without being asked.
It was so helpful when you cleaned up your room.
You were so kind to that person at the grocery store. I bet they really appreciated your help.
Your goodnight hugs are my favorite part of the day.
As you begin to implement these phrases, notice how your child responds and if they begin to share their appreciation too!
Gratitude Journal
A novel idea for the holidays is to gift your child a Gratitude Journal. Below are a few links to child-friendly Gratitude Journals they may enjoy.
Interview: vibration of appreciation
A conversation about gratitude and appreciation
For November’s theme at the Bean Spot, I had the privilege to speak with one of my dear teachers and friend, Joe Noonan, (a.k.a.. Joebaby), about appreciation.
I met Joebaby back in 2006 when I swam with wild dolphins in Bimini, Bahamas. He is a person who vibrates on a frequency of joy, appreciation and love and I cannot wait to share our conversation about appreciation with you all.
Joebaby is a nature guide and dolphin whisperer who loves sharing the adventure of discovery, both inwardly and in our natural world. Thanks to his spontaneity and joy, he has an intuitive ability to help people move easily into a more loving and exuberant experience of life.
He loves sharing the joy and excitement of the dolphins, the ocean and nature with people of all ages and leads private yacht charters around the globe including Hawaii, the Bahamas & the Caribbean, as well as spiritually oriented nature retreats around the world. He will teach you how to swim, snorkel, free dive and feel more at home on land and in the sea than you ever dreamed possible.
Find out more about Joe’s work:
JoeNoonan.com
DolphinWhisperer.org