Mindfulness for Kids with Kelly Winkler

About Kelly Winkler: Kelly is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher and a 95-hour Registered Children's Yoga Teacher. She is a mother of four children and has extensive experience working with children, which has led her to become a children's yoga and mindfulness instructor and trainer, as well as a member of the team at Kidding Around Yoga, a company whose mission is to educate people on how to share the practices of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation with children.

Kelly also co-created Mindful Conversations with KAY, a podcast for parents, teachers, counselors, or anyone who works with children that discusses using research-based tools and strategies to help increase mindfulness, self-awareness, connection, self-regulation, and peace in your home or classroom.

 

In this episode Adam and Kelly discuss:

Kelly’s daughter’s struggle with anxietyHow the world is right now affecting our kids' developmentMaking yoga and meditation accessible to childrenA look at Kelly's mindfulness class for kidsKids, too, crave a sense of calm.

 

Key Takeaways: 

It can be difficult to figure out your child's thoughts if he or she has anxiety, but by practicing meditation, she can redirect her thoughts and move through this difficult time.With the advent of technology and with the outbreak of COVID-19, more and more kids are experiencing anxiety and struggling to connect with their peers and their families -- this is why education really needs to be at the foundation. To help children regulate their emotions and nervous system, they need to take some time throughout the day to practice meditation and mindfulness practices.Keeping yoga and meditation accessible to children means making it fun for them. If they enjoy the practice, they're more likely to stick with it and practice it throughout their lives, and they'll feel as if it's just a part of their toolbox.Children need to learn the reason why they meditate in order to be self-aware and sort of explore what's going on in their body and how they can use these meditation practices to feel more comfortable in their bodies in order to feel more relaxed, or more peaceful, or more focused, or whatever it is they are striving for.Provide kids with opportunities to release their energy in a safe and healthy way, and then show them how to find stillness in their bodies, harness that energy, and breathe and meditate as part of mindfulness practice.

 

“By doing some breathing practices and by showing your children that you can take some time for quiet and stillness, then we can share that calm with our children.” - Kelly Winkler

 

 

Connect with Kelly Winkler: 

Website: https://kiddingaroundyoga.com/licensee/kelly/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmomentsforfamilies/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.p.winkler

Email: [email protected]

 

Connect with Adam J. Weber:

Website: https://meditationnotmedicine.com/about/

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/easytomeditate

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meditationnotmedicine/  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPnbji9rDrCfxhY0W8sHL9A

Book: Meditation Not Medicine

 

 

Show notes by Podcastologist: Angelica Rayco

 

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.