I have a wealth of experience in both Early Childhood and Yoga teaching.
I have practiced and studied Yoga since 1989 (Satyananda and IYTA style Hatha Yoga) In 1992 I acquired a Certificate in Yoga Teaching and in 1994 I received my International Yoga Teacher Association Diploma. I have been teaching Yoga since 1992.

I was Director at Mt. Warning Community Preschool for 14 years and incorporating Yoga into the daily programme seemed to happen quite gradually and naturally. I found the children enjoyed the Yoga when it was presented in a playful and imaginative way.

In 1995 and in 1999 I presented a 2 hour seminar, for Early Childhood staff,
at the Northern Rivers Country Childrens Service Association, to show staff how to incorporate Yoga into an Early Childhood setting. Staff members who attended my seminar in 1999 asked if I ever visited centres to do Yoga classes for the children. This was the beginnings of "Yoga for Kids", which officially came into being on the 1st October 2000.

Since February 2000 I have taught Yoga in over 50 Preschools, Primary Schools and Early Childhood Centres in the Northern Rivers area of NSW. In many centres and schools I run an ongoing programme that may be weekly, fortnightly, or twice a term. I now teach 8 to 14 classes per week during school terms. Over the last 7 years, whilst working at Byron Vacation Care I have been presenting regular Yoga classes as part of the programme, and for 2 years I ran private weekly children's classes at Byron Bay and for one year at the Brisbane Relaxation Centre.
I have had a very enthusiastic and positive response from the children, parents and staff who have participated in my Yoga programmes.

Since 2002 I had various articles on Yoga For Children published:

1. The Australian Early Childhood Association publication, "Every Child" Spring 2002
2. "Byron Child". September 2002
3. National Primary School educational magazine "Class Ideas: Kindergarten to Year 3"
November 2003 issue and a 2nd article in January 2004.
At present I am writing a Teachers Resource Manual and a Childrens Yoga Story Book, which should be available in late 2008.

Workshops I have presented:

•  January 2003: I ran 2 one & 1/2 hour workshops for Catholic School Teachers at their Conference in Brisbane , in which I drew parallels between the QLD Physical Education Syllabus and Yoga, particularly targeting Emotional Health & Wellbeing in children.
September 2003: 2 hour Workshop for the International Soul in Education Conference. “Childrens Yoga : A Holistic way to Nurture Learning”

•  February 2005: 1& 1/2 hr workshop for teachers & Yoga teachers in Sydney at the Satyananda Yoga in Education Seminar.

•  August 2006: 3 hour inservice workshop for the North Coast branch of Early Childhood Australia for early childhood staff.

•  April 2007: 2 & 1/2 hour workshop for Tweed Family Day Care at their Kids Link Inservice Conference, Tweed Heads.

•  November 2007: 4 hour workshop at Clunes for North Coast Preschool staff on how to integrate Yoga into their own centre programmes.

Since 2003 I have worked at Kingscliff TAFE in the Early Childhood Studies Department presenting a programme on how to nurture imagination and creativity within young children, and how to incorporate Yoga into an early childhood setting.

At present I am writing 2 books: one will be a Teachers Resource Manual and the other will be a Children's Yoga Story Book. I expect they will be available in late 2008. I am also working on a comparison of Yoga and the NSW Primary PDHPE Syllabus.

As well as children's Yoga classes, I have been teaching Adult Yoga classes in the Murwillumbah /Tweed area for the last 15 years.

I am particularly interested in working with a group of like minded people to help establish an accredited Yoga programme that will be included in the NSW Primary School Physical Education Syllabus.

I would love to hear from other teachers or parents about their experiences with children & Yoga so drop me an email. joanna@yogaforkids.net.au