Live workshop schedule: 

• Friday - 6-9 pm
   
• Saturday - 9 am - 7 pm
  - includes observation of live classes for crawling-2 and 2-4 years
  - meal break at 1 pm

Support mobile babies through preschool-age children to build motor skills, language acquisition, and social-emotional development while connecting to their bodies in a loving way.

Breathing Space trains child educators and yoga lovers to teach life-changing social-emotional and self-regulatory skills through Yoga. Our child-development-focused approach enables instructors to confidently adapt playful, empathetic lessons to their student’s unique needs and interests and have more fun and less frustration as they build their dream program or career.

Our training is one of very few that really focuses on newly mobile babies and toddlers from crawling (about 10-months) through 24 months – the bridge between baby and kids yoga.

Yoga & Early Childhood Development

Yoga appeals to the natural skills, abilities and interests of newly mobile babies and young children as they explore their world,  enhance their well-being, and develop body awareness, self-confidence, and language skills. You will deepen your understanding of child’s physical, cognitive, social and verbal development as it relates to yoga for children from approximately 10-months through 4-years.

Crawling babies and new walkers have different needs and interests than their pre-mobile baby or older, faster, talking toddler peers. Tots are no longer willing to lie on a yoga mat but not yet able to follow verbal directions or engage in imaginative play, so what do you do with them in yoga class? This training focuses on teaching children in the transition between babyhood and toddlerhood.

As toddlers become more confident movers and their language acquisition and expression dramatically expands toward the end of their second year and into their third, their play and learning styles shift. Preschooler yoga incorporates much more imaginative play and narrative. Postures begin to resemble adult yoga poses but motor skills are still a major focus.

Because classes for toddlers and young children are often taught in a parent-child format, you have two sets of students. Learn how to teach lessons that reinforce yogic values for both children and caregivers.

Who Should Take This Training?

Anyone interested in sharing yoga with young children and their caregivers.  Activities are appropriate in groups, one-on-one, in early childhood education settings, and incorporated into adult-focused classes or support groups where babies are present. The training is appropriate for yoga instructors, of course, but also early childhood educators, medical professionals, physical, speech-language, or occupational therapists, family counselors, parent educators, and parents.

At least a year of personal yoga practice, including an exploration of yoga philosophy, is recommended prior to taking this training. For prospective trainees with less experience, recommended reading and practice resources will be provided.

Self-Paced and Live Experiential Learning

The training has multiple modules offered in a hybrid format: online self-paced, live online, and live in-person/online.  

Almost 20 hours of self-paced content includes child development information, several full-class videos of your trainers teaching tot and preschooler yoga, lesson planning, sample class plans, and photo resources for dozens of activities, and more.

During our live workshop hours, we will observe live classes, take part in demonstration classes, and practice teaching. We’ll also review and discuss the self-paced content. 

All age-based modules include access to the following online components:

• Introduction to Children's Yoga
• Child Development for Yoga Instructors

which only need to be completed once. Each age-based module has its own self-paced background material as well.

Completing the background modules in the self-paced content before the live workshop hours will ensure you get the most benefit from our time together. The module-specific online course includes 

Certification, Continuing Education, and Yoga Alliance Registration

Trainees who complete all age group modules and the advanced training course are eligible for certification (exam and video classes required) and may be eligible to register for the Yoga Alliance 95 hr Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher (RCYT) credential (Yoga Alliance approval pending). All training hours are eligible for continuing education credit through Yoga Alliance (contact or non-contact). 

Cost:

Registration costs $650 and includes:

• 20+ hrs of self-paced training modules;
• 14 hrs (2-days) of live interactive training with Jen Mueller, Breathing Space founder, and Jessica Lagarde, lead instructor and program administrator;
• A printable 100+ page manual;
• Lifetime access to the online resources;
• A Breathing Space Family Yoga t-shirt.

Discounts:

• Early bird registration of 10% off automatically applies until 30 days before the live training;
• Register for multiple live modules at 20% off (use discount code backtotbacktt23); or
• Pay for all 4 modules at once for 25% off.

Registration is by application. Learn more and find out how to get your registration code.