Introducing Charlotte, Certified Grounded Kid…and her yoga perspective
I introduce to you, Charlotte, Certified Grounded Kid. This is her fifth year in the Fernbank Elementary after-school yoga club and is one of my greatest teachers.
Yoga
My name is Charlotte Walker. I have been taking yoga since I was 5.
It’s always been fun but I didn’t realize how important it is to me, until this year.
Most girls around the age of 9 start to notice things getting complicated especially in friendship.
Even if it’s not happening specifically to you, you still see other girls getting teased or left out for the strangest reason.
But yoga is a place where people can be theirselves not worrying about what others think.
It’s also where you can simply relax and think of the positives.
Overall to me yoga is a place where I can go, even after a rough day, to just breathe.
Charlottes Bio:
Charlotte Walker is your average fourth grade girl. After school she does gymnastics, reading bowl, and of course yoga. Charlotte lives in Atlanta Georgia with her parents, her brother, her sister, her dogs, and her rabbits.
{editor note: Charlotte wrote this. We do not find her ‘average’ at all but admire her humility. 🙂 }
If you’re grounded and you know it, are you happy? Wait, that’s not the song! We know how it goes – sing along! “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it then your face will really show it. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!”
As Earth Day approaches this year, I am struck by what it means to truly foster Peace on this planet. I remember as a child, learning about anti-nuclear protestors who chained themselves to fences and were forcibly removed and jailed. These brave souls became my heroines and heroes in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. I was moved to tears singing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and hearing stories of civil disobedience and the message of non-violent resistance. Later in the 1990’s, when I danced barefoot on my very first Earth Day, a lump would form in my throat when I celebrated each small victory (and the Gigantic Hearts) of environmental protestors who sacrificed so much to save a single tree and worked to preserve open space for our children’s children. Peace.
Hi, my name is Keira and I have been doing yoga for 4 years. It has been a great experience. Yoga has helped me calm down when I’m mad. Yoga makes me feel peaceful. Practicing yoga has helped me a lot by calming me down and making me more flexible. It’s fun learning new poses and helping others earn their bandanas. I wish I had started earlier. I had fun earning my bandanas, and if you do yoga, I hope that you’ll have fun earning yours.
Hi! My name is Kendall, I’m 12 years old, and I have been doing yoga for four years. In these four short years, yoga has become a huge part of my life. From taking a deep breath before yelling at my mom or sister, teaching friends for my green bandana, to even making up flows of my own, I love every part of yoga. I especially enjoy the way I feel after class and the feeling I get from helping younger kids earn their own bandanas. Yoga has been a steady part of my life, always helping me through a difficult week, a bad grade, or friend and family problems. I hope to continue to practice and learn as I get older.
We chant OM in order to ground our energy in the present moment. When teaching kids who are brand new to yoga, I am determined to invite them into the wondrous world of all that is yoga without pushing them into a place of spooky sounds, weird ways and stuff completely unrelated to anything they’ve ever known. This mantra is a mode of transportation from where we were in our individual lives moments ago to where we are now – together in yoga
Part of my practice is to create sacred spaces where I honor my guides, my teachers, a theme, what I am manifesting, what I am inspired by, and what I am teaching. This ritual helps me remember my intention, connect to the deeper teachings which I take quite seriously, and to myself {which I…
Grounded Kids Yoga 115 Milton Park Court, Alpharetta, GA 30022
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Grounded Kids Yoga provides in-person and online training, professional development workshops, and ongoing support for educators, parents, and clinicians. We specialize in kids yoga, mindfulness, social-emotional learning (SEL), trauma and pain management, emotional regulation, and impulse control for preschool through high school students. Each year, we serve thousands of children and teens through school programs, after-school enrichment yoga clubs, summer camps, Girl Scouts, 4-H conferences, and yoga studios across Atlanta, the Southeast, and nationwide.