Group of smiling women posing together after a training, some kneeling in front

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Reflections after teaching Step 1 Training – See It From My Side

Written by Amy Haysman

It’s Monday after 3 days of grounding 17 grown ups in the art and design of teaching kids yoga Grounded style. I lean back in my chair at lunch, unable to carry on a conversation, and say to Sedef “I’m drained.” Instantly, my body recognized this as untrue.

Pose image for See It From My Side

I realize that, while feeling a bit sore and empty of words, I was oh so very full.

You see, our kids yoga teacher trainings are a culmination of decades of being alive, most of which have been spent by either being kids, acting like kids, listening to kids, teaching kids in the classroom or raising (outstanding) kids. We offer experience. You’ll be generously set up with tried and true original techniques and materials rooted in ancient yoga traditions.

Because of ALL the work and creative energy, love and purpose driven intention that we have poured into Grounded Kids Yoga since 2007, we’ve carved a space in this industry that attracts THE most whole-heartedly eager people on the planet.

This brings me back to feeling full… More like overflowing with enthusiasm for this work of teaching yoga to children.

Being with step 1ers has a special way of bringing me back to the beginning when words like chakra and Namaste were scary like having a crush and sounds of Crystal bowls and mantras were as unfamiliar as my own inner landscape.

I hear their questions and remember the urgency to make a difference and the wide-open possibilities because nothing was certain. I look into their eyes and remember when I too wasn’t sure that yoga worked and the utter amazement I felt each time, and time again, when it did.

It’s hard to say goodbye when it’s over. I’ve been whispered to in a hug or through tears more than a few times that this training was more informative and spiritually awakening than their 200 hour. And how profound it is to have the craving for a supportive, forward acting community finally satisfied. We stay in touch to put it mildly.

I share at the start of each step 1 that it is by no mistake that we are together; that this training would not be the same without them. While our training curriculum is down to a fine science, the main ingredient is Authenticity. We teach you to be yourself. Not an entertaining yoga teachy version of yourself, but your true self.

AND we teach you how to be a very skillful and successful children’s yoga teacher.

This is what fills me up. What about you?

A large group of adults and children sitting on yoga mats along a studio wall
Just Breath. Teacher leading the students and practicing what she teaches.
A teacher sitting cross legged with arms raised leading a class, pose cards propped against the wall
Lotus Breath reminds us that even in the darkest, muddiest times – we can rise up!

Adults and a child standing on yoga mats holding hands in a row

Thinking about your own Step 1? The full pathway and how to take it from anywhere: children’s yoga certification online.

More to Explore

  • The Ride of Your Life

    You’re Up Then You’re Down is in the Twist and Shine sequence of our Grounded Elevator Pose Series. In this sequence, the focus is on the Third Chakra located in the solar plexus, the core of your body. These poses challenge you to exert your personal power and strength of character. Self-esteem is born out…

  • LOVE as an ACTION in Middle School

    “LOVE has two polarities-conditional and unconditional. Conditional LOVE has expectations, which give us pain and joy. Unconditional LOVE gives us ecstasy, self-fulfillment, self-respect, self-esteem, and knowledge of our higher selves.” We connected to our lineage of teachings at Renfroe Middle, our training ground. Our Step 2 teachers led the way…. We rooted into our legs…

  • How to Bliss Bomb the World

    So you finish your practice~
    You feel loving and calm.
    There is nothing you dismiss~
    You are full of BLISS bombs.
    You rejoin your family~’
    And what do you hear?
    Shouts of anxieties~
    Blames, Shames, doubts and fears!
    Does loving-kindness deflate
    As you join the contention?
    Or will your blissed state
    Transmit without tension?
    Each time you experience
    The delight of {I AM}
    Your bliss will flow forth~
    Like a hydraulic ram.
    Embody the KNOWING~
    Of your inner LOVE state.
    So you can keep it safe~
    And INTERRELATE.
    YOGA says your relationship
    between you and your SELF~
    can not be diminished,
    or put upon a shelf.
    You take your SELF
    everywhere you GO!
    Then everything is spiritual
    from Grumps to Sloppy Joes!
    Lokanandah Samadhi-Sukham
    Shiva Sutra One.Eighteen~
    Your inner bliss continues
    Like you won the slot machines.
    So how do we GROW
    In our capacity for such LOVE?
    Without mermaids and unicorns~
    Blue moons and white doves?
    We create an INNER space
    Direct love toward KNOWERSHIP~
    Call forth our virtues,
    Our patience, our grit.
    We bridge the gap of difference
    SERVE in a profound way~
    Not cold duty or bargain~
    LOVE is the order of each day.
    Become capable with powers
    Of WILL, KNOWING, and ACTING
    By practicing {I AM}
    Without useless distracting.
    Place your hand over your HEART~
    Feel right beneath your palm~
    Towards your back body~
    Where this is endless peace and calm.
    Allow your attention
    To be with your BREATH~
    To flow in and flow out
    Softly in your chest.
    Welcome the BREATH~
    Right into your HEART.
    Feel a soft golden sun
    That is bright, warm and smart.
    With each breath IN~
    make that SUN glow.
    With Each breath OUT~
    Expand the warmth to and fro.
    As you welcome the breath in
    To the vast INNER world~
    Invite the HEART to reveal
    It’s largeness, depth, and swirl.
    Flow in with the thought {I AM}
    The mantra of the inner self~
    (Not I am Sam~
    Or I am a silly elf)
    The heart receives the breath
    With the recognition {I AM}
    The exhalation feels space,
    The experience of BLISS BAM.
    Practice with eyes open
    Practice with eyes closed
    Practice often
    And LOVE will be exposed.
    As you greet those outside~
    Amongst the chaotic and mundane~
    Stay tuned into your heart
    And send LOVE to their pain.
    You’ll get glimpses of KNOWING
    Your yoga is working~
    When outer frustrations
    Are shirking, not lurking.

  • Inspiration

    GROUNDED. (ADJ.)
    1. HAVING A SECURE FEELING OF BEING IN TOUCH WITH REALITY AND YOUR PERSONAL FEELINGS.
    2. A FIRM FOUNDATION TO BE INSPIRED AND INSPIRE OTHERS.
    Two weeks ago my Grounded class wrote letters of congratulations to Emily, who had just earned her White Bandana. She’s nine years old and lives in Atlanta. The kids in my class were amazed that at just nine she had achieved this. They were inspired. The letters they wrote were thoughtful, complementary and from the heart.

  • Dr. Suetra presents: Yoga Sutra of Patanjali 1.2 yogah citta vritti nirodhah

    Yoga is the stilling
    of the changing states of mind~
    The act and policy of
    No chitta* left behind.
    Yoga is the re-channeling
    of habits of the mind~
    Capacity for Contentment grows
    And Vrittis* get declined.
    Yoga is the resolution of
    the agitations of the mind.
    A uniting of consciousness in the
    heart of all mankind.
    Yoga is the settling of the
    mind into silence.
    Nirodha* the misconceptions,
    And ignorant defiance.
    Yoga is the deepness
    In the lake of tranquility~
    Out of the surface ripples~
    And into heart’s reality.
    Yoga is a gentle
    Process of release~
    A settling into the
    Natural state of peace.
    Each inhale think calm~
    Each exhale think peace.
    Favor these words~
    Your distractions will decrease~