Treehouse Yoga for Children has been serving the Chester county and surrounding area since 2014-2015 school year. Our mission comes from an educational philosophy of connecting the mind to the body. From wiggling their toes to crawling on their hands and knees; we are cuing them to think about each movement. When children connect their mind to their body this enhances body awareness and spatial awareness. Our curriculum is designed with fun themes for each session and focuses on new yoga postures. Breathe work is also incorporated to help them to self-regulate when strong emotions arise, yes this can be excitement too. Each of these components helps with focus along with a focus activity we use with props.
“Children’s development under the age of five is a crucial time to build in the foundational blocks. Yoga helps them to connect their mind to their body by bringing it to the basics and building on.”
Meet Our Yoga Instructors
We love what we do—and it shows!
Stephanie
Stephanie started working with children in 2006 in a preschool and then helping individual families help care for their children. She been practicing yoga for 12 years and has always engaged her children she works with in the practice of yoga. In 2016 Ms. Steph joined with Treehouse Yoga for Children. Stephanie loves nature and grow her love for the outdoors, hiking, exploring . She loves to incorporate nature into creative crafts and yoga with children.
Ms. Sarah
Sarah has been working with early childhood and elementary school children for over 20 years. Her journey began in 1998 teaching dance to children. Then in 2006 she studied yoga at West Chester University while earning her bachelor’s degree in education. In 2009 she had the opportunity to further explore children’s yoga and the benefits to children. As she traveled different paths, she realized she wanted to dedicate her life to sharing the joy of yoga with children. In 2014 she started further education with childlight yoga and began Treehouse Yoga for Children. She continues to enjoy teaching the younger children as her three children explore being teenagers
Our Curriculum
Curriculum Classes are built around a theme to be both age appropriate and engaging. Children explore and get to have a voice during every class. Treehouse Yoga instructors encourage children to use their imagination, with a guided direction toward the theme. Practice includes breath work, yoga postures, partner and group poses, focus activities and rest time.
Our Curriculum
Curriculum Classes are built around a theme to be both age appropriate and engaging. Children explore and get to have a voice during every class. Treehouse Yoga instructors encourage children to use their imagination, with a guided direction toward the theme. Practice includes breath work, yoga postures, partner and group poses, focus activities and rest time.
My 2 year old asks every day if it’s “yoga” day. He lives for this class. He has grown so much and learned so much from Treehouse Yoga. He almost has his handstand and knows how to vinyasa. We do it together several nights a week because he likes to show off! It’s worth every cent. I wish it was more than once a week.
– Heather
Benefits of Yoga for Children
Refine Flexibility and Balance
Yoga poses have been shown to build muscle, increase flexibility, and develop balance. Poses are done sitting, standing, or lying down and each pose is designed to focus on strengthening the body in various ways. Variations on yoga poses have been adapted for use in many other physical activities and can be seen anywhere from warm-ups before a sports game to ballet choreography.
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Yoga blends physical activity with breathwork and guided mindful activities to help children separate themselves from feeling stressed or anxious. Deep breathing exercises send signals to the brain telling it to relax. Yoga focuses on the present moment and encourages children to leave their thoughts and worries behind. With a relaxed body and mind children are better able to cope with their emotions, i.e. frustration, patience, sad, angry, excited.
Develop Concentration and Focus
When practicing poses in yoga children must clear their minds and focus on moving their bodies into the pose or through a sequence of poses. Children’s yoga classes often incorporate mindful games which allows them to build on their focus in a fun and entertaining way. A regular yoga practice will help translate focus from the movements in yoga practice to schoolwork and other activities the child is involved in. Sessions scaffold from the first to the last class, building repetition, patterns, and memory.
Create Mind-Body Connection
In yoga, kids are encouraged to tune in to their bodies and notice how they really feel in each present moment. They build this connection through simple movements like wiggling their toes. They will learn how their body, mind, and breath all work together to make them feel like their best self both on and off the yoga mat.
Encourage Sense of Self and Community
Kids yoga activities can be done as individuals or as group exercises. Through yoga they are taught to focus on themselves personally as well as how they contribute the the success of a group or community through partner poses and group poses. Through these activities they build confidence with their practice and who they are as a person. Each child is taught to have an “I can” attitude with poses, and are taught to not give up even if a pose does not come to them easily.
Get in touch!
Or call us at: 484.678.9269