What happens when your passion becomes your career?

Warning: This article may inspire you to make an immediate and powerful shift in your wellbeing and the lives of children.

It's all over the news. We are witnessing all time high levels of anxiety, depression, lack of focus, injury, disease, and suffering in our children. They have become an extension of our suffering as adults...but I don't believe it has to be that way. I believe we are all inherently happy and healthy. When stress became a way of living for me over 30 years ago, it ignited in me a passion to live differently. That passion has now become my mission.

The tools of yoga and mindfulness have been invaluable to me as an educator, trainer, and therapist for over 30 years. Since 1995, as an early childhood educator and school administrator, I have incorporated yoga into classroom curricula. Since 2013, it has been my full-time vocation as a yoga therapist to bring these resources to over 100 schools and community organizations in the DC area and thousands of children and adults nationwide.

There is so much research out there now on the benefits of yoga. A few of my favorite articles are featured on?The Science of Yoga , part of the new Radiant Child Yoga website,??www.ChildrensYoga.com .

I have seen children’s yoga reduce meltdowns and tantrums, improve focus and stillness, and bring greater peace and calm to children and adults. I have found the Radiant Child method to be particularly effective in aligning with the energy and needs of all children especially those who learn and develop differently.

In 2021, I learned that the owner of Radiant Child Yoga with whom I have worked closely to conduct and develop the RCY curriculum since 2013, was planning to retire. Having trained hundreds of teachers, counselors, parents, and health care professionals myself, and being an active part of the nearly 30 year history of providing the gold standard of children’s yoga through Radiant Child, I wanted to be sure the legacy of Lana Reed - and her deep dedication to helping children, families, and schools thrive through yoga — could continue.

So, in 2022, as I completed my Masters of Science in Yoga Therapy, I purchased Radiant Child. I have spent the past year applying scientific research, feedback from education and health care professionals, and the expertise of the Radiant Child team of trainers towards bolstering, reformatting, and enhancing the content and accessibility of the RCY programs.

I am excited to share that we have an all new 200-hour Family Yoga certification rich with experiential, fun, and practical learning focused on preparing you to teach yoga to all members of the family, infants to seniors.

The 95-hour certification allows participants to specialize in advanced continuing education focused on children, offering a tailored learning experience for each participant based on their unique interests, areas of work, and the populations they serve.

Not only is Radiant Child an approved Yoga Alliance education provider, we are also now a member school of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Our trainings are approved for CEUs by the Department of Education for the State of Maryland, District of Columbia OSSE, and George Mason University. We are also in the process of receiving accreditation from the American Association of Occupational Therapists as an approved CEU provider for OTs as well.

Not only is RCY more robust in evidence-based teachings aligned with the highest educational standards, but we have diligently worked to also make it more convenient, flexible, and affordable. By building a library of on-demand courses and virtual programs, we have put the scheduling and studying timelines in your hands - you can complete your studies as quickly or as slowly as works for you.

We also recognize that growing, practicing, sharing, and creating together is critical to sustainable education. We have ensured that our program participants receive just the right amount of personalized instruction, in-person opportunities for collaboration and community building, and mentorship.

And, we have expanded our training team and courses to feature some of the highest quality education specialists and yoga trainers in the country.

To ensure that this powerful programming is available to as many people as possible, especially brown and black educators, therapists and families, as well as educators of neurodiverse and under supported children, we have expanded the scholarship, work study, and vocational training elements of our program.?

Radiant Child has a tremendous legacy and history of enhancing the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and adults since 1995. We are now poised to support the evolving needs and skills of the next generation of schools, health care institutions, and families to be their happiest and best selves and to thrive with the help of effective, accessible, flexible, inclusive, and fun yoga and mindfulness tools.

We’ve just opened registration for our 200-hour and 95-hour teacher trainings and are in the process of launching our whole new learning hub for self-paced, on-demand learning.?

The only thing missing from our success is yours. I hope you will consider how you can be a part of growing this legacy.

Will you be joining our first new training cohort??

Will you start transforming the lives of children by attending one many Radiant Child offerings including Foundations of Children’s Yoga, Yoga and Mindfulness for Neurodiverse Children, Calm Assertive Loving Communication Skills, Functional Anatomy and Physiology, Yoga Mythology, Yoga for Tots to Teens, and so many more? You won't be sorry if you do!

I am super excited about the new direction in which Radiant Child Yoga is heading. I also know that we will be even better with your involvement in our growth…and that rich sense of community and collaboration is one of the most unique and treasured elements of Radiant Child.?

I am looking forward to providing more high quality education and health programming to children and the adults in their lives and to helping even more people stretch beyond the limits of anxiety, depression, lack of focus, injury, disease, and suffering to live their happiest and most fulfilling lives.

May the future be bright and joyful for you, me, and the children.

www.ChildrensYoga.com

www.CreateCalm.org

www.MondayMindfulness.com