Yoga for the Balanced Child - RCYS Kids Yoga Teacher's Training
Awaken the child within and play, laugh, explore, learn and build a repertoire of instructional activities designed to explore emotions, physical awareness, health and fitness, environmental stewardship, social behavior and so much more in the Heartwood children's yoga certification program. Teachers, activities directors, child care workers, yoga teachers or anyone else working with children whose role is to support the growth and development of responsible, compassionate individuals will find this course comprehensive and inspirational. Theory, practice and hands on experience prepare attendees to effectively teach yoga for kids ages three to teen.
RCYS Children's Yoga Certification
This youth yoga training program includes 40 plus contact hours of theory, activities, games and goals for teaching yoga to children. The training is scheduled in overlap our yoga kids camp to assure trainees education is not just theoretical, but grounded in real life experience. Enjoy working with children with ample resources: children’s props, mats, teaching aids, materials and, of course, young students. This certification has a homework component that involves designing 3 yoga ethics or theme classes as well, which will be shared with your training tribe to build a syllabus of future class ideas (and which we hope you will share with students in your practicum).
This program is appropriate for anyone who wants to work with children - teachers, caregivers and parents, but yoga teachers desiring to complete the requirements to become RCYT (Yoga Alliance certified) must have the prerequisite of RYT-200 or above. After the 40 hours of coursework, yoga teachers must also do a internship / practicum to meet the full 95 hour requirements defined by Yoga Alliance.
Contact hours include:
- Child development and age appropriate yoga postures and activities.
- Games to reinforce self-esteem, camaraderie, self-awareness, compassion, environmental ethics, and creative thinking skills.
- Methods & themes to teach ethics, responsibility, and sensitivity for others through story time and positive discussion.
- How to incorporate sound, scent, textiles and art projects into the yoga class to enhance creativity and self-actualization.
- Class pacing, formatting and opportunities to promote educational growth.
- Behavior modification, instilling self-control and tips for keeping students respectfully engaged.
- Youth anatomy & physiology, and a review of medications and common physical or behavior challenges that make it difficult for many children to focus or interact successfully with others, with a focus on how yoga can forage greater holistic health and wellness. Overview of Downs, ADHD and Autism.
- How to involve parents and promote family bonding through yoga.
- Syllabus offering hundreds of exercises and class plans to support your teaching.
- Browse a huge assortment of children's yoga resources, books and materials available today.
- A practicum where we work with children, starting with observation, and proceeding to trainees working with a class under supervision and receiving feedback.
Heartwood Yoga Institute is a RCYS Registered Yoga Alliance Children's Yoga School.
Upcoming Trainings
Certification Course
June 3 - 9, 2023
June 21 - 28, 2024
Please be advised: The dates listed are full days of instruction, and students should plan to arrive the day before. Departure can take place the last dated noted after kid's camp ends at 3pm, or early the next day.
Course fee - $1295.00 - Lunch and Dinner is served during contact hour training (days 1 - 4) and lunch is served on last 3 days (release is at 3pm). The Heartwood kitchen is available for those who want to make themselves a meal or area restaurants are available.
Affordable housing is available.
For trainees seeking a practicum option
In order to join yoga alliance as an RCYT (registered children's yoga teacher) you must be an RYT-200 first, because this 95 hours in Children's Yoga Studies is considered continuing education and it is assumed you already have a basic foundational yoga education. We have plenty of people who take the training who are not 200hr teachers – they may be parents, teachers or just people who love and work with kids, and this is fine. You will still earn your children's yoga certification and have a great understanding of the goals and processes of sharing yoga with youth, but we want to be clear that a person can't register with Yoga Alliance unless they are first an RYT-200 and then complete the 95 required hours in this specialty yoga education.
There is also a homework component, which involves planning some classes for kids, which we share on a group Facebook page, so all the participants benefit by building a repertoire of planned theme classes and exercises. This concludes your requirements for certification.
A children’s yoga camp begins at Heartwood on day three of the RCYS training, so everyone in the course does have the opportunity to work with kids ranging in age from 4-12, do some class planning, and get feedback from the mentors. After the children leave camp, we continue our training with new material, and a chance to review what we observed or experienced in the practicum earlier in the day.
Teachers complete their full practicum requirement through working in our yoga camp to gain live experience and mentorship. The camp runs from 9am till 2pm, and after hours we give teachers feedback, discuss what did and did not go as hoped and help everyone learn from their experience. We have formal training hours from 7am - 7pm on day one and two, work the camp from 9 am - 2pm for two days, staying for additional formal training until 9pm, and the last three days, students only work the practicum in the camp from 9 - 3 with evenings to rest or visit the area. Checkout is Friday afternoon at 3pm after our organized work is complete, or arrangements can be made to stay Friday night and leave on Saturday morning for those who are traveling.
Children's Yoga Camp at Heartwood