It’s no secret today that kids experience stress. As yoga professionals and practitioners, we’ve no doubt heard of programs or classes for children. The class structure and presentation, though, can be challenging for many teachers who are trained in the “usual” styles of yoga and requires special skills and attributes to make yoga for kids relatable and beneficial for young bodies and minds. Kids yoga offerings aren’t as readily available as adult classes and it takes a special person to excel in teaching children. We are grateful to be able to offer top-notch children’s programming at the Dubuque Yoga and Oneness Festival as Molly Schreiber returns as the Family Track organizer and presenter. Molly Schreiber is a certified fitness instructor, yoga instructor, kids yoga instructor, Yoga Alliance continuing education provider, author, and owner of her wellness business Challenge To Change, Inc. Through Challenge To Change, she teaches total wellness through the practice of fitness and yoga, reaching all ages: child through adult. One of her inspiring contributions in the yoga world is the wave of awareness she has generated with her kids yoga programs and writings. She is the trailblazer of the kids yoga movement in Dubuque schools and has now expanded her reach to the Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin Tri-State region. When you meet Molly you immediately resonate with her cheerful, kind, and positive attitude. Her nurturing and caring attributes remind you of the person who might be your child’s favorite school teacher. Makes sense when you find out that Molly is an elementary educator. What you wouldn’t see, though, is any negative effects of the tragedy she’s endured. This tragedy, in fact, started a chain of events which ultimately lead her to her current life’s calling. A big factor in that was her conscious decision to change her life for the better from the challenge she’d been given. The sudden death of her husband left Molly a young widow with small children. In nurturing them and herself through this event, she found the emotionally and spiritually healing benefits--rather than the mostly physical benefits she had focused on--in her yoga classes. She found she didn’t need to be in just survival mode and could rise above the challenge. She named her business Challenge To Change because she “wanted people to understand that the power to change and live a good life is within us. It does not come from outside of ourselves. Each choice we make leads us exactly where we need to be, and knowing that can be very powerful.” "If every 8 year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation." |
AuthorKaren Kramer is a yoga instructor and festival blogger. Categories
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