“You just have to do a thousand experiments and if you call them mistakes or you call them experiments…it’s your choice.” ~Mira Binzen, Co-founder & Director, Global Family Yoga
In this episode, I talk with Children’s Yoga Instructor & Teacher Trainer, Mira Binzen of Global Family Yoga all about children’s yoga, entrepreneurship and following your dream.
THINGS YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT…
Why is yoga important for children?
Do kids & teens experience impostor feelings?
What’s it like to work with your family?
How do you keep moving forward when business drops unexpectedly and you can’t pay the bills?
And how do you keep it together when all your students turn their yoga mats into light sabers during class?
Get the full episode in iTunes!
Or listen on Stitcher (I’m looking at you, Android users…)!
Get more Mira!: MiraBinzen.com * Global Family Yoga * Facebook
“If you’re really going to share the practice of yoga, especially with children who can see right through you, you need to be practicing… and the heart of yoga is this balance of effort and surrender. You have to drive forward AND trust that there’s a flow and you’re an integral part of the flow.” ~Mira Binzen
LINKS & RESOURCES
How Yoga Helps – FREE 5 part video series on therapeutic yoga for children with specific conditions:
- Anxiety
- Autism
- Down Syndrome
- Sensory Processing Issues
- Attention and Focus concerns such as ADD/ADHD
Chill Children CD – guided relaxations
Anxious to Awesome – An Individualized Online Program For Parents with Children ages 6 to 16
Global Family Yoga – Children’s yoga certification programs
iRest Yoga Nidra for Adults & Children
Creative Space Retreat to NOLA with Andrea! – March 2017
“Have a lot of faith in your dream and don’t spend so much time with people who poo poo it.” ~Mira Binzen
Mira Binzen
Mira is a registered Yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance at the 500-hour level (E-RYT, RCYT), a certified iRest Yoga Nidra teacher and a professional Integrative Yoga Therapist (1,000-hour level certificate). She holds a degree in Child Psychology from The University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, with specialized study in Communication Disorders. She has been training people to teach yoga to children since 2002.
More on Mira….
As a developmental therapist traveling through India in the mid-nineties, Mira was exploring Yoga for her own interest when an ‘aha’ moment changed the course of her professional work.
She discovered the practice to be an exquisite way for both children and adults to integrate their sensory experiences while cultivating awareness, balance and openness in both body and mind. This initial insight sparked a passion that continues to burn brightly as she shares the timeless teachings of Yoga with students of all ages and abilities.
Mira found her spiritual home (and spiritual name, “Mira”) with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. In January of 1999, she received her 200-hour Yoga teacher certification from this school in Kerela, India. Later that same year, she found YogaKids International and became one of the first ten “Certified YogaKids Faciliators” (CYKF) in October of ’99. She went on to mentor and train hundreds of CYKFs for the next four years while working with founder Marsha Wenig to expand the training curriculum. Marsha commented on Mira’s time with YogaKids saying,
“Her commitment to excellence, her integrity, depth of knowledge in the field of Yoga and passion for its practice contributed to our program in immeasurable ways and I am grateful for her time with us. Her strong connection to the spiritual aspects of Yoga along with its values and traditions were an inspiriation to us all.”
Before moving to Chicago in 2005, Mira was 
a Yoga therapist with the Integrative Medicine Program at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital – the first and largest integrative children’s clinic in North America. (Click here to read a letter of recommendation from the founder/director of this clinic, Dr. Timothy Culbert.)
She continues to pursue the path through a dedicated personal practice and continuing study with Yoga luminaries Richard Miller, PhD, Yogarupa Rod Stryker and the spiritual leaders of the Sivananda centers and ashrams worldwide.
Her blend of playfulness and professionalism provides an engaging, safe and joyful experience for all. Her education, experience, and deep commitment to improving the lives of children and families are combined to create a training program of the highest quality.
This episode was mixed by Edwin R. Ruiz of Mondo Machine.
The Creative Impostor theme music was created by JoVia Armstrong.