Jenny Williams

Yesterday, Judy and I spent the day at the Rocky Hill School learning, connecting, and practicing at the 2019 Mindfulness Conference. We listened to three incredible keynote speakers who are doing amazing work in the field of mindfulness in regards to ADHD, the Providence public schools, and in their work with children and families. A highlight for us was meeting Dr. Christopher Willard - we follow his work and not only did we learn so much from his lecture but we got to meet him (and he signed our book! These are the things that excite PreK teachers, now we can share with our students this amazing book and tell our children that we even met the author - BIG NEWS for our “What did you do this summer?” opening meeting and it is still June ;)). We can’t wait to bring back to our students and colleagues what we learned. It was an incredible day! Thank you to Rocky Hill School for hosting, you rolled out the red carpet for all of us - we felt SO welcome and comfortable (including the delicious food). Thank you to the Center for Resilience for sponsoring and for all that you shared - our glitter jars/aka brain break bottles will be even better next year (and we loved meeting Vanessa and Kerry - so glad to make connections and new friends - we need to come visit you at the Center soon). And of course, to Pennfield School for supporting our passion and for helping us to grow and learn!

Jenny Williams
Bari Koral Family Rock Band

Bari Koral Family Rock Band

Bari Koral Family Rock Band

I love to receive mail. And I don’t just mean the electronic kind, I mean the kind that is delivered to my mailbox by my very friendly postal carrier. Today, I received a very special package from the Bari Koral Family Rock Band (well actually their PR person, Dana, who thoughtfully sent this package to me – thank you Dana so grateful you found me!). The package contained the CD The Apple Tree & The Honey Bee and a two-CD set (Rock and Roll Garden and Anna and the Cupcakes) with an Activity Booklet. What a treat!

As a yoga teacher that uses music, movement, literacy, numbers, breath and yoga poses in her classes with toddlers and young children, I loved these CD and the Activity Booklet. Here’s why:

The first page of the Activity Booklet talks about conscious breathing. If you can become aware of your breath you are doing yoga and if you can become aware of your breath in difficult or challenging situations you then have a tool to help yourself – how powerful for children (and adults).  For me, a woman that practices and teaches yoga to all ages this is THE most important lesson I want to share about yoga. And here it is on page 1 of the Bari Koral Family Rock Band’s Music, Movement, Kids Yoga Activity Booklet! Thank you for presenting breath as the first and foremost important piece in your booklet!

The rest of the booklet is so user friendly for teachers (of yoga or classroom) and parents. The top of each page indicates the song referenced and following there are curriculum ideas, instruments to use, yoga poses, or games to play while each song plays.  The songs vary from very energetic: Rocketship or Let’s Get Together to more thoughtful (where listening is key): Hearts or Backpack. Each song has a message and as an adult that has gone through a 200-hour yoga teacher training (as well as multiple children yoga teacher training classes) I love how playful, thoughtful and meaningful this music is. Some of my favorite songs (I dare you to listen and not get hooked – I caught both my thirteen and eleven year-year old humming these tunes):

APPLE TREE (From the CD The Apple Tree & The Honey Bee) – this song is about one of my favorite and most recognized poses – tree pose. The song begins with the tree as a seed and sings about all that is needed for a seed to grow: rain, sun, love and hope – isn’t this what we all need to flourish and grow? To learn more about this song including poses and movements to do during the song watch here.
 
HEARTS (from the CD Anna and the Cupcakes) – this song truly embodies all of the lessons of yoga in such a sweet, innocent, fun, and catchy tune. To fall more in love with this song watch the video on Youtube here.
 
HEY DUCKY (From the CD Rock and Roll Garden) –  This is a great song that uses counting, references lots of other animals (fun for incorporating lots of yoga poses while counting), and a bouncy song that is easy to learn to sign along. Watch here to listen to the song and get great ideas on how to use the song with young children:

For more about the Bari Koral Family Rock Band – check out their website at:
www.barikoral.com

BUT WAIT! There is MORE. The Bari Koral Family Rock Band will be in NEWPORT, RI on Wednesday evening, July 30th at 6pm at Fort Adams. Hope you can come out and join in the fun!