Yoga for the real world means: classrooms, cafeterias, hallways, gyms — in collaboration with teachers — on a budget that works.
Thurgood marshall academy lower school
elementary, manhattan
Mindfulness push-ins
After-School
The go project
elementary, manhattan
Success Coach
75 Morton
Middle school, manhattan
Restorative Practices
The meeting house
elementary, manhattan
After-School
Thurgood marshall academy for learning and social change
middle school, bronx
After-School
PS 154
elementary school, Bronx
After-School
South east bronx neighborhood centers (five star, gwendolyn bland, blondell joyner)
universal pre-k, Bronx
Mindfulness
Art
$1 million to expand culturally responsive and affirming social-emotional learning (CRASEL) in Harlem
For the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, we’ll be part of a federally funded program in Harlem’s District 5 that seeks to elevate, prioritize and expand SEL, mindfulness and self-care. And it starts with us! Through a series of educator PDs, family and community workshops as well as direct service wellness days for our kids, we seek to fundamentally transform how we look after yourselves. Stay tuned as our team of instructors take on a task we’re grateful for: reach every student and teacher in Harlem’s District 5!
Continue reading about my direct service work in NYC public schools or learn more about my professional development workshops.
“Colin has been an amazing addition to the after school program at Computer School. He has an incredible kindness and genuine investment in our students. His versatile facilitation skills directly meet the needs and interests of our students. He works at a pace that is most appropriate for them to truly learn intricate yoga poses and to progress steadily. Most of all, the compassion and dedication he puts into his work is reflected in the skill set our students advance in. He encourages them wholeheartedly and shows extreme pride in their achievements.”
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I often reach over 200 students each week throughout New York City and I'm reminded of the need to be sensitive to their varying backgrounds and responsive to their diverse needs. In order for students to develop intrinsic motivation, especially those who have experienced toxic stress, they need to feel a sense of: autonomy, competence and relatedness. This is where yoga and mindfulness comes in.
After one cycle of our programming, milestones include:
In Pre-K: memorized yoga sequencing through song; understood and identified emotions such as confidence, loneliness and frustration; learned to still their bodies and focus on their breath.
In elementary school: led peers in sun salutations; memorized self-soothing sequences such as self-massages; learned to elongate their breath to promote calm and focus.
In middle school: explored the process of finding their own voice versus what influences them; demonstrated grit in working towards more challenging yoga poses; used breath to reflect on behavior and preparation for testing.
Using the Little Flower Yoga methodology, I aim to fill each of my classes with opportunities for students to:
1.
Connect to themselves and others around them by building a safe and intimate space that promotes compassion and relatedness.
2.
Breathe as a means to self-regulate and understand what grown-ups mean by “calm down”.
3.
Move and increase their strength, improve flexibility and work towards mastering yoga poses such as crow and headstand.
4.
Focus on one thing at a time in an effort to block out ‘noise’ – both literal and internal.
Relax to nourish their body with rest and develop tools for quality sleep.