Yoga for kids-Eindhoven

Yoga for kids

How / when did yoga come into your life? What does yoga mean to you?

Previously I worked as a primary school teacher for 23 years. During all those years in front of the class I discovered that my strength lies in personal attention. I helped children develop their personality in a loving way. But after all these years, that passion for me no longer lay as a teacher in education.

For me, the choice to no longer remain in education was accompanied by an exploration of what life is all about. Yoga also helped me with that. I am happy to pass on the lessons that I have learned. Thinking, feeling independently, being at home in your body; that is the basis. In my yoga classes everything comes together: guiding children, giving something that is useful to them, and above all, making real contact.

What can students expect in your lesson? What do you want to give your students?

At school I saw how children sometimes struggled to survive in our fast society. Many children experience great pressure from outside. In the western world they have so many possiblilities and things to choose from. So sometimes it is easier for them to go along with "what's popular" or to copy behavior. That is not always what is good for them. I think it is important that children learn to make their own choices, to set boundaries and to do what feels right and fits them. In short: that they develop their self-awareness. I stimulate them with yoga.

What do you do besides yoga?

The trips I make have a cultural twist, I like to read historical novels and often go outside to enjoy nature and the silence.

Which courses did you follow?

Children's yoga teacher - with Helen Purperhart, Jip and Jan Academie in Almere
Teenage teacher - at Arterre in Nijmegen
Children's therapeutic yoga - at Arterre in Nijmegen
Yoga for children with autism or AD (H) D - with Jo Manuel of Special Yoga Foundation in London (England)
Yoga for children with mental or physical disabilities and children with Down syndrome - with Jo Manuel of Special Yoga Foundation in London (England)
Rock and Water Trainer (basic training & primary school-wide) - Gadaku institute
Ashtanga Yoga teacher training (40 hrs) - with David Swenson
Children's Yoga Coach - with Lonneke van Elburg
Sherborne level 1 & 2 - at Sherborne Netherlands
Sherborne - Teamwork - with Hechter!

All the courses I have followed are worth a lot to me. But I found Jo Manuel's lessons in London very special. If you see what it achieves with the children, that is wonderful. I like to be inspired by it.