What School Leaders Are Saying

  • “I cannot stress enough just how powerful and important the principles of mindfulness, meditation and yoga can be for our students-especially during their formative elementary and middle school years. Our communities are fraught with young people who are in desperate need of meta-strategies to self-manage stress, conflict, and mental wellness.

    The inclusion of the Mindfulness, Yoga & Meditation curriculum to our academic program has been a perfect complement to our restorative practices. It has been a resource and tool for mediation and family conferences as well as for students who struggle with impulsivity, regulating emotions, following productive habits of mind, and negative peer or adult interactions.

    I believe the district should adopt this program and offer it as required mental health and wellness coursework for all students grades K-12.”

    — Nina Vick, Dean of Students and Family Engagement, The Crossroads School

  • “YCSC is a great addition to any classroom, camp or after school program. The founder, Emily, works tirelessly to ensure that her classes align with your intended curriculum and expectations. She is firm but patient when working with younger groups, and always communicates effectively!”

    — Julia Dimaio, Site Director, BRiDGES Bryn Mawr

  • “As educators ,we know the importance of teaching the whole child and SEL, Yoga and Mindfulness does just that. Daily the students learn and practice important skills and techniques that help them with calming down, staying focused and working with others. They learn to better understand others and how to work is groups. I often heard students referencing using the strategies from Yoga and Mindfulness as they worked through stressful situations.

    My favorite part of the course, however, was watching the 8th grades develop and teach their own yoga class to adults in the community. Watching them teach and explain the importance of yoga and mindfulness is a beautiful example to the importance of the program to the students as well as showing they have learned and retained these important life skills and strategies.”

    — Bethany Cochol, School Counselor, The Crossroads School

What Parents Are Saying

“Yoga has helped my son in multiple ways. The stretching and breathing techniques help prevent injury to him as an athlete. He is able to focus better and deal with aggressive situations more calmly, too.”

— Ricky G., parent

“Ms. Fleming has been an amazing asset to the personal growth of the minds, bodies, and spirits of my children and many others… Thanks for your amazing efforts and patience with our inner city youth whom of which may otherwise lack the opportunity to experience techniques to reduce stress, increase productivity, and so many more great benefits!”

— Jessica D., parent

“As a yoga student, my son has learned how to be aware of his emotions. He has learned how to re-center his thinking so that he can deal with issues in a productive and positive way. Before, he would bottle up, now he talks freely about how he is feeling and as a family we are able to guide him through tough times…As an educator and mom, I champion these yoga classes because I have witnessed the subtle yet crucial changes in my son’s emotional intelligence. I am truly thankful for this class and hope to see more throughout public and private schools. Please bring yoga to young people. They need it and we need for them to have it.”

— Simone L., parent