Creating a yoga practise that is a fun activity for your children

With the festive period upon us, and with these current times we are facing where children are having to spend more time indoors, it is more valuable than ever to create a mindfulness practise to keep children calm and feeling happy and joyful. 

World challenges

There is a lot of pressure in the world right now, that can make an impact on many people’s mental health and wellbeing. If adults and parents can take responsibility for taking care of their own health and wellness, children will observe this and see it as part of their day. 

There are so many ways to make yoga fun for children. 

Creativity

A highly desirable skill, creativity is a marker of success in the modern workforce. Creativity is a natural part of learning that is directly related to innovation. Bring your yoga poses to life by creating stories that can engage your child’s imagination while challenging students to creatively participate in the story.  For example, taking children on a Yoga Jungle Safari by having them warm up with their lion breath before they turn into magical yoga snakes and giant amazon yoga trees.

You can even create a Christmas edition, including reindeer, santa clause, and elves. It’s such a fun way to get children creative, imaginative and excited about moving their body and feeling good.

Emotional Intelligence

Yoga teaches self-awareness, self-regulation, and stress reduction. Students learn how to respond reflectively rather than reactively to life’s challenges. Yoga also nurtures emotional intelligence as students learn to consult their intuition when faced.

Relaxation provides students with tools to let go of stress and anxiety. As a physical activity, yoga also increases oxygen-rich blood in the brain, which improves brain function. 

What’s even better about yoga as a tool for parenting  is that it can be done on a mat or in a chair depending on your own personal experience with yoga. Check out Balloon Breathing, a simple breathing exercise that can be done right in your chair at home.

Breathing Exercises

BALLOON BREATH
  1. Begin seated in your chair. Make sure both feet are touching the floor and you are sitting up tall in your body.
  2. Place one or both hands on your belly and breathe deeply. Inhale, feeling your belly rise.
  3. Exhale, feeling your belly lower and contract.

Dealing with festive stress

Christmas is a beautiful time for most, a time for families to come together, if you’re lucky enough to still be part of one.

However, while family support and involvement can often be an important facet of wellbeing, in the short-term your family can be a cause of stress. The obvious example of this is political or cultural clashes caused by generational or even geographical differences, which result in tense atmospheres or furious rows over the dinner table, particularly in these polarised times of covid and vaccine debates.

Thing is though, even if there’s no obvious source of disagreement or even conflict, a prolonged period in close quarters with a lot of your family can still be stressful.

There’s the relative lack of privacy that comes from having your house full of people, a known cause of stress.

There’s also the weird aspect of regression. You return to your childhood home and stay with your parents with your siblings around, it seems like your brain “resets” and reverts to the schemas that governed your behaviour and thinking when you were in that context before (which usually bedded in over many years). Trouble is, you’re typically not a teenager any more. You often have your own partner and children with you. So now you’ve got competing perspectives in your head, with your “responsible adult” thinking crashing against the “subservient child” behaviour patterns. This causes confusion and uncertainty, yet another source of stress.

So…. how do we move through these moments of possible discomfort?

Here are some tips, to keep calm and have a fun and enjoyable festive period.

1 – Remember to breathe. If you’re getting triggered by your parent, sibling, auntie, uncle, partner. Remember to pause, take 3 deep breaths, and calm your nervous system. If it’s going to take more than 3 deep breaths, maybe excuse yourself to the rest room and have some me time.

2 – If there is competition between siblings, cousins, friends about toys, presents etc. Encourage them to share what they have so they can all enjoy the experience of these new items. If that fails, maybe offer up a team game that they can all get involved in to change the vibe and get them in a supportive mindset.

3 – Remember your boundaries around eating and drinking. The festive period can be one of indulgence, which is wonderful & we deserve to enjoy all the treats in life, with our loved ones. However, if you’re on a particular diet or health protocal, or trying to avoid alcohol because it just doesn’t serve you anymore, then stick strong with your no. You know what is good for you, and what isn’t and keeping the fam happy is not going to help you through your hangover anxiety or overeating stomach pain the next day.

4 – With that said, try not to guilt trip yourself for enjoying some extra cheese, or a slice of cake, or a tipple to celebrate with your family. Everything in moderation, life is for enjoyment, and you can always go for a walk in the morning to clear the mind and get your body moving.

5 – When someone is bothering you, instead of getting into defensive and irritable moods, try to look at them with compassion and remember the things you love about them. (Even if it’s just 1 or 2 things ;-))

Try to see them as the person that they are and that we didn’t choose our families, and we are all just doing our best.

6 – Lastly, if some tension or conflict does appear, try and take it back to laughter and joy as quickly as possible. ’tis the season to be jolly, so just try to enjoy the moments, all is temporary and many people aren’t lucky enough to have loved ones around them. There is gratitude to be found in every moment.

Have a wonderful festive period all, and thank you for all your support in the year of 2021!

Benefits of yoga for children

Benefits of yoga for children

For those of you have discovered yoga & integrated into your life, you will know just what a necessity it is in moving not only your body and stretching your muscles, but for clearing your mind, moving stuck emotions, and releasing any dense energy that may be stored in your body.

Knowing how much good yoga does for you, you can imagine what wonderful gifts it has in store for your children! I for sure, wish I had learnt these life skills at a much younger age than around 30!

Children’s yoga doesn’t have to be as structured or focussed as adult yoga, it can be used as a fun way of exercise and play. A friend of mine, for example, created an amazing children’s book based around yoga poses connecting to animals, to make classes fun and interactive. It’s a great way to get children in a group setting, sharing this fun activity and incorporating it into their daily routine from a young age.

The benefits of yoga for children are endless:


1. Emotional & mental wellbeing

Your child becomes more aware of how they feel and can connect easily to their emotions. Through the yoga, breath, and relaxation, they can connect with where they feel emotions in their body and how they can work through feelings into a more positive space.


2. Physical health and wellbeing:

Yoga is a great way to get your child moving and away from digital devices. Get your child away from a screen, from using their phones or watching online videos, get them moving their body and stretching out from sitting all day.


3. Tune up the brain!

Yoga can help their brain activity, activate meridian points to wake up the brain. This translates into clarity, ability to learn and absorb information better, keep calm in stressful situations or challenges and understand the benefits of good physical and mental coordination.


Most of all, yoga and mindfulness in children allows them to have a much more joyful life. We all know that life comes with challenges and by installing some mindful movement into your child’s day from a young age, it allows them to come into adult life as joyful beings. If events in their lives have already dulled their natural radiance, yoga can help them reclaim it and navigate life with calm, patience and compassion.

If you are looking for a place to begin with introducing yoga to your children, we highly recommend this wonderful lady.

If you would like to speak to us about our current projects and how we are making steps to make changes in the education system for children, please reach out – https://miracorreainstitute.com/wp-admin

Article by Lauren Bagley

MCI Creative Editor

Current location: Bali, Indonesia

The Importance of Mindfulness – For Adults & Children

Mindfulness, is this a word you are familiar with? Is this something that you incorporate into your life?

At MCI, we have pivoted our business model slightly to focus on what is needed in the world right now. Things are changing at a rapid pace, and although the past couple of years have been extremely challenging, it has also given us time for reflection in the ways that we can make a difference.

Time is going by and will continue to do so, we can either adapt and accept the direction in which we are going, or we can resist. By evolving with the times & being more aware, conscious & loving beings, we can encourage our children, nieces, nephews and the rest of the younger generation to evolve in this direction with us. We lead by example and now is the time to step into our roles on this planet.

Through chaos, there is always opportunity for growth.

If there was a way to potentially help kids pay better attention, display more generosity & kindness with their peers, perform better in school and be more aware of themselves and others, would you try it with your loved ones?

Social, emotional and cognitive functioning are intermingled, kids may have difficulty in school when emotional challenges arise, which in turn impacts learning.

If children don’t have the skills to notice, feel and work through their emotions, it will put blocks on their freedom of expression & creativity and in turn make them feel insecure & in fear of fully showing their magic.

In the book ‘The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, by Philippa Perry, she states:

“If you treat your child’s sadness, anger and fears not as negatives to be corrected but as opportunities to learn more about them and to connect with them, then you will deepen your bond with them.”

Can you imagine how it could shift the level of connection between you and your loved ones? Community living and blended families are much more common on today’s world and often a child will grow up with many adults around them offering them love, guidance & support. Within our community & our world if we are effortlessly cultivating these qualities between ourselves, we can enable our peers and younger beings to pay close attention to how we move through our own challenges, triggers and life’s ups and downs.

With mindful awareness we can all pay closer attention to what is happening within ourselves, within our body, our thoughts, our feelings and emotions and channel that into deeper understanding, deeper connections & authenticity. The time is now to speak our truth, to live and honest, vulnerable yet courageous & joyful life.

The expansive open-heartedness of loving-kindness and compassion practices is one of the greatest gifts we can offer to ourselves right now, and our children.

The foundation of loving kindness is being a gentle friend to yourself, no matter what kind of experience you happen to be having in the moment.

Yes life is a rollercoaster, yes some things are out of our control, but we have a choice every day on how we react to the situations we are in.

By placing wellbeing at the heart of our daily focus, we are making important steps towards a healthier, happier, more compassionate society.

If you would like to speak to us about our current projects and how we are making steps to make changes in the education system for children, please reach out – https://miracorreainstitute.com/wp-admin

Article by Lauren Bagley

MCI Creative Editor

Current location: Bali, Indonesia

What is flow state?…

2021 – We are nearly 8 months in, and what a year! Again!

It’s been fascinating to me how I have personally dealt with moments of frustration, grief, anger, uncertainty. It’s unsettling, and worry for loved ones is a natural response.

I have to say, I am super grateful for the skills I have learnt in previous years. In fact, I feel like everything was preparing me for exactly where I am right now.

We always have a choice, in moments of fear, anxiety & vulnerability – do we wake up each day to just survive? Or do we claim back our power and thrive?

It’s important for me to state, that I don’t declare we push away these feelings, very much the opposite – we embrace them, we welcome them, we find opportunities in the chaos.

A mindset that has been coming up for me a lot recently is ‘flow state’.

So what Is flow?

Well, it Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes it as what we feel when we are alive.

Involved with what we do, and in harmony with the environment around. us.

Lastly, he says there is a full concentration or complete involvement.

Flow state is probably something you have experienced without realising it. It usually happens when you immerse yourself in something you love so much that you forget everything around you.

But how does flow truly feel?

The feeling of flow state could be described as a personal feeling of ecstasy.

Flow state is awareness and action merge, you get out of boredom, you get into creative flow, but not with so much excitement that you don’t know where to begin and it launches you into a state of stress and anxiety. A good example is writing, you get your idea, you begin writing it.

Once your mind and action connects so deeply to the task at hand, you go into flow state and everything else phases out.

In the state of flow, you don’t worry about failure whatsoever. You keep working on the task that you’re doing until completion. There was a cyclist that talks about this in one of Mihaly’s talks:

“ You feel like…there’s nothing that will be able to stop you or get in your way. And you’re ready to tackle anything, and you don’t fear any possibility happening, and it’s just exhilarating.”

Personally, during the past 18 months if discomfort & chaos, my passion project, and also my day to day job, have kept me in flow state, kept me focussed.

You know that saying? ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’

In flow state, your insecurities fade away. Everything around you seems not to matter. Your relationship issues, the bills that are stressing you out, the unanswered questions on your monkey mind. In flow state – only the task at hand is in your focus.

When you feel good, you flow effortlessly, you follow your heart, you get in the zone of the task at hand.

Flow is in fact, fundamental to wellbeing and mental health, it gets you into a ‘flowy’ state where your tasks feel effortless, uplifting & joyful. The sense of time is distorted, you fully immerse yourself, you are more productive, you can complete tasks in much less time than something you are not enjoying and procrastinating over.

Flow is a concept that must be mastered because it can give you that extra edge while competing against others in your field of interest.

In flow state, your prefrontal cortex shuts down – your brain cannot decipher between the past, now and tomorrow. You are fully in the now, fully involved in the task in hand. Your inner critic gets silent, you are getting out of your own way. You experience full embodiment, your risk taking goes up, creativity lifts – you get a huge boost in brain enhancing neuro chemicals – your motivation, creativity & learning increases & you go into super power mode!

Be the master of your own ship, choose what you are working on, choose what you are putting your energy into.

Remember, you don’t need to survive, you can in fact thrive.

My passion is to create a business built on genuine compassion, care & excitement about human evolution. We can consciously grow, expand & change as little or as often as we wish.

If you would like to discuss ways in which I reached this flow state & a more empowered life, I am offering a free 30 minute consultation in which we can connect & discuss your thoughts, goals, questions, or simply have an informal chat.

Connect with me here – https://miracorreainstitute.com

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