I have a background as a primary school teacher and early years lead for the past 18 years so I am highly invested in the emotional development and mental wellbeing of children and this has always been a priority in my teaching alongside the required academics.

When my own son began showing signs of heightened anxiety 3 years ago at the age of 9, I soon realised that, in spite of their best efforts, his school were unable to offer the kind of holistic support that he was needing which would equip him to manage his anxiety moving forwards. I began to explore methods of mindfulness, breathing and meditation at home and soon saw the positive effects this had for him, and me!

When I happened across Mini Me Yoga one evening what struck me most about it was the sincerity of the motivation behind the programmes on offer…putting the wellbeing of children above all else. The mission to reach one million kids is inspiring and being able to be a part of this is a real privilege. Having spoken at length with Ashley Costello, it was clear that training as an ambassador was in my future and what I loved was that Mini Me do not just train anyone and everyone but the people who ‘fit’ and who are right for the programme.

My planned ambassador training happened to fall as the first lockdown hit the UK. This was swiftly and expertly transformed into online training. The online training was really great and being able to access it from home rather than travelling was an added bonus. Although I would have loved to have done this in person, I do not feel that the remote training hindered my learning at all.

Resources were sent out in advance with extra to follow throughout the training and the training itself was a good mixture of practical and theory with plenty of opportunity for discussion and questions.

Above all it was really really good fun – and this is at the heart of the programme itself.

Mini Me Yoga is unique in so many ways. What strikes me most is that, despite not being a franchise, the ongoing support and CPD for ambassadors is incredible. Help is only ever an email away, Vicki is always on hand with advice and suggestions on every aspect of the practicalities of running as a business as well as the programmes themselves.

The ways in which Kate and the team have continued to adapt and support our business during lockdown has been fantastic! Additional training has been offered, adapted to online and resourced to such a high standard. Having trained just as we locked down I was dubious that I could use the skills I had just learned – how wrong I was! My business and confidence has grown so much in the last 12 months and I am now able to offer such a variety of training modules both online and face to face (once we are able to). The comprehensive training and subsequent follow up support has given me the confidence and passion to reach so many adults and children including my own class at school along with all of my colleagues. I’ve even been supported in training my own kids club leader in the short time I’ve been an ambassador!

I am amazed at the vast range of experience and expertise amongst the ambassadors and what an incredible and supportive community there is within Mini Me. I love that our individual expertise are celebrated and valued and included.

The ethos of reaching the children and supporting wellbeing underpins everything that the team put together, it is evident in all we do and I am so proud to be a part of this incredible team. I look forward to the opportunities that might be ahead and couldn’t be happier to have Mini Me Yoga in my life!

Tuesday, 16 March 2021

“I started my MMY journey is September 2019, I had barely started my journey when we had to rethink what we knew. MMY as a whole has done an amazing job at adjusting to online. The free online trainings from other ambassadors were so helpful. I’ve always been a wiz with social media, but when it came to work I was unsure, learning what gets the best traction and how best to use algorithms was so helpful. As some who had never blogged before our blogging session was so informative, I came out with a new skill, I learnt not to think to much about it and that you don’t need to be a journalist to be able to produce a solid article. Learning how to teach kids online was the main technique I used, readjusting was a lot easier than expected, it’s not the same as in person, but it’s amazing how MMY took an activity that requires you to be present and active and adjusted it to online. Some of the learning I have done I haven’t got the chance to use yet but when the opportunity arises, I’ll be armed with a wealth of knowledge. I’m always learning knew things with MMY and I’m very grateful to be surrounded by so many amazing teachers with a wealth of knowledge.

“My ambassador training was amazing, I got to complete mine in person and meet a lot of the other ambassadors. My training was full of information and magick, learning all the different workshops. I was lucky to get so much advice. I got so many tips & tricks as well as a suitcase full of resources to take across the water!”

Buanann Rafferty

I personally got into yoga more during the first lockdown where I had more time to practise and learn about its advantages. Following this, I started creating a social media platform to share yoga practises with others with the same interest which gradually built into and aspired into the idea of teaching yoga for children.

After researching into the different platforms which offer training for teaching children yoga, I realised that MMY was best suited for me as I instantly liked and related to their way of sharing yoga in a fun and enjoyable way for both children and families. I really liked that MMY offered a variety of courses including meditation and foundation movements which were available for children, parents, teachers and practitioners. Following this, I instantly wanted to find out more and was connected to Vicki.

Though it may seem that online sessions can be technical and difficult, when everything is working, it works great! All my sessions with Vicki were very successful and it was great and easy to be able to receive all the training via Zoom. Starting with the foundation course, I instantly enjoyed all the ideas and suggestions which were a part of the 15 minute programme. Vicki introduced the course in a clear and effective way, especially as I got to practise each step and movement ‘as the child’. This helped me realise how the course would feel for the children or parents receiving the information.

This made the choice of completing the Ambassadors course easy as I wanted to be part of the team and share their fun and simple yoga practises with others!

I was lucky to trial the Mini Me Yoga movement cards with children of the school I worked in. This was a great way to take the online yoga sessions further with children and the cards were an effective way to introduce new movements, positive affirmations and chance to sequence poses.

I realised that having the cards helped the children remember the poses better and gave them the opportunity to sequence poses together independently (especially the younger children). This way, I was able to step back and watch the children experiment with different poses and movements in their own way. Some even felt confident enough to share their own flow with their classmates by referring to the movements as they went along. Additionally, the choices of different breathing techniques helped introduce different ways for children to think and treat their breath. This worked well especially when working with the schools theme work. Trampoline belly is a personal favourite to introduce yoga to little children as they enjoy using their favourite toys to balance on their bodies.

When I first introduced yoga to the children of the school in September, most of the children hadn’t heard of it or typically connected it to a ‘women’s sport’. Many of the older boys had a negative attitude towards practising yoga thinking it wasn’t the ‘cool’ thing to do. However, after a few weeks bringing yoga into the classroom as a daily/ weekly practise, the children
began to enjoy yoga as an opportunity to stretch the body and experiment with different movements. This gradually became a common activity within the school and the children, especially the boys’ attitudes started to change as yoga became another way to learn.

Normally, I would have difficulties settling a classroom full of excited children at the start of the day or after a play time/ gym lesson etc. Presently, I use some of the Mini Me Yoga techniques such as the ‘Shake out’ or breathing practises to get the children to direct their focus to the breath and body. This particularly works well with the most challenging behaviour in the classroom as these techniques gets all the children to do one thing at a time and settle in. The poses are also a great way to share how someone is feeling as the children get to do the pose that represents the way they are feeling that day. This has become an important practise within the classroom as I, and the classroom assistant can listen to how the children are feeling this day. From doing this regularly, I have realised that the children are more open to share how they are feeling and appreciate their emotions.

Equally, the meditation practise has helped us slow down at the end of the day and by now the children are requesting ‘time to colour’ mandalas as a way to end their school day.

Personally, I believe that incorporating Mini Me Yoga techniques into everyday teaching has developed the children’s attitude towards yoga, but also their breath and body, to be a positive one. By now, most of the children (even the boys who didn’t want to do yoga to begin with) are more open to try different things within yoga but also with new experiences in general. It is hard to say if Yoga has had an effect on attendance during the lockdown period.

However, the yoga online sessions always attracted many of the children compared to the ‘normal’ school online lesson. I’m glad that I was able to continue yoga sessions online through Mini Me Yoga techniques and am now looking forward to continuing the journey within the classroom and as my own business.

Cari Rowlands (MMY Ynys Môn/ Anglesey)

“I trained as a MMY ambassador in September 2019 and had the most amazing weekend learning all about the programmes and how they can support children and caregivers. I have also completed a number of free trainings from fellow ambassadors including how to set up and run holiday clubs, working with special needs, and using makaton signs with MMY postures – all of these have been really useful in terms of growing my business but also using MMY as a family. I have 2 children (aged 5 and 😎 and the MMY programme really helped us through lockdown – using our OM breathing to send love to family and friends that we were missing seeing, and using our shake outs and yoga poses to make learning fun. The mindful kids and meditation training also enabled me to create guided imagery stories for the children to help them adjust to the changes and these have since been published in a children’s book.” Kirsty

I attended the Foundation workshop for adults. I fell in love with all aspects of the programme and really enjoyed sharing the 15 minute programme with my own children. I saw the benefits Mini Me Yoga were bringing to our children and our family life. I wanted to share these techniques with other parents so I trained as a Mini Me Yoga Ambassador. As an Ambassador I was able to become self-employed and deliver workshops for adults and classes for children around the needs of my family and our children. The Ambassador “family” are amazing. Each Ambassador has a different background and experience, this means I am always learning and I have the support from them when I need it. I have learnt so much since becoming an Ambassador.

Feedback – I loved my Ambassador training, my initial Ambassador training was online which was really fun and time went by so quickly. At the annual conferences I have completed additional training with other Ambassadors which was amazing. When we are in the room together the energy is so warm and welcoming, we learn in such a relaxed environment. After all training (whether online or face2face) I leave feeling positive and energized and ready to share Mini Me Yoga with more children and adults.