Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Reese.
Beth, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?When my 6 year old daughter started hurling chairs at me in the dining court of the Salt Lake City airport, I knew something was up. I was used to handling her explosive temper tantrums in grocery stores, malls, and other public places—even though I sensed they were unusual for someone her age. But long gone were the days when I could snatch her up and move her to another area of the store or to the car, or shrug it off with an attitude of she’s just a toddler to the glaring shoppers.
A few days later, seeking consolation yet again amidst thoughts of am I really still talking about my daughter’s tantrums, a friend started asking what seemed like a few innocent questions. Little did I know these inquiries would reveal a whole new world toward acceptance, management, empowerment, and what has since become my life’s passion and work as founder of Yogiños: Yoga for Youth®.
Leaving our first visit with the occupational therapist we felt relief and a new reality. There was confirmation: yes, she does in fact have enough of the characteristics to be diagnosed with sensory processing or integration disorder, sometimes considered by many to be a spectrum disorder.
“There are times when the dendrites or connectors in your brain become overloaded and misfire. It probably feels like your body is a speeding race car without a driver and you can’t stop it,” the therapist described as my daughter leaned in, as if hearing an important secret. “You won’t grow out of this, you will have to grow into it. I will teach you tools and you will learn how to notice when the dendrites are starting to misfire, how to stop that, and how to keep from feeling out of control,” the therapist continued, using graceful yet direct language that I believe offered my daughter and me compassionate clarity.
My daughter and I felt immediate relief: she realized she was not a bad kid, but one whose brain worked differently; I realized that I was not a bad mom, and that my role had just expanded from just-a-mom to a life coach.
Over a decade later I see that was the tipping point. That was it. That was the moment. That was the proverbial light bulb turning on, and I got curious: what could I translate from my yoga-on-the-mat experiences to age-appropriate accessible tools off-the-mat for my daughter and her self-regulation toolbox?
Within days I created and taught her Flower Power breath, within weeks I launched Yogiños: Yoga for Youth®, and within months I led my first teacher training. And twelve years later my daughter, an award-winning filmmaker, started college at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Looking back at whether this Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® journey has been smooth feels like a question I would answer differently depending on whether I’ve had my morning coffee. Smooth? Bumpy? Steep? It’s all a matter of perspective with or without the presence of acceptance and judgement.
But we love a good drama, don’t we?
When I started Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® I was married to a brilliant and successful internationally-renowned trial lawyer with benefits like first-class international travel, sometimes for as long as a month, a condo in Park City, and a full-time nanny/housekeeper. I can count on one hand the number of times I unloaded our dishwasher in the ten years of our marriage. The adage that money can’t buy happiness rang true and with 4 cars, 3 kids, 2 houses, 2 dogs,1 cat and a desperate desire to feel enough, accepted, and loved, I ended the marriage. Even with a commitment to be the best co-parents ever—I’m pretty sure I have a book in me about that!—I was unaware of how my life would change and, in fact, how the work with my daughter and Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® would serve as my road-map toward discovering that the enough, accepted, and loved me was there all along.
While there has been what pop psychology would call greater awareness and development of the self, I realize that the biggest struggle in being an innovative business owner has been 3 very important factors: me, myself, and I. My search for acceptance sometimes gets in my own way. Examples of how this has impacted me and my business include letting other people’s criticism create self-doubt about how I was focusing on kids yoga as a career. I also allowed myself to believe that a program or training not working out mean I was personally a failure, rather than seeing it as a failure in performance or a circumstances beyond my control. I now notice when those thoughts and related body sensations are present, and try to practice my yoga on and off the mat to gain clarity and peace before responding to someone or something. And I am ever aware it is a life-long practice; while there is no cure or end to the questions of being enough and accepted, I have found there is also limitless self-compassion through distinguishing what my truth is and taking action.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
During one of our online trainings last year with faculty from City Year in Chicago and Philadelphia, we taught a yoga-off-the-mat tool we call “Hand Hat.” Here, youth breathe in reaching arms up and breathe out as they clasp hands together, resting hands on top of their head. It has the person look sort of like they are chilling after a competitive yet friendly basketball game. What is also happening is that there is a point on top of the head that, when pressure is applied, creates a ripple effect of calm and groundedness in the body. Moreover, to paraphrase educator Dr. Maria Montessori, when the student’s mind and hands are occupied, there is the opportunity for greatest success. Toward that end, Hand Hat offers acupressure for physical calmness and a shift in physical and cognitive awareness from the engagement of the hands. This can create a pause to empower the person to consider a thoughtful response rather than a habitual reaction.
Late that afternoon one of the City Year trainees called me to share what seemed like a miracle to him: a student and principal were engaged in a conversation that was getting heated. “The student was so close to exploding physically,” he shared.
The teacher continued, “and then all I could hear was you whispering ‘hand hat… try hand hat’… so I did! And within minutes the energy in the room went from on the verge of a fist fight to sitting and calmly talking.”It is stories like these that keep me and my team creating, implementing, evaluating, and revising. For over ten years Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® has offered classes, trainings, and bilingual, award-winning resources for kids, parents, families, teachers, schools, and others who work with children, along with a business licensee program to support others who want to create a similar and sustainable business. The resources include cards with images of real kids and directions in English and Spanish, activity books, music and posters that are perfect for classrooms and homes, DVDs, and an online resource site with everything from family-friendly recipes to interdisciplinary lesson plans—Harry Potter books through yoga are some of my favorites—to integrating mindfulness and yoga in chairs at school while test-taking and traveling during family vacations.
This Spring we launch new programs. Our podcast, The OHMazing® Way, brings mindfulness and yoga on and off the mat to teachers, parents and families. It features conversations with me and various experts including my daughter, heads of schools, urban educators, nutritional detectives, special education professionals, and more. In early May we offer a new course, Mindfulness and Meditation for Kids, Parents, and Teachers, as a result of feedback from participants who want to dive more deeply into these areas. We also have pondered offering trainings online for years, and are continuing to explore that, too.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
When my daughter and I were moving her into her made-for-2-but-houses-3- people dorm room, things got a little tense. Not only was it fairly late at night—we completed at 2am—but we also had to manage retrieving boxes from the mailroom along with navigating around steep stairs by finding a maze of interconnected buildings and elevators. We also were preparing to say goodbye. Twice during the evening she stopped in her tracks, turned to me and requested, “can we just do some Flower Power breathing?”
The tool that I taught her when she was 6 years old still brings her space to pause, calm down, and re-presence herself. This peaceful place empowers her to make choices aligned with who she really is and what she really cares about.
While Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® is a research-based, trilingual, mindfulness and yoga program offering all of the trainings, support, and resources stated above, the best and most important success factor for me are illustrated in my daughter’s self-regulation choices and with what I shared from the City Year teacher’s experience through the use of a tool—hand hat—to transform a moment, and therefore the future lives of those people, through a simple breath and movement. When we share these tools with someone, no matter their age, and the new action gives them access to a new way of being, that is our sign of success.
Being able to make a living from this work, along with providing resources and coaching so others can too, are clearly also nice benefits. Additionally, if after reading this article you are moved and inspired to to share my information with your kids’ schools and other organizations, that would also serve as a sign of success, too. Together, we can make a difference.
For more information and to register for our courses, trainings, private coaching and resources, please visit yoginos.com or call us at 361.563.7448.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yoginos.com
- Phone: 3615637448
- Email: elizabeth@yoginos.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yoginosyogaforyouth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/yoginos
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yoginos
- Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.
apple.com/us/podcast/the- ohmazing-way/id1458372901 - Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-reese-phd-b6a325180/
Image Credit:
Personal Photo: Jennifer Plessner
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