KIDDING AROUND YOGA, LLC
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

“It was such an experience. Not only did it open my eyes to Yoga for children and how it can have such an impact on their well-being, but it also deepened my own practice. It is often said we can learn a lot from children, and Yoga is just another example of how that is so true. Kids get stressed out too, or feed off our stress, and this amazing program can really help kids in need. ” Kidding Around Yoga, at it’s very essence, is stress management for kids. In addition to managing stress, Kidding Around Yoga can benefit kids in many other capacities. Here are just a few: Forward bends stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and are relaxing. They also help to massage the digestive system. Breathing practices are a great way to reduce stress and help with focus and concentration. They also help reduce allergy and asthmatic symptoms. School-based yoga helps to develop Kidding Around Yoga is registered through the Yoga Alliance, and certified Yoga instructors can earn CEUs through our program. For more information on CEUs “The founder of Kidding Around Yoga, Haris Lender, is such an inspiration. It is not often you go to a training and meet the founder, and much less, get trained first hand by that founder. As they say the ‘proof is in the pudding’, and just looking at her following, and hearing about her 50 kids (plus) classes she teaches to children of all ages and backgrounds, is enough to know that what she does, teaches and believes in, is something special. I love to hear her talk about the children that attended her kids Yoga classes, and now practice Yoga everyday in their college years..and thank her for it!” Haris has traveled throughout the world, including a 3 month N.O.L.S. (National Outdoor Leadership School) program where she climbed Mt. Kenya and lived with the Masai Warriors. She also completed a month long Outward Bound program in North Carolina. She was the president of the Outing Club at her University, owned a Laundromat-Pub after college and has had two Yoga studios of her own! Haris lives in St. Pete with her husband. All four of their kids are currently attending college. Haris spends much of her hard earned vacation time in either one of her lovely “tiny houses”. One is a yurt at the Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville in Buckingham, VA. The other is located close to Montezuma, Costa Rica.  Although she didn’t know it at the time, she has spent her lifetime preparing to create this imaginative style of Yoga for kids. Growing up in the Lender family it was a common occurrence to be thrown into a skit for the family business that might have any of the kids dressed up as a penguin, sporting a plastic tushy, or singing along at a huge convention or family reunion to a silly song written by either of her creative parents. During her 11 years of running Camp Yogaville and for the last 6 years at her own summer sleepover Yoga camp in Florida there are many opportunities to show off the skills learned along the way. Haris writes songs and skits, manages her counselors, teachers and kitchen staff, and has developed many more skills that have helped to create Kidding Around Yoga. Haris is extremely grateful to her teacher Swami Satchidananda, and to all of the Swamis, friends and teachers at Yogaville that have helped guide her over the years. She is also thankful for her parents who gave her the insanely creative ability to write songs and invent lots of fun activities for the kids, and her husband Evan who is right there by her side helping her with ALL THINGS KAY! We are also offering a weekly class at Haris and other KAY teachers can also be found teaching at Camp Harmony. Camp Harmony is located in Malibu, California. It provides sleep over camp experiences, as well as other enriching programs for homeless and impoverished kids in the Los Angeles area. we are certified through Yoga Alliance and can partner with you to offer Kids Yoga as a part of your curriculum. My name is Sarah and I’ve been teaching kids yoga for a little over a year. I decided to get KAY Certified to open up opportunities to teach elsewhere. The KAY training has transformed my classes. I was confident in my teachings before, but this provided so many tools and fill in the puzzle pieces that I didn’t even realize were missing and created a great flow for the children and myself included. I love the KAY program and am absolutely recommending it to any of my yogi friends wanting to take that leap to childrens yoga. Thank you Kidding Around Yoga! I stumbled onto KAY when I was looking around for ways to help my then 6 year old daughter. She was not doing well in school and in other areas and so our pediatrician prescribed Vyvanse. This is a common drug used to treat children with ADD/ADHD. My heart sank at the idea that I would have to medicate her as a way to help her function well in school and at home. There had to be a better alternative….and that’s when we found KAY. We discovered that yoga helped quiet her mind that seemed to constantly be on overdrive. She learned ways to calm herself when she was feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated. At nighttime, which was always a battle, turned into a pleasant transition with calm pranayamas, meditations and asanas that help her prepare for a good night’s rest. Kidding Around Yoga has a formula that works and teaches it to you in a way that is easy, clear and concise while keeping the integrity and magic that is authentic yoga. I have researched many programs to teach kids and while there are quite a few, none really compare in my opinion. The systematic approach is designed for you to succeed and allows you to even be a part of the company (for the business minded). The staff is absolutely fantastic, professional and always available and willing to make sure you are good to go. It’s a team I’m proud to be a part of even if we aren’t working side by side on a regular basis. I’m so blessed to have been able to afford to take the training. As a single mom trying to rub two pennies together, training was really affordable and that is hugely important. I went from rarely working with kids, just had a passion to help that demographic, to working with them and teaching the gift of yoga within a month of my initial online training. By the time the live training took place, I was set. I have invested a lot of time, energy and money in training for yoga, body work and energy healing modalities and consider myself a student for life. Kidding Around Yoga’s genuine approach and specifically tailored method of reaching youth through yoga in a way that is engaging, intelligent, authentic and FUN is truly a gift of which no words could truly do justice.