Kids’ yoga offers benefits in school

By Robin Alberti

Cristy Murphy found her calling in teaching kids yoga. With a background in elementary education, she was introduced to yoga by her teaching partner at Barstow School, and she immediately saw the benefits of teaching it to kids. Giving students the opportunity to move their bodies and relax their minds during a demanding day in the classroom by incorporating yoga into their schedule allowed them to practice mindfulness and foster an environment for healthy body awareness, emphasizing strong bodies and living a healthy lifestyle, she found.

Once Cristy Murphy and her husband, Owen, started their family, she wanted to find a way to stay home with her boys, yet still work with children and give back to local communities, she explained. She had taken a workshop on incorporating yoga into schools while she was teaching, and decided to build on it. She began training to be a children’s yoga instructor. In the summer of 2016, she took a weekend long training course through Child Light Yoga in Dover, N.H.

“Once I started my yoga training, a sense of peace came over me. I had that moment when you realize, this is what I’m meant to do,” Murphy said during a recent interview with Mountain Times.

She has continued her education by doing a 200 hour adult yoga teacher training, which she said has helped especially when working with older children.

Her business, Kids Together Yoga, has taken off since. She is currently teaching classes in Stockbridge Central School, Sugarwood, Roots and Wings and Little Lambs Preschool, as well as a few childcare centers in the area and hopes to add more area daycares, schools, and studios to her schedule soon. For more information visit KidsTogetherYoga.com or call 802-558-3771.

Photo by Robin Alberti
Cristy Murphy teaches yoga to young children at Little Lambs preschool in Rutland.