Little Flower Yoga's work revolves around making sure that all of the children and families we work with have the tools to live their most full and free lives. When working with children in schools, we strive to help students achieve physical and mental wellness, along with providing a wide range of academic skill within a framework of movement and creative expression. In many cases we are working in schools where children are struggling, particularly with literacy, and we have made it one of our primary goals to incorporate as many literacy and pre-literacy skills as possible into our classes, giving children a new perspective on reading, writing and storytelling. In addition to school-based classes, we also teach many private family classes and classes for children that focus on emotional health. We have been fortunate to work with several organizations, including Sanctuary for Families and the Harlem Children's Zone, to offer private classes to families recovering from domestic violence and substance abuse, and these classes are designed to give students the tools for emotional healing, rebuilding family bonds, and embracing personal strengths. The final component of our work is our teacher training program and professional development workshops. We offer a 126 hour teacher training on working with children, with a youth development based approach that emphasizes the idea of "teaching through yoga" rather then teaching yoga. We also run professional development workshops for educators that teach ways to incorporate yoga into the classroom.
Extended Mission:
Little Flower Yoga specializes in developing engaging education based yoga programs for schools and youth organizations, and providing a multi-dimensional approach to addressing the interrelated physical, cognitive, emotional and social needs of youth.
 
Created by an educator, our programs incorporate learning goals throughout every class, and our instructors take advantage of the many teachable moments that occur in each session. Little Flower Yoga challenges students to learn in new ways, make connections, and recognize their tremendous capacity to achieve. We always encourage communication, creativity and laughter.
 
Little Flower Yoga grew out of a desire to see all children embrace their potential, and to help children live their lives with joy, secure in the knowledge that the world holds great wonders for them and that they have great gifts to share with the world.
 
To that end the Little Flower Yoga program has several simultaneous missions:
 
The first is for our kids to have fun! Nobody can force a child (or an adult) to “do” yoga, and in order to enjoy the benefits of the practice the child must want to be there. We do all we can to ensure that our children love their classes.
 
The second mission is to provide the tools to develop self-awareness, and enhance the physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing of students.
 
The third is to develop the focus and concentration skills necessary to enhance learning, and to incorporate educational activities throughout the program.
 
The fourth is to provide an environment of support and encouragement, where children can feel safe and respected, have the freedom to experiment with their ideas, and find enjoyment and success in a non-competitive physical activity.