Child’s Pose

Bring your toes to touch, separate your knees, extend your fingertips forward as you relax your forehead to the floor.

 Added Benefits

Opens hips and spine

Forward Fold

Separate your feet about hips width apart, hinge your torso from your hips, allow your head and arms to hang heavy. Bring the weight forward to our toes and place a gentle bend in your knees.

 Added Benefits

Stretches the hamstrings and back line of the body

Downward Facing Dog

Keep feet hips width apart and hands shoulders width apart, press your hips toward the ceiling as you encourage your chest towards your thighs.

 Added Benefits:

Stretches the hamstrings and strengths the upper body

THE INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT ANNOUNCES 29 RECIPIENTS FOR NATIONWIDE HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP

The announcement of the latest class of Caroline D. Bradley (CDB) scholars is always a big deal here at ÓÅÃÛÊÓƵ, and 2021 was no different. Last year, we announced 29 selections across the United States.

WHAT GOES INTO SELECTING A CAROLINE D. BRADLEY SCHOLAR?

Of course, interest at the very beginning of the CDB process is very high. Almost one full year ago, Bonnie Raskin gave applicants some additional insight about how a scholar is selected. It is sure to be helpful even to 2022 applicants!

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS

Our bite-sized alumni interviews proved to be very popular. In 2021, you especially liked our features on Valerie Ding, Caitlin Andrews, Sophia Barron and Scott Greenberg!

CDB CLASS OF ’21 – COLLEGE PLANS

When it came to college application season, our CDB Class of 2021 was incredibly successful. Here’s an accounting of where our talented scholars were headed!

BREATHING TECHNIQUES TO HELP CALM THE OVERACTIVE MIND

For those that needed a little help dealing with the year, our very own Nancy Kane used her professional yoga expertise to give some insight on breathing exercises. 

RESOURCE ROUND-UP: 7 RESOURCES FOR GIFTED GIRLS

We kicked off Women’s History Month last year with this handy post detailing links parents of gifted girls can check out. It’s got everything from essay contests to summer programs and more!

UNDERSTANDING SCREEN TIME AND GAMING FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

A lot of families are, understandably, interested in how video games and screen time can best be fit into their child’s schedule. In this post, we try to add some insight and provide resources for making these decisions.

COMICS FOR LITERACY

Comics are a fun, engaging and deep genre of literature. They’re also ideal for children at all reading levels! Here are some reading recommendations we made last year.

HOW TO FRAME PRAISE FOR CREATIVE YOUTH

There’s a lot of nuance in how you can give a child praise. In this post, we try to convey and expand upon a lesson learned in How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Adele King.

SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL WELL BEING AMIDST THE PANDEMIC

The pandemic remains top of mind for many of us, and we want the community to know we’re here for support. In this post, we’ve curated a list of resources that might help with coping with the various stresses and uncertainties: podcasts, blogs, books and more. They’re strong resources for all kinds of heightened and tense feelings.

Thanks to everyone for reading our blog in 2021. We’re certain you’ll love what we have in store for the coming year.

Yunasa campers have started their day off with yoga for 20 years. Senior Program Coordinator, Qiao Li, has seen the benefits of yoga firsthand on our gifted campers and how it sets them up for success for the rest of the day. Because gifted children tend to receive stimuli more intensely () it is essential to find ways to connect the mind, body, and spirit to help ground them and give them tools to focus and relax. Li says that practicing yoga for half an hour settles the overactive mind typically found in gifted children and helps campers to welcome the day with a balanced mind and body. She says that sometimes they are so relaxed that they fall asleep in Savasana, corpse pose, the final resting posture of a yoga practice.

Yoga means to join, or to yoke, or to unite. Most yogis agree that through yoga, we can find a union of mind, body, and spirit through pranayama, breath, and the asanas, postures. Through this connection, we can calm the active mind and bring peace to the body. Controlled breathing techniques help signal the nervous system to calm down. The inhale is linked to the sympathetic nervous system or our fight-or-flight response, and the exhale is connected to the parasympathetic nervous system, our body’s relaxation system.

Consider practicing this simple breathing technique with your child the next time you like them to slow down.  While sitting in a comfortable position with eyes closed, inhale for 4 seconds and hold at the top for 2 seconds. Then exhale to a count of 6 and hold at the bottom for 2 seconds. Repeat several times and focus on expanding and emptying the belly with the breath. The circular nature of the technique gives the mind something to focus on, and the longer exhale gives the parasympathetic nervous system time to calm down.

Added benefits of breathing techniques are you are giving your body a chance to recuperate and heal. They promote less stress and better digestion. And deeper focused breathing helps to bring more awareness to the present moment.

We would love to hear in the comments how yoga and breathing techniques help support your child’s ability to focus and relax.