How to Help Children Befriend Their Worries with Catherine Cook-Cottone

Discover how to help children understand, manage, and even befriend their worries using mindfulness, movement, and self-awareness. Join Giselle Shardlow, founder of Kids Yoga Stories, and Catherine Cook-Cottone, licensed psychologist, yoga therapist, and professor at the University at Buffalo, as they explore how anxiety shows up in children’s bodies, thoughts, and behaviors, and how we can support them with practical, research-backed tools. Drawing from her book “The Worry Monster” and decades of research, Catherine shares how mindfulness, yoga, and embodied practices can help children build resilience, regulate emotions, and connect more deeply to themselves and others. Some highlights: • The impact of yoga and mindfulness research in schools • What anxiety looks like in children’s behavior and the body • Why worry is not the enemy and how to build a healthy relationship with it • How emotions provide important information about relationships and values • Simple grounding practices like movement, breath, and body awareness • The importance of practicing calm before stressful moments arise • How repeated mindfulness practice becomes a lifelong skill • Real-life examples of helping children navigate anxiety with compassion Find Catherine Cook-Cottone here: Website: www.catherinecookcottone.com "The Worry Monster" book: https://www.amazon.com/Worry-Monster-... Timestamp: 00:00 Yoga in schools and research foundations 06:10 Publishing research on yoga in education 07:54 Finding purpose through self-connection 10:11 Understanding the role of worry in life 15:46 How anxiety impacts the body 19:08 Emotions as information about relationships and values 20:18 Helping children understand and work with emotions 25:16 Practicing calm and regulation in the classroom 26:38 Building mindfulness and self-regulation skills 32:36 Supporting a child through anxiety 33:39 Grounding techniques for managing worry 38:17 Understanding patterns in child behavior 43:02 Intentional movement for self-care - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For more resources on kids yoga: To design a customized yoga program at your school, check out the School Yoga Program here: https://www.kidsyogastories.com/schoo... Or join our Kids Yoga Stories newsletter for weekly kids yoga resources: https://www.kidsyogastories.com/sign-... ❤️WELCOME to the Kids Yoga Stories YouTube channel! We’re thrilled that you’re here. We provide a variety of free resources to help you bring yoga and mindfulness to kids. Whether you’re a teacher, parent, school counselor, yoga teacher, or school staff we have something for everyone including free videos, printables, teaching resources (available here and on our site), and a shop with 150+ yoga and mindfulness products for kids! SUBSCRIBE to the channel and join our global movement to help bring yoga and mindfulness to children everywhere!    / kidsyogastories   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 😌 Free How to Get Started Teaching Yoga to Children Mini-Course Are you looking to bring yoga to children but don’t know where to start? Our community is always asking for tips about teaching yoga to kids. In this series, Giselle shares her philosophy by detailing four steps to teaching to children, which are based on her experience as a certified yoga teacher, former primary school teacher, and mom. This series will focus on a mindset of “being” a kids yoga facilitator. We have to start from a strong foundation of our own yoga practice to make our yoga teachings authentic and meaningful for the children. This four-part video series will get you started and have you confidently teaching yoga to children today. Find it Here: https://shop.kidsyogastories.com/coll... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🧘🏽‍♂️🧘‍♀️🧘🏿‍♀️ Kids Yoga Stories, a mom-run and mom-operated business, was founded in 2012 by former classroom teacher and certified yoga instructor Giselle Shardlow. During her travels and time teaching grades kindergarten through fifth grade in Guatemala, Australia, Canada, and the United States, Giselle witnessed the need to address childhood illiteracy, obesity, and stress. She blended her passions of yoga, mindfulness, and education to create books, card decks, and educational resources to provide classroom teachers, school staff, coaches, and parents with the tools to bring yoga and mindfulness to children everywhere. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Connect with us: Facebook:   / kidsyogastories   Instagram:   / kidsyogastories   Website: https://www.kidsyogastories.com/ Shop: https://shop.kidsyogastories.com/ Amazon: www.amazon.com/kidsyogastories The Kids Wellness Podcast: https://www.kidsyogastories.com/TKWP