By Julie D’Aloiso (Julie D)
All photos by Heather Pelko https://www.heatherpelko.com/
Once upon a time there was a mom who took off a year from work to spend more time with her kiddos. Read about Storybook Yoga and how the owner, Julie Ann Yoe (Julie Y) started her new chapter or you can listen to the entire podcast at the end!
Recorded: 1-10-2020
Julie D: I’m very intrigued by the name of your company: Storybook Yoga. How is this different than a traditional yoga studio?
Julie Y: I’m so glad that you asked. We are individually owned, we are not a franchise and we actually came up with the name Storybook Yoga. What makes us different is that we include yoga poses into a story. It’s not me reading a book. A lot of people assume that I start with the book and I might incorporate that in some of our lessons but I’m actually telling the story and the children are doing poses. The names of the poses are changed to match up with the story. For example, last night we did “The Wizard of Oz” and the class loved it! We were able to go through a brief synopsis of “The Wizard of Oz” and they were able to do yoga poses but at the same time literacy is involved during the entire lesson. I change my voice to act like the different characters but then they’re able to do it as well. It gives them a chance to talk. Sometimes traditional yoga can be hard for kiddos. We do the traditional aspect of yoga: to find your center and be quiet at the end. They really enjoy this because they get to be a part of it as well.
Julie D: So you explained how your yoga studio is different but go back and tell me how you got started in the first place.
Julie Y: I have been in the education world for 18 years. I am a teacher in the Euclid City School District. This year I took a leave of absence but I’ve taught first grade, I was a kindergarten teacher for 16 years and then I switched to second grade. We started doing yoga in class. I felt a need for it. I found with some of these stories I was able to still see the literacy aspect and also get the children to move. I really started enjoying that part of it and be able to offer emotional and social support to the children. I then decided after 18 years to implement this crazy idea to take off a year so I could spend some more time with my kiddos. I started thinking of how I would be able to offer this because it is unique and its fun. And that’s where it came from.
Julie D: How old are your kids?
Julie Y: Parker is 5 and Peyton is 9. They both attend Ledgeview Elementary school.
Julie D: Is the Euclid school system still incorporating yoga?
Julie Y: They actually partnered with another yoga studio and applied for a grant. I was voicing my opinion of how we really needed it so I think I was a strong voice in that aspect and was able to help them bring it to the schools.
Julie D: I know a lot of students are under a lot of pressure, and have anxiety. Yoga can help bring them back to center.
Julie Y: Exactly! In one of the things I started with my kindergarten kiddos is just breathing exercises. We just simply started with that so they could understand what their breath is. They really enjoyed it when I moved to second grade it was so much more fun because their maturity was there and I was able to do a little bit more. But I have to say though, I had a class this week with three year olds and they were absolutely adorable. I’m so excited this week alone we had 30 students in my classes. This was our free week.
Julie D: Tell everybody where you’re located.
Julie Y: I am in the Macedonia Professional Building. I am behind Howard Hanna, Primp Parlor and Mr Hero. It’s a brick building and we are down in the ground level. You just have to go into the building elevator and then follow the signs to the right.
Julie D: Is there anything else you wanted to say?
Julie Y: We have been doing some outreach. I’ve been going to the local daycare centers to offer free demo classes. I’m going to be working with young explorers and I also have a meeting with Hudson Montessori. I am working with different businesses in the area so I can go and show them what it’s about and hopefully bring more “littles” into the studio.
Julie D: I just like so many concepts of it that works so well together. This may help students deal with anxiety. Everybody has anxiety and everybody gets upset about things. I think it’s a good thing to teach kids when they’re getting upset, how to take a breath and how to calm down. I think everybody needs to learn that and if you can learn that when you’re young you don’t even have to think about it. Your body automatically starts trying to calm themself down and they have the tools to do that.
Julie Y: I agree! In every story that I teach there’s at least one to two coping strategies that they can take with them. I love that part of it. There’s always kind of a little story or moral or just a strategy that they can take with them and anyway that you can make reading a book fun and bringing a literacy aspect into it is also very interesting.
Julie D: How can they contact you?
Julie Y: We have a Facebook page: Storybook Yoga-Balanced Minds and Bodies and we are on Instagram: Storybook.Yoga.
Phone: 440-339-9825
Email: storybookyogabalancedminds@gmail.com.
Website: https://www.storybookyoga.com/
You can listen to the entire podcast below by clicking the green arrow.
