When Michelle Faber founded Little Yogis a little over a year and a half ago, she had no idea what was waiting around the corner for her and her new business.
The yoga and mindfulness program found its footing by offering schools and daycares in-person lessons which helped improve children and teen’s physical, mental, emotional and social health — all while having fun. Faber was on her second maternity leave when she decided to create Little Yogis, as yoga and working with children had always been her true passion. Little Yogis gained traction and quickly grew into a full fledged yoga and mindfulness program in Ontario, with a team of eight teachers.
Pre-pandemic, Little Yogis was working with most schools across Toronto and the GTA to offer in-person yoga and mindfulness programs, but that changed overnight as the reality of what was happening due to the pandemic set it in and Little Yogis lost roughly 90% of their business almost overnight.
“I really thought, can I sustain this? Can I keep going? So, I kept pivoting and pivoting.”
Not one to back down from a challenge, Faber and her team embraced the need for change and began offering their program online to private schools, as well as virtually on their own website (you can find information on classes here). They also began selling teaching resources — which aim to help educators who may not specialize in yoga or mindfulness (or have any experience with these topics) bring these practices into their classrooms safely and successfully.
“I would receive a lot of inquiries asking me for advice about how you do this or how you do that — I thought it would be great to expand my business and share our teaching methods with others.”
Faber and Little Yogis now also have their own Youtube channel, where they offer pre-recorded yoga and mindfulness classes to their community — who, Faber emphasizes, have continued to desire the connection yoga offers.
“We are really hoping for this virus to go away soon, so we can get back into schools and continue teaching in person, because yoga is truly about connection - it's about breathing and connecting with other people."
With two young children of her own, Faber recognizes the importance of keeping children moving. She believes the pandemic, though stressful, offers a great opportunity to purposefully incorporate movement into your kiddos daily routine.
"When it comes to the pandemic, a lot of kids tend to hide their stress well. Even though they might not seem stressed, they may have a lot on their minds and I think yoga and mindfulness really helps them release that. Yoga helps them relax and let go of anxiety."
We’re excited to share that we’ve partnered with Little Yogis to offer free, bi-weekly yoga classes for your kiddos through the mini mioche Instagram Channel. These classes will be pre-recorded and available to you and your kiddos 24/7 — the perfect option to fit into your schedule (whatever that may look like at the moment)!
Michelle is on a mission to make yoga fun, engaging and interactive for little ones so each class features a different 'adventure'. Check out this week's class called 'Winter Adventure'.
Hit play now or watch over on the mini mioche Instagram page for future videos!
Do you have any questions or suggestions for the Little Yogis team? Please leave them in a comment below, we’d love to hear from you!
Check out Little Yogis' website: www.littleyogistoronto.com
Follow Little Yogis on Instagram: @littleyogisca
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