Teresa Anne Power has written (and self-published) a fabulous book called The ABCs of YOGA for KIDS. Long a teacher of yoga for the Kindergarten set, her “Aha” moment came when she put the idea of teaching poses to children at the same time as they were learning letters of the alphabet. Great idea, right?
How many of us let good ideas slip through our fingers by not following through? Not Teresa. She quickly came up with cute rhymes to match yoga poses; any yogi worth her salt can image “B” for Bridge and “T” for Tree. But, what would you do for the letter “E” or “Q”? It’s hard to read this book without slipping down to the floor to stretch out in a modified plank and imagine a “Dolphin” swimming over our backs. Child’s Pose becomes Mouse, and Upward Facing Dog is Otter. Teresa’s imagination and knowledge of yoga is prolific – “W” is for Warrior, naturally. But she uses it for three other poses (Waterfall, Windmill and Windshield Wipers). It’s infectious, and actually makes me want to roll on my back like a… Happy Baby!
Teresa knew there was a dearth of books on the topic, and that her book needed to be professionally produced to be taken seriously on Amazon, so found illustrator Kathleen Rietz to capture the spirit of her lyrical stanzas about each pose and printed the book in full four-color process. Here’s why self-publishing worked in Teresa’s case: she had the knowledge and expertise from a life spent practicing yoga, the commitment to complete the writing itself, and the confidence to believe that she could become the World’s #1 Expert in Children’s yoga. Her perseverance has already paid off – she’s sold thousands of books through a deal with the Scholastic Book Fairs, a marker of market confidence that has now led to a book deal, and the achievement of her #1 goal…her book is at Barnes and Noble!
Click here to buy the book from Amazon (a sweet gift, by the way), or here to buy it from Teresa’s website. She’s also created a poster (above) and yoga cards, and a coloring book – all of which are often used in adult yoga classes where kids are welcome.
What does Teresa like to do with hr kids around town? Theresa’s children are 17 and 19, a boy and a girl who are both active yoga practitioners. She and her daughter love to go to Yogaworks or Maha and get a smoothie afterwards. Her volley-ball playing son takes yoga for PE in high-school, and always comes home chattering about how people did their savasana in class.
What does Teresa do on a date with her husband? When they met both Teresa and her husband were doing Bikhram every single day. (She confided that Bikram himself was at their wedding)! Both still do yoga every day but not together, since both follow slightly different practices. A date is likely to be dinner and a movie, proving that Yogis are not that different than the rest of us, after all!
