CINCINNATI — It’s been an overwhelming year for many and that means it’s been tough on our kids too. One former teacher wanted to make sure children are finding healthy ways to cope with their emotions.

​Ali Lopez has been teaching yoga for several years. So when she quit her full-time job as an elementary teacher this summer over COVID concerns, she decided to use her passion for yoga to fill her time.

“In this time off, I  was just home and figured why not do it online, everyone needs a little mindfulness right now," Lopez said.

So, she started with Little Beings Yoga —  an online yoga and mindfulness series.

“It’s an online self-paced course for the rest of it, which has mindfulness activities and growth mindset, social-emotional learning and all of that is self-paced," she said. "It’s video it’s all virtual, 100 percent. And then the yoga classes are live.”

Lopez teaches the kids how to do poses like tree pose, but also teaches them breathing exercises.

She says through her yoga practice, she’s been able to bring kids a new way to release their energy during a chaotic time.

“Obviously you find a lot of calm," she said. "And we have a lot of kids who are very active and it really, really helps to find that balance.”

Lopez shares there’s a lot of benefits to elementary children practicing yoga and mindfulness — increased creativity, motivation and better self-awareness.

“We focus a lot on growth mindset, social-emotional learning and just being resilient really, especially right now," Lopez said.

While Lopez says it’s been an interesting fall not being in the classroom, she’s grateful to be able to still impact children’s lives, even from a screen.

“I really, really miss the kids," she said. "I do miss the classroom, but this’ll do. It’s been an adventure trying to start your own business through this time.”

To learn more about Little Beings Yoga, visit Littlebeingsyoga.club.