Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Lyn Castaño.
Jamie, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have always had a desire to connect. What I connect to has changed over time. As a child, I dreamed of being a “pretzel man” – the person who stands on the corner of a street selling delicious, hot pretzels to strangers – connecting through a common love for something good. I then wanted to be a flower delivery person, connecting with a smile to the recipient when they saw a beautiful flower arrangement arrive at their door.
As I continued my journey through education, I began to see that the need for connection develop into a deeper meaning. Children. Connecting with children. Even as a teenager and young adult, I was always volunteering and working with children. I was a mentor for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, volunteering in schools as reading aides and teacher assistants, working as a peer helper with troubled youth, to name a few. I was driven by the quote by Forest E. Witcraft – “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” This personal motto or life goal, helped me to find and pursue a Master’s Degree in Social Work, which took me down a path of helping others develop connections for themselves. I began working for the State of Colorado, providing intensive in-home therapy to help children and families work to stay together through tough times. Eventually, I landed in Kansas City for my “dream job” as a social worker in an inner-city elementary school. I remember, at that time, feeling connected to myself in a way that allowed my personal past experiences to help drive the work I was doing. Then I had children of my own – and this new connection was easy. Connecting to and providing a safe environment for our children was a passion for me.
At this time, my husband was relocated to Columbus, Georgia for work. It was a difficult move for me, leaving all of my “connections” behind. I struggled to find what my next connection would be, while also trying to ensure my family and their connections were on solid ground with new schools, new neighborhoods, and new friends. As their connections were forming, I felt the opposite. It was hard to find connections for me. Until I found River Flow Yoga and Wellness and unbeknownst to me, I found my next connection. The practices and traditions of yoga transformed me. I couldn’t get enough. I went to classes and workshops and read and studied to find out all I could about this ancient tradition that helped me feel so connected to myself. Soon after, I completed the 200 hr. Yoga Teacher Training. I realized that I could use the practice of yoga to connect two things I care deeply about – the practice of yoga and making the difference in the life of a child. In a world where our children are constantly struggling with anxiety and other mental health issues daily, I realized that yoga is the strength-based tool that can inspire children to learn and discover more about themselves.
I started volunteering and leading children in schools, parks and homes to practice yoga and mindfulness. Inspiring them to pause and come back to the present moment by doing one, vital and simple thing breathing. It was there my son (4 at the time) said: “so in yoga, you Just Breathe!”
Which is where my company, Just Breathe, was found. Coupling my social work education and experience with the vast traditions of yoga, I have created Just Breathe kids yoga, where I am enough. A kids yoga movement that brings yoga and mindfulness to children, one breath at a time. I believe in the name like a motto, a mantra, that reminds me – and all of us – to take a breath, be present, and thus to be mindful. It is truly life changing what we can create when we allow ourselves to come back to the present moment, pause and breathe. Just Breathe kids yoga inspires kids all over the area to pause, breathe and connect with themselves, each other and all that surrounds them. In every single Just Breathe kids yoga class, our children are reminded that they are enough, exactly as they are.
Just Breathe kids yoga, where I am enough!
Pleases tell us about your work.
Just Breathe Kids Yoga has started a yoga and mindfulness movement in the South. It is our mission to bring the practice of yoga and mindfulness to children everywhere, one breath at a time. Our yoga classes for children focus on one thing – being the best version of yourself. There is no right or wrong, no perfect, no one size fits all. It is a discovery path for children to understand and learn how to pause, breathe and look within. Our classes are set up like tribes – we begin each class entering the space together and then looking at each other in the eyes, greeting each other by name. Because, like magic, this simple act rounds the corners of each yogi’s lips…every single time. As a tribe, we come together and learn how to accept, challenge, work, support, guide and love each other for our similarities and our differences.
What makes Just Breathe kids yoga unique is the combination of my background in social work and extensive work in schools with the practice and traditions of yoga and mindfulness. Every Just Breathe kids yoga class has a theme. Each theme is relevant to a life skill that all children will benefit from learning and practicing. Themes like “I am ready,” and “I am me” help give yogi’s a focus when working through the yoga poses and practices that transfers into real life. The themes also help make the connection to each other and to themselves. When our yogi’s leave a yoga class, our hope is they learned and practiced skills that help them feel ready and connected to themselves, each other and all that is.
I was fortunate that my mentor and yoga guru at River Flow Yoga and Wellness saw a similar vision and allowed me the opportunity to create a safe yoga space for children to practice in her yoga studio. Just Breathe currently runs a full school year yoga program for children at River Flow Yoga and Wellness in Columbus, GA where children have their own kid’s yoga membership and come weekly to practice. In addition, Just Breathe offers after-school yoga club programs to many of the schools in the Columbus area and is currently expanding our teaching and training network across state boundaries – hoping to fulfill our mission of bringing yoga and mindfulness to children, one breath at a time.
“In yoga, I get to find out what I love about myself” is what one yogi said after her first day of after school yoga club. The Just Breathe 8 week after school yoga club program has expanded to more than five schools in the Columbus area. This program too, has a theme every week that is structured to inspire, connect and provide valuable life skills to our children. Themes like “As I am” and “I Shine” first teach students how to slow down their thinking mind and then encourage them to look within to find the best versions of themselves as they move through yoga poses and traditions in yoga club. Studies support that yoga helps build self-confidence, reduce anxiety, increase attention, create greater emotional balance and encourage connection. As one yogi said as she was leaving the yoga club, “I wish I could do this every day. I feel amazing!”
Just Breathe also leads mindfulness in the Classroom professional teacher training throughout area schools. Through this program, I created a teacher training that combines decades of school social work experience with the traditional lessons of yoga and mindfulness. I present site specific tools to help create a calm/mindful school-wide culture using yoga poses, breathing methods, games and/or activities to immediately implement into the schools in an effort to create a calm, presented-centered culture. The feedback from this training has been often times children start asking for these calm, centering tools on a daily basis.
Just Breathe kids yoga, where I am enough!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
It is inspiring to see so many schools, teachers, parents and communities starting to recognize the value that the practice of yoga and mindfulness teaches. Yoga is so powerful because it is for everybody and every body. It combines breathe and body movement with skills and traditions to help slow down the thinking mind and be mindful in the present. It reminds us that we are exactly enough as we are. This huge shift in practice – when we all start coming back to the present moment and learning to be mindful – will benefit everyone. With the media attention surrounding mental health, anxiety, teen suicide and teen drug use, I anticipate that people will be looking for more outlets to help tackle these issues that are plaguing our children. Yoga is the perfect place to start as it requires minimal cost for very big benefits, and as I remind my yogi’s every day, you already have everything you need within you because YOU are your own best teacher.
Yoga and mindfulness is something that could be implemented into a classroom very easily, allowing students to use the practice before tests, as brain breaks, during indoor or outdoor recess, and many other times throughout the day. By arming our children with the tools of yoga, our children, teenagers, and adults can learn how to better manage their own feelings and learn tools to self-regulate. I can only imagine the world we can create when our children learn these skills at a young age.
In five to ten years, I would love to be able to say that I made the difference in the life of a child by spreading the practice of mindfulness through yoga to children everywhere. It is my hope that our children know every day that they are enough just as they are, and this is reminded to them when they take a minute to pause and Just Breathe.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.justbreatheconnect.com
- Phone: 8167215964
- Email: jamie@justbreatheconnect.com
- Instagram: Justbreathe8
- Facebook: Just Breathe
Image Credit:
Jessica Fowler Photography
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