Educator, health and wellness coach, and kids yoga teacher, Cara Markewicz finds joy in teaching little ones the skills they need to stay calm and connected.
Cara has spent most of her adult life teaching, with some experience in South Africa and the UK, but mostly in Asia, a place she calls her second home. She lived in South Korea and Vietnam for many years, and it was during her time there that she noticed many young people struggling to deal with their emotions. “I wanted to be part of changing this,” she explains. “As I explored health issues of my own and navigated expat life, Covid, and the impact it had on people, I felt called into the world of health and wellness.” In 2022, after a decade abroad, she decided to move home and embark on a new chapter.
On returning to South Africa, Cara completed her certification as a health and wellness coach. She focuses on developing educational workshops on mindfulness and how to prioritise wellbeing in the workplace. Although she loves this work, and continues to offer these workshops, she realised that her true calling was working with children. She completed her teacher training with YogiBearsZA before launching her own business, OMtots Yoga & Mindfulness for Kids.
Cara says that the benefits of yoga for kids are numerous – physical, emotional and mental – but for her, it’s the mindfulness they learn along the way that’s really special. Other benefits include improved self-confidence and self-worth, as well as self-regulation skills and a deeper connection to self and awareness of their abilities. “This linking of yoga and mindfulness practices forms the foundation of OMtots, which aims to build future generations that are calm, confident, and connected,” she explains.
Having studied drama and performance at university, Cara enjoys using storytelling, voices and facial expressions to keep young children engaged during yoga sessions. “The playful nature of a yoga story and the way I present it also helps children stay on the entire adventure with me,” she says. “I also love adding an extra dimension by incorporating props and educational toys into each class.”
Since starting her yoga classes, Cara has been blown away by the response she has received so far. “I’m so excited that more people are recognising the need for children to gain these useful skills and are eager to give their children the opportunity to do so,” she says. She currently teaches yoga privately and as an extramural at pre-schools. She also has a junior primary programme and has plans to develop programmes for senior primary schools, as well as children with special needs.
Details: 084 900 0552; [email protected]; IG: @omtots_sa;
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Photographs: COURTNEY WARREN PHOTOGRAPHY; LUCY MARKEWICZ
