About YogaWonderland.com
Yoga Wonderland Mission Statement
The mission of Yoga Wonderland is to provide an environment where therapists, teachers, health professionals and parents can come together to share ideas, make recommendations, and post questions about conducting a children's yoga class.
At Yoga Wonderland we support each other in developing fun and therapeutic children's yoga classes. The ultimate goal is that each individual can go back to their part of the universe and create their own Yoga Wonderland, where children of all backgrounds and abilities can feel empowered and shine their lights brightly.
Martha Gold, DPT
Martha Gold, DPT is the founder of Yoga Wonderland. She graduated with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from NYU (2001). In addition to continuing education courses in physical therapy, she has completed several teacher trainings in children's yoga (Yoga for the Special Child, Radiant Child Yoga program, Next Generation Yoga, Yogakids workshop with Marsha Wenig and received a certification in Chair Yoga in 4/05). As of 8/14/05, Martha will be a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher.
Presently, she works as a pediatric physical therapist for the New York City Department of Education in the Bronx, NY. In addition, to providing physical therapy, she has implemented a yoga program at the school and trained several therapists. Currently, more than 150 students are attending yoga class each week. Martha was involved in creating and teaching an ASBT (Advanced School Based Therapist) workshop to New York City Department of Education occupational and physical therapists entitled "Yoga for All: Finding the Ability in Disability". The purpose of the workshop was to provide therapists with the tools to begin and facilitate a yoga program in their respective schools and to spread yoga to the children in their care. She fundraised for yoga mats and yoga props and dispersed these to therapists who attended the workshop, who were interested in starting a yoga program at their school. Martha also teaches group yoga classes to "typically developing" children in studios and for programs, such as the Girl Scouts of America.
Martha began practicing Bikram yoga in 2001. Soon after, she noticed the profound effects yoga was having on her life (physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually), and thought how amazing it would be to merge yoga with her love of children and pediatric physical therapy. In September, 2002, the began a small yoga class with five girls with mild to moderate cerebral palsy. Today, Martha teaches group yoga classes at the school with as many as 30 children with mild to severe disabilities in attendance. Since the onset of the yoga program, many of the children have demontrated significant improvements in the following areas: gross motor function, fine motor function, balance, coordination, self-esteem, self-regulation, ability to focus, and so much more. Martha also works part-time as a massage therapist and studies acting and attends theater in her spare time.
Together Martha and Jessica Rascoll (Co-creator of Yoga Wonderland workshops - see Bio below) present a workshop entitled Yoga Wonderland: Creating a Fun and Therapeutic Yoga Class for Children of ALL Abilities to health professionals, teachers, parents and individuals with a sincere desire to bring yoga to children. Please see workshops for more information.
Jessica Rascoll, DPT
Jessica Rascoll DPT received both her Masters and Doctorate Physical Therapy degrees from Columbia University 2002 and 2003. She is currently employed by the New York City Department of Education where she works with children with multiple disabilities. Here she has added to the yoga program started by Martha Gold. Jessica assists in the ongoing classes and has begun several smaller groups on her own.
The smaller classes are mostly children with diagnosis of emotional disturbance, mental retardation and children on the autistic spectrum. The benefits of a multi-disciplinary team have been evident in her planning and she continues to enjoy feedback from the other adults in these children's lives. Jessica looks forward to expanding the current programs, specifically to promote carryover in the home.
She firmly believes in the value and power of research and is involved in two clinical research trials. She participates as a clinical evaluator in studies for adults with amotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
Together Jessica and Martha present a monthly seminar for teachers, parents, paraprofessionals, therapists and all else interested in learning how to design and execute a yoga class for children of all physical and cognitive abilities. Please see the Yoga Wonderland: Creating a Fun and Therapeutic Yoga Class for Children of ALL Abilities workshop pages for specific dates and contact information.