Gail Silver, JD
Gail Silver, RCYT, E-RYT, YACEP, JD, is the founder of Philadelphia’s Yoga Child, developer of its curriculum, and award-winning children’s book author. Her published work includes the Anh’s Anger Children’s book trilogy (Parallax Press), Mindful Bea and The Worry Tree (Magination Press), Booma Booma, Boom (Magination Press), and Where Did Poppy Go (Parallax Press). Lauded by Publisher’s Weekly as “A Winning Series,” Gail’s work empowers children to navigate their stronger emotions through mindfulness-based narrative, and is an integral part of Yoga Child’s curriculum.
Gail has been teaching yoga to children and adults since 1999, providing students with the knowledge and skills to integrate mindfulness and yoga into their lives, both on and off the mat. A contributing writer to Lion’s Roar Magazine and screenwriter of the animated family film Planting Seeds of Mindfulness, Gail travels nationally and internationally to facilitate yoga and mindfulness-based education. Gail is honored to be a thought leader, and together with Yoga Child, a founding sponsor of K-12 yoga.org, a brand-neutral organization bringing yoga and schools together.
Prior to founding Yoga Child, Gail was an attorney, specializing in children’s advocacy law. Through her dual work as a child advocate and yoga instructor, Gail realized the importance of providing children with a forum in which they could express themselves via body movement, breathing, and vocalization. Soon after, Yoga Child was born. It would be the second of her four children.
Since Yoga Child’s inception, Gail and Yoga Child have earned a steady stream of accolades and recognition for their work, including Best of Philadelphia awards, a Parents Choice Recommended award, and a Skipping Stones award for Multicultural Awareness. Gail has been featured on local news shows, has appeared on national radio shows, and has contributed to educational magazines. Learn more about Gail at gailsilver.com, on The Yoga Stories Project, and discover some of her tips for teaching mindfulness to children by visiting Lion’s Roar, and reading The Family That Meditates Together and How to Teach Metta to Children.
Though Gail is busy overseeing the Yoga Child program in the Philadelphia area, she continues to facilitate select Yoga Child’s Teacher Training programs, professional development modules, and author events in nearby schools. When Gail is not the primary trainer for a Yoga Child Teacher Training Program, you can still look forward to training with Gail remotely in post-training remote sessions.
In 2016, Gail founded The School Mindfulness Project Inc., (SMP) a non-profit organization that brings integrative and sustainable school-wide yoga and mindfulness programming to under-served school communities. Through use of its five-phase curriculum, it enables these important practices to become an integral part of the school day for participating schools. If yoga and mindfulness have had an impact on your life, please visit The School Mindfulness Project and consider making a donation.