TRAILBLAZERS: Randi Jo Greenberg has spent two decades teaching Summit County kids to pause, breathe and be

Randi Jo Greenberg has spent more than two decades teaching yoga and mindfulness to children and families across Summit County, helping generations of young people build tools for calm, confidence and self-compassion. Photo: Randi Jo Greenberg

For more than 20 years, the Park City yoga and mindfulness teacher has helped local children build a lifelong toolbox for navigating big feelings, finding calm and treating themselves with compassion.

PARK CITY, Utah — For more than two decades, Randi Jo Greenberg has been teaching Summit County children something deceptively simple: how to stop for a moment, take a breath, and notice what is happening inside themselves.

For some, the lesson has traveled far beyond the yoga mat.

One student told Greenberg this summer that she had recently gone to the dentist and used the breathing techniques she learned in camp to stay calm in the chair. Soon, other children began offering their own examples. They had used mindfulness at sleepovers, on airplanes, and during moments when they felt nervous or overwhelmed.

“Those are the moments that remind me why this work matters,” Greenberg said. “When a child realizes, ‘I have a tool I can use to help myself,’ that can be incredibly empowering.”

Greenberg has taught yoga for more than 25 years and worked with children and families in Summit County for more than 20.

Her path to that work began almost by accident.

Greenberg was teaching yoga and Pilates in Los Angeles when she moved to Park City in 2005, six months pregnant. She began teaching at The Shop, offering prenatal yoga and Mommy & Me classes. As her daughter grew, Greenberg’s teaching evolved alongside her.

“In many ways, I followed my kiddo throughout her schooling,” she said.

She began teaching in preschools and eventually brought yoga and mindfulness programs into the Wasatch and Park City school districts.

What initially seemed like an ideal job for a new mother because of its flexibility became something much deeper.

“Along the way, I fell in love with teaching children and working with families,” Greenberg said. “It became something I truly cared about, and over the years, it grew into the work I feel fortunate to have devoted my life to.”

Early on, she saw how naturally children responded to yoga.

Kids wanted to play and move. Yoga gave them an outlet for that energy while helping them develop body awareness, coordination, and concentration. Balancing poses asked them to slow down and focus. Breathing exercises showed them they could influence how they felt.

As Greenberg introduced more mindfulness into her classes, she began seeing another change.

Children learned to pause during difficult emotions. They might put a hand over their heart and notice what they were feeling, pay attention to sounds around them, or feel their feet on the floor.

The goal isn’t to eliminate anger, fear or anxiety, Greenberg said. It’s to help children recognize those feelings without immediately being controlled by them.

“We practice simple tools like belly breathing, pausing and counting breaths, grounding their feet on the floor, and noticing the colors and things around them,” she said.

Over time, those practices become what Greenberg calls a “toolbox,” or sometimes a “toy box,” that children can carry with them anywhere.

“They can use them anytime and anywhere, often without anyone else even knowing they are practicing,” she said.

The need for those tools has changed during Greenberg’s two decades of teaching.

She has watched screen time increase and children’s schedules become more crowded. She sees less unstructured play and downtime, with many young people moving from school to activities with little room in between.

“There is less unstructured play, downtime, or simply ‘hang time’ with friends,” she said. “So many days are filled with high-energy activities and constant stimulation that it can be more challenging for kids to slow down and calm themselves.”

For Greenberg, that has made the underlying purpose of her work increasingly important.

“Children need opportunities to pause, breathe, move their bodies and simply be present,” she said.

Her own teaching has changed, too.

What began largely as a way to connect children with their bodies and breath gradually expanded into lessons about emotional awareness, connection and self-compassion.

“The heart of my teaching has really become about self-compassion and connection,” Greenberg said.

In her small-group classes, she encourages children to notice the moment they are actually living, recognize that they aren’t alone in having difficult feelings and learn to extend some of the kindness they offer others toward themselves.

“My understanding has evolved from simply teaching children how to move and breathe to helping them develop tools for navigating life with more awareness, compassion and confidence,” she said.

Greenberg may enter the room as the teacher, but she said that distinction quickly becomes less clear once the children arrive.

“I try my best to create a container of calm and kindness so that the kids feel that sense of safety and acceptance as soon as they enter the room,” she said. “But when the kids arrive, I become the student.”

Children remind her to stay present, she said. They are honest, unpredictable and often funny. They also move without the self-consciousness adults can develop over time.

“Movement isn’t a reward for children. It’s how they learn, connect and process their emotions,” Greenberg said. “They feel, play and explore through movement without worrying about how they look or whether they’re doing it ‘right.’”

Watching them has taught her to listen more closely to her own body, remain curious and loosen her grip on getting things right.

That may also be what she most hopes her students carry with them.

“I hope the children remember that having a beginner’s mind is fun,” Greenberg said. “Life and learning aren’t competitions, and there is so much value in staying curious, playful and open to trying something new.”

She wants them to know that laughter can be a form of resilience, that creativity and flexibility matter more than perfection, and that people don’t all have to shine the same way.

Most of all, she hopes they remember self-compassion.

Recently, Greenberg ran into a former student now in college. The young woman told her she still sings the Sun Salutation song, “Toco el Sol,” to herself and has even taught it to friends.

“That absolutely made my day,” Greenberg said.

Perhaps that is the measure of 20 years of teaching: a song remembered, a breath taken before fear takes over, a child grown into an adult who still carries something from those hours on the mat.

“If they carry even a little more kindness toward themselves and others because of something we practiced together,” Greenberg said, “then I feel like I’ve done my job.”

Where to practice with Randi Jo

Greenberg continues to offer yoga and mindfulness programs for children, families and adults in Summit County.

Her upcoming offerings include Park City School District after-school programs Monday through Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m., as well as a Tuesday after-school program at Weilenmann School.

Basin Recreation offers monthly family yoga classes on Sundays from 10 to 11 a.m.

For adults, Greenberg teaches Mindful Gentle Yoga through Basin Recreation on Sundays at 2:45 and 4 p.m., along with a monthly mindfulness meditation program at the Senior Center on Tuesdays from 11 to 11:45 a.m.

Greenberg will also join Lindsey Marshall for Harmony Within, a retreat scheduled for Nov. 5-8 at Capitol Reef National Park and the Red Sands Hotel.

More information is available through Yoga with Randi Jo.