Jen Rapanos

Graduating in 2001 with my Master’s Degree, and thereafter practicing as a school social worker and clinician, I bring with almost two decades of direct work with children in mental health and continuing education hours centered on brain-based education, anxiety and trauma. Along the way I developed a personal practice of yoga and thereafter was introduced to mindfulness meditation practice. After taking a course in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a method of using meditation and yoga to cultivate awareness and to reduce stress, I became alive to the positive effects of integrating these practices into my personal life, with my children and my professional world. Based on the increasing evidence supporting the efficacy of teaching yoga and mindfulness to children, I knew intuitively that my journey was headed in the direction of bringing these practices into my social work practice. I furthered my training in mindfulness education while completing my 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher Certification through Yen Yoga & Fitness in Traverse City, Michigan Children's Yoga Training through Rainbow Kids Yoga in Toronto, Ontario and my 95-Registered Children Yoga Teacher Training with Little Flower Yoga at Omega Institute. These experiences collectively have fostered the development of Well-Bean, LLC.