In my years of experience as the Founder & CEO of Bodies in Motion, I was always looking for the right way to offer a fitness program for kids. As surprising as it might sound, Mozart In Shape was the only program which really worked. Kids have trouble listening, are easily distracted and need constant supervision. Also kids of different ages have to be treated differently. Mozart In Shape tackles these problems with ease.

I really didn't expect classical music to do the trick. Most instructors in my gyms and the industry as a whole play Hip hop, rock, and other popular styles. Amazingly, Beethoven and Bach seem to have clicked better with the kids!

Mozart In Shape is what kids need all over America. I don't run Bodies in Motion any longer, but every gym would benefit from implementing this great program. With 60 million kids in the U.S., I'm surprised gyms have overlooked such a market when a program like Mozart In Shape is out there.

After implementing Mozart In Shape at my preschool, I saw how much children who participated in this program improved in their overall performance. Before Mozart In Shape, the kids would play mostly passive games. After the program, the change was obvious. The kids would now run around chasing each other, playing tag, jumping – they were on their feet most of the time. All the teachers were amazed at the improvement in coordination. These kids could play hop-scotch, tag and dodge-ball, keeping their balance.

One thing that we all noticed was that after each Mozart In Shape class, children were generally happier and did better, especially in areas of attention, learning and social attitude. They were all excited and eager to do the exercises without teachers doing much to motivate them.

What was astonishing for me was to see how quickly and easily the children got attached to the program. It didn’t take long before a new exercise was added to their growing list of favorites, and this happened almost with every Mozart In Shape exercise!

It became a common thing to watch the kids repeat their favorite exercises in the playground while playing with their friends. Children of all ethnicities were just captivated by the music’s sound-pictures, and were enamored by its interactive properties.

I am convinced that, more than ever before, Mozart In Shape is a kind of program that should be in every preschool. It is it easy on teachers, keeps children engaged and happy, and their parents also enjoy it!

I have always thought that the connection between music and health is not commonly covered in medical literature. But on a personal level, whenever I engaged in sports I noticed an improvement from music. It started when I listened to the Walkman during my marathon races. It made my runs feel easier and more enjoyable - as a result I noticed that I would run for longer and recover sooner.

Then I became interested in this effect of music and found out that lots of physical trainers use music in coaching sportsmen. When I was invited to work at the Children and Youth Sport School as a sports doctor and psychiatrist, I was lucky to discover Mozart In Shape. Not only did the music increase their endurance, but defining stimulating music selections proved to increase their levels of motivation and general performance. This was especially true for absolute beginners - music was often the biggest stimulus for pushing harder in sports.

To my surprise, classical music, as used in Mozart In Shape, proved to be more effective with little children than pop music used by trainers in the "Quant" fitness club, where I worked as a doctor for the track & field team.

Mozart In Shape proved to be helpful for young aspiring athletes, and I firmly believe its benefits would be even greater as part of children's primary school education.

“Mozart In Shape” has been a special activity for our son, Liam, who is now 6. Like other kids, Liam loves music and to play games, but he is challenged physically with spastic diplegia (a type of cerebral palsy that makes balance and walking difficult).

At first, he was anxious about starting the class, but within a few sessions, was completely engaged by the music, stories, and exercises. Over the past year and a half, he has gained much confidence. The creative exercise of storytelling through music and movement with peers has really pushed him to explore the limits of his motor planning, balance and coordination. It has been a nice adjuvant to his physical therapy.

As a parent, I feel the exercises utilized in the class can be modified for children with a wide variety of abilities, and that they certainly get kids active. In addition, the classes have provided a safe social environment for Liam to explore movement, even if his body looks different and he is unable to do things exactly the way other kids do.

Finally, as a classically-trained musician, I can add it’s been heartwarming to hear Liam’s enthusiasm and see his smile at the end of each class.

In my experience, the biggest challenge when teaching kids to swim is that they're afraid of water - afraid of drowning. The also don't breathe properly, and their arms aren't strong enough to keep them floating.

Before taking the kids into water, I tried having them do Mozart In Shape a few times, and amazingly their fear just vanished! It was awesome how their breathing relaxed and if they got out of sync, I just hummed one of the Mozart In Shape tunes and they got the rhythm back.

When my daughter was 5 years old, I wanted her to start piano or some form of classical music. Being a psychologist and one with a keen interest in brain development, I was aware of the importance of music to brain functions and was seeking someone who would incorporate that knowledge in their method of teaching. When I met Sheila and Aleksey and they explained how they teach music as a second language, I knew I had found what I was looking for.

"Music as a second language, that’s brilliant", I thought. Moreover, as someone who speaks three languages, I certainly appreciated that concept. And it reminded me of something the Irish poet John O’donohue once said: “music is what language would love to be if it could.”

When I took my daughter for her initial lesson, I noticed that the first thing Sheila did, was to teach her how to take a deep breath in and then let her whole upper body fall forward while she exhaled. Rising upward with an in-breath and collapsing downward with the out-breath. The second thing she taught her when they sat at the piano, was to have her do the same thing with her hands falling on the piano keys.

She was using the body. She was teaching music from the inside out. She was using the visceral experience to tune in the body to what is most natural to it: movement. She was really teaching the language of the body.

I enjoyed watching these lessons and then was absolutely mesmerized by the Mozart In Shape group program, where I witnessed kids coming fully alive as they created sounds, interpreted music, moved to it and did so with great enthusiasm and interest. It was like watching nature at its best. As the neuroscientist Panksep would say “It was as if the ancestral voices of their genetic calling for movement had found the setting they could tune in to”. Because even what is most inherent in us and which might have been evolutionarily wired in, still needs what Antonio Damasio calls an ‘emotionally competent stimuli’ to evoke its potential and activate it.

The most natural thing for kids is to be on the move, yet we keep asking them to sit down. From the moment the alphabet makes it into their life, movement goes out, or else it turns into frenzy. In our attempts at promoting activity, we are unbeknownst to ourselves, often fostering hyperactivity and putting the nervous system into overdrive.

There is enough science now to demonstrate the ways in which body and mind are intimately connected and continually influencing each other in a feedback loop that we call the regulatory system. Self-regulation is difficult for children.

We all seek to find activities for our children that will keep them stimulated, interested and hopefully fit. Unfortunately, we either fail to arouse them out of the inertia that has become the landscape of many an overweight body, or we over-regulate them with a super busy and structured schedule.

Watching the kids come alive with the full force of their vitality but without the hyperactivity that feels frantic and turbo charged, was watching the glory of my child inhabiting the fullness of her being with perfect coherence: the mind, body, and emotions were in sync, actually like a well directed orchestra.

My daughter is turning 14 in one week. It has been almost 10 years since we started this program and I can honestly say that sticking to it, across the various stages of her development, schedule dilemmas and other transitions - it's the best parenting decision I have made.

I was not surprised to find that Mozart In Shape was effective in physical instruction. I know quite a few figure skating coaches who swear by classical music as a training tool. It attracts quite a number of children to the sport.

What was new to me was the use of music programming in the general education system. Kids who are picked for sports schools are exceptional, so it is no surprise that they respond better to musical cues, especially complex ones from classical music. But I expected a number of kids in the general education system to have difficulty moving to music - many kids are naturally poorly coordinated, and it is our job as PE teachers to correct it.

Mozart In Shape surpassed my expectations. Synchronizing to the music was no problem at all. With Mozart In Shape, children were more engaged and physically active than I've ever seen them before.

Although Mozart In Shape can benefit students of all ages, it is a truly indispensable tool for elementary schools.

In all my years of experience in pursuit of humanitarian causes, never before have I felt such urgency for our ability as world citizens to deal with a matter of such global dimension in relation to children. On the one hand there is the issue of hunger and on the other, the rapid spread of obesity leading to variety of serious illnesses such as diabetes. Today we need much more effective tools to help us adapt and deal with the ever more intricate challenges that face us - childhood obesity being one such challenge.

Our emotions are the source of the majority of social and political issues. If we are to survive as humans, we need to have a much better understanding of our emotions, to learn what their purpose and function is in our lives, and to find more appropriate ways of dealing with them. Music is a wonderful tool that reaches across cultural and geographic barriers.

The fact that emotions can be put into service to children is an invaluable discovery. To see Mozart In Shape take a pioneering position in this direction is a giant step towards improving the well-being of humanity.

By placing its focus on motivating children to be physically active, Mozart In Shape proceeds to enhance the body and mind of our future hopes in a most innovative way. I, for one, will do everything in my power to bring this beautiful program to as many children and in as many places in the world as possible.

Dr. Olga Batova

Ph.D. in Neuropathology and Psychiatry

Head of Neurology Department and Chief Physician, Protva City Hospital, Protva, Russia

From my 55 years of medical practice, I can say that the importance of emotion for health is something that is unfortunately highly underestimated by the general public. Many health, personality, and social problems have their roots in emotions. For parents it is crucial to understand that children's mentality and subsequently, adaptability in life, are products of emotional regulation. The growing child has to “learn” how to regulate his/her emotions in order to maintain an integral well being, to achieve higher levels of learning, and to succeed in problem-solving in general. It is therefore really wonderful that there is now an educational tool which can assist parents in this extremely delicate matter. I see Mozart In Shape as an effective balancing force in children's sound and stable development.

In Mozart In Shape, the motivational power of emotion can really secure the choice for a healthy active life-style. Regular exercise establishes energy balance in a growing organism, burning off excess calories. The hormonal system responds to caloric burn in a few ways. First and foremost, an intense workout increases the resting metabolic rate, leading to higher rates of caloric expenditure. Second, insulin sensitivity is increased, creating better nutrient absorption and partitioning. Third, exercise shapes the child’s future body composition (lean/adipose body mass ratio). In addition, an organism’s nervous system regulates excessive or inadequate energy levels, helping to normalize the circadian rhythm.

Mozart In Shape presents a healthy and safe approach for controlling obesity by regulating important body systems and establishing a stable preference for a healthy lifestyle. Noteworthy is the pioneering use of music and emotion, which works even with very young children.

As, both, an owner of a preschool and a parent, I have had great experience with Mozart In Shape. We included the program in my school's curriculum, and both of my children participated in it. Everyone just absolutely loved it!

What’s special about Mozart In Shape is that the kids are totally absorbed in the game-play; they're too busy acting out characters and images to the music to notice that they are doing a workout. I didn’t expect to see how much the kids loved the classical music. Many of them would hum the tunes from the exercises and ask to hear the music over and over.

It was really something to see them ask for their favorite exercises during the class. The kids were so excited to show the exercises to their friends and family, and their parents were amazed to see how well their kids did at the end-of-year show. Even more surprising to them, was how their younger children would copy their older siblings while watching them on stage.

Mozart In Shape is a great program to get kids moving, and it's wonderful at getting the whole family together. It works for all kids, boys and girls - and age doesn't seem to matter. They all mix perfectly in the same group.

We tried the program both, as a 1/2 hour class-session and as a 10-minute break between classes. In both instances, it proved to work just as well. As a break format, however, it even had an added advantage of acting as a booster for getting the kids to follow the next class activity.

Mozart In Shape easily fits into any school curriculum for pre-school and K-5 elementary, as a PE class or as a 10-minute physical fitness activity, during recess. I honestly don’t know of any other way to get children to stay on the move.

Music is a natural and effective medium for children to express and vent out feelings in a healthy way. Children suffering from psychological disorders such as depression can especially benefit from Mozart In Shape. The music effectively catches their attention and redirects it toward some imagery, affecting their mood. With optimal selection of music, it is possible to effectively manage the emotional state of a child.

Mozart In Shape prompts children to become influenced not only by the music and the stories, but also by one another’s emotional reactions, thereby inspiring interest and motivation in them. The program helps children formulate and organize their feelings and thoughts in a safe and nurturing environment of the classroom. The teaching strategy of Mozart In Shape in a group format provides children with a valid social experience where they learn how to act in a group, respect each others’ differences, be considerate toward one another and develop a healthy attitude in reaching individual and collective goals.

Physical activity serves as even a better catalyst, noticeably increasing the levels of satisfaction, self-esteem and well-being of a child. This is influenced by dopamine-levels that are known to increase from the intervention of music as well as intense physical exercise. The program can also be beneficial to hyperactive children, providing them with the opportunity to vent out their excess energy and focus their attention on the gestalt effect of music, bringing them to a more calm and contemplative state.

By its nature, this program is very social. So, when children do the exercises together, it re-enforces the bond between them. I highly recommend it for family-use. Adults can easily participate by joining their children and doing the exercises together with them.

Mozart In Shape has proven to be quite efficient in promoting an active life-style in children, in a relatively short period of time.

Even children who are averse to physical exercise and view it as a hard and strenuous activity, easily get engaged in the Mozart In Shape exercises. They get hooked on the “fun factor” aspect of the program without being aware of the fact that they are actually working out!

Mozart In Shape is an effective program at enhancing its efforts to provide learning opportunities and instruction to enable all primary-age children to perform rigorous work and meet or exceed content standards in the development of emotive systems and multiple intelligences: bodily-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal and visual-spatial – concepts that are supported and recommended by federal institutions and independent organizations such as ArtsEdge and the Kennedy Center. Mozart In Shape also satisfies the concept of Holistic Development encouraged by UNESCO. The program is designed to address student and teacher needs and overcome challenges commonly faced in primary-age children today.

Unique to Mozart In Shape is various aspects of intelligence which are systematically addressed. The abstract propensity of music makes possible the assignment of a multitude of associations based on their symbolic resemblance to auditory attributes observable in music. The advantage of it is that a single experience is capable of fostering other experiences, building up to a more diverse array of individual skills. The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is especially valuable in support of all other capacities, providing a way for children to increase their levels of sensitivity and adaptation skills, which is highly recommendable in primary education.

The power of music to 'soothe the savage breast' is the magical catalyst that Mozart In Shape offers children while breathing an invigorating life into their pure and potent lives. By involving children in music-making and to have them associate music with characters and motion, Mozart In Shape brings a unique approach to children's overall health and development.

The abstract yet emotional nature of music has an almost mystical healing effect on today's hectic and overbearing post-modernistic society. Mozart In Shape is the catharsis that instills in children values and attitudes, that are universally important in all cultures. It brings joy and exuberance to children regardless of their race, social or ethnic backgrounds and awakens a sense of pride and dignity in them, benefiting them in so many extraordinary ways.