Allison Holker Says It's 'Important' for Her Kids to See Her Cry: 'We're All in This Together' (Exclusive)

The dancer and judge on FOX’s 'So You Think You Can Dance' is partnering with CorePower Yoga in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May

Allison Holker is embracing her vulnerability.

The dancer, 36, is mom to children Weslie, 15, Maddox, 8, and Zaia, 4 (with her late husband Stephen tWitch Boss), and in the wake of his death in 2022 Holker says that the “biggest conversation we have as a family is to talk.”

“I want my kids to feel so safe and comfortable with me that no matter what they're feeling, no matter how scary it is, how big of a topic it is, how little of a topic it is, nothing is off the table, and I just want them feeling like they can get it off of their chest. And if I'm not that safe person, let's find you that safe person to talk about it with,” says Holker, who, as a yoga lover herself, is partnering with CorePower Yoga for Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Related: Allison Holker Says It's 'Been a Challenging Year' but She Wants to 'Celebrate Life' for Husband tWitch

“We just try to make sure that we have open dialogue. And I think that really stems from me starting those kinds of conversations and honestly me just being vulnerable around them and exposing a little bit more of what I'm feeling as an adult and not being scared to show that sometimes I am low, or sometimes I don't have an answer for something, or sometimes I need help,” she adds.

Holker, who says the “non-negotiables” in her own mental health tool kit include activities like “a cold plunge, a sauna, yoga sculpt, pilates and weight training,” is equally as focused on establishing healthy habits with her children — and others.

From May 6-15, $10 from every new "Intro Month Membership" at CorePower Yoga will be donated to National Alliance on Mental Health, a charity of Holker's choice.

Related: Allison Holker Says Her Family Is Finding Connection Through Dance After Death of Husband Stephen 'tWitch' Boss

Holker says that learning to truly let her guard down around her children has been a “huge life lesson."

“I'm still on this journey with them. Because I think as a parent, we always want to know or look like we have the answers. And at this point in my life now, I'm sometimes like, ‘I don't know, but I'll certainly try to figure it out with you,’” she says. “We're all in this together, and it doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, we're all in these journeys of life, we're all students of life, and we just got to work together, communicate and support one another through it.”

Holker's oldest child, daughter Weslie, is a "gem," she says, and the two are able to lean on each other because their relationship is something they "work on together."

"I'm always mommy first, but we are quite literally best friends," Holker explains. "We have experienced so much life together and we understand together that the relationship we have is sacred."

The So You Think You Can Dance judge also praised her younger kids, Maddox and Zaia, for being so "special," and for ensuring that their home is "never short on entertainment."

Holker says she's teaching her kids about balancing both joyful and challenging moments — and a key to that has been allowing herself to share her own emotions with them.

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“Besides [watching] a Disney movie, my kids hadn't really seen me cry that often in life. And so I just realized it was really important to allow them to see those moments,” she says. “Crying for joy, crying for pain, crying for sadness, all the different types of emotions that come with those things, allowing them to be a part of it with me.”

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