Teen Yoga
As the mother of a teenager and a tween, I can see that their life is much busier than in my teenage years and have found that yoga, mindful movement, singing, chanting, and breathing exercises (Pranayama) are wonderful and useful tools.
The teenage years are a time of self-discovery, experimentation, transition and the pushing of boundaries. Teenagers who have a strong support network with family, friends and school and who are able to express themselves can really flourish. They can make positive relationships and feel good about their unique selves.
But teens nowadays have busy lifestyles, juggling school classes and extracurricular activities. They have worries about friends and their appearance, with all the extra pressure from social media. All of which can leave them feeling self-conscious, getting stuck in conflicts with friends, and sometimes becoming isolated.
Teen yoga is beneficial in helping them relax and find their safe happy place, becoming calm and improving concentration. Relaxing yoga poses will help them become strong and grounded as well as more flexible, at the same time as learning how to unwind, let go of tension and feel renewed. They enjoy working with friends doing partner, balancing, relaxing poses and making human mandala shapes. These techniques are tools for everyday life and can help them to stay happy, calm and strong and to return to their own inner safe happy place.
About the classes:
At the beginning of each class, we discuss how we are feeling, using colours, weather or seasons to help express our emotions. Numbers and scores are also a popular way of expressing energy levels.
In my classes, I use breathing exercises, Pranayama, Restorative yoga with different yoga flows. We always finish with yoga Nidra and positive affirmations. Students also enjoy the soothing and relaxing background music.
Younger years love yoga games and human mandalas and are very keen on balancing poses and partner poses.
Spending time in nature, enjoying doing something that they love, and quality time with the family; all these things will have a positive impact on their lives.
“II like doing partner poses, and I like our warm-up and I like how we share what we like to do in the yoga class. My favourite is when we relax after the yoga class.”
Sukhamani | Year 7
“II like yoga classes because it's fun. I especially like crow pose. I have a very nice teacher and I love playing yoga games.”
Pavin | Year 7
“I enjoy doing yoga with relaxing. We always feel better afterwards as well and we love when we sing the Ra Ma Da Sa mantra”
Mary | Year 9