Yoga has benefits for all ages as a toolkit for creating balance and unity between body and mind – and for navigating life’s challenges.
By empowering young people through building body confidence and mental calm, yoga encourages adolescents to embrace the changing relationship they have with both their inner and outer worlds.
Ofsted requires every school to actively promote and evaluate students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development. Yoga classes support SMSC education by encouraging students to explore and reflect on life purpose, cause and effect, resilience, obstacles, relationships, feelings and emotions.
Yoga in your school:
I offer courses of 6 to 10 weeks tailored to the needs of students, staff and school timetables.
- As part of the PE curriculum
- At lunchtime or after school
- As pre-exam / de-stress yoga and mindfulness sessions
- In sports team specific stretching workshops
Courses are designed and delivered by me. I’m an experienced and qualified TeenYoga teacher and Yoga Alliance Certified yoga teacher of over 10 years. I’m also DBS cleared, First aid certified & Insured to teach Young People.
Classes
Every class is different, depending on the needs of the students and the dynamic of the room. However the following elements are part of most classes:
- Sun salutations to increase flexibility and heart function
- Basic postures to stretch all the body’s major muscle groups
- Simple breathing techniques to help with relaxation and mental focus
- Relaxation techniques to help with anger management and self-awareness
- Mindfulness and guided meditation to calm and restore
Dealing with stress & anxiety
Pressures from academia, peers and home life, plus changing bodies and growing minds, can make life as an adolescent a roller coaster ride. Regular yoga practice and mindfulness exercises can help specifically to:
- Relieve anxiety
- Reduce stress
- Heal sports related injuries
- Improve posture & muscle tone
- Create a more positive body-image
- Increase self compassion
Dealing with lethargy & low-mood
Dynamic yoga sequences, which include flowing routines and heart-rate raising balances can help to lift students’ moods, reduce tiredness and increase mental clarity. Yoga poses can help students to improve co-ordination and increase self-awareness, muscle strength and overall fitness.
Yoga Myth Busting:
You don’t need to be flexible
Being flexible isn’t just about having a bendy body – in
yoga your flexibility begins to show up in your attitude.
The greatest flexibility comes in self acceptance.
Yoga isn’t gender specific
Regardless of your gender, body type or background, yoga
is for all. Yoga builds muscles evenly and can improve your
posture, your other workouts and prevent injury.
It’s not just for sporty people
In the lightening speed of today’s world, yoga is a way to take
a break from your devices, deadlines and daily worries, to
stretch your body, clear your head and find peace of mind.
It’s also great for balance, co-ordination and self-awareness.
My experience working with young people
Besides my role as a yoga teacher, I have facilitated the personal development of young people in a variety of settings, including as a group leader in the outdoor adventure industry, classroom assistant and in foreign language schools. I have also taught private yoga classes for families with teenagers at home and I have been teaching a regular TeenYoga class to teens in Crystal Palace since 2015 at Training Points Fitness & Therapy
Alongside Yoga Alliance’s hatha yoga teacher training, I proudly hold TeenYoga’s qualification to teach Yoga and Mindfulness to Young People. The Yoga Alliance fully accredited course has informed me in areas of adolescent psychology, neuroscience, anatomy and physiology, applied chakra theory, child protection and safeguarding of children.
As a wellbeing specialist I’m delighted to have facilitated wellbeing programmes for London’s Special Yoga Centre, schools and youth groups including James Allen Girls School, Ark Walwarth Academy, Harris Academy Beckenham and Raised Voices and to represent Soul Stretch Events, Via Vita Health and PiXL
To arrange a class or workshop at your school for your students or staff please contact me.
Please see Facebook for class times at Training Points.
