‘Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.

-Jon Kabat Zinn, creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program and Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

In the last few years much has been written about the benefits of yoga and mindfulness, improving pretty much all areas of a person’s life and the earlier we learn the better. Children’s brains are formed by their experiences and learning yoga and mindfulness at a young age has been shown to have a number of benefits including but not exclusive to:

• Develop skills to deal with the mental and emotional challenges they face in daily life
• Strengthens focus, clarity of mind, physical strength, and emotional resilience.
• Encourages respect and dignity for themselves, each other, and the world around them.
• Supports the healing of the endocrine system, regulates the nervous system, and retrains a positive stress response.
• Enables them to feel calm, grounded uplifted, and in control.
• Equips them with tools they can use for the rest of their lives.

I tailor classes to the age of the participants usually working with age ranges from 5-8, 9-12, 13-15, and up.

When working with younger kids my approach is very much based on play and fun, making all poses and breathing techniques into games with heavy use of music to aid enjoyment.

With older kids and teens I move into a more traditional but relational approach, respecting their age and encouraging dialogue and relationship building.

‘Yoga is ninety-nine percent practice and one percent theory’ Pattabhi Jois

Breathwork

An important component of yoga is breathwork or pranayama. This life-changing practice is a tool for dissolving mental and physical tension. By releasing these tensions, we are empowered to step beyond the thinking mind. Breathwork gives us access to the inner life force that exists within us all, allowing us to engage and experience our inner consciousness. Breathwork affects the body by switching the nervous system from sympathetic, fight, or flight to parasympathetic, rest, and digest.
Breathwork has been used for thousands of years to access the stillness that exists beyond the chatter of our monkey mind. It helps to increase our health and vitality, and in doing so allows us to experience a calmer more enriched life.
I use various techniques depending on the age of the student. If teaching young kids, the breathwork is in the form of a game, smelling the roses, blowing the dandelions, etc. With older kids, teens, and adults, breathing exercises can be taught so they can become part of daily life and be used in any situation.