Whenever I teach yoga to kids and teens I talk anatomy. What part of your body is working in this pose? Can you feel that in your abs? Which part of your body do you use when your breathe? are all standard questions even for Pre-School and Kindergarten aged students. I keep the questions and discussions age appropriate realizing that 5 year olds and 15 year olds have different frames of reference and comprehension levels.
I am a firm believer in being familiar with the body in order to understand how to best keep it healthy and happy. As individuals come to understand and appreciate the many functions their body performs, they are better prepared to take care of it. For example, understanding that a complete breath begins in the abdomen, permits the diaphragm and ribs to perform their functions, assists in getting adequate oxygen into the body, and helps reduce stress.
Knowledge of anatomy brings consciousness to yoga practice and helps individuals talk about their body without embarassement. In fact, recently I taught a group of 20 teenage girls aboutmula bandha or Root Lock. You should of seen them all blush. It was great! We’ve all got these parts, we’d better know what they do and how to take care of them in order to use them properly, avoid injury, and maintain good health.
Here are a couple on-line resources to help reinforce the topics and activities from yoga class which teach kids/teens anatomy.
Anatomy for Kids
A complete site with movies, word finds, online quizzes and activities is How the Body Works on KidsHealth.com. Kinetic.com also has a fun anatomy game called InnerG where body parts (ie: liver, heart, teeth, blood, etc) need to be placed into the body. As you do so, supporting information and recipes to keep that part strong and healthy are provided. My seven year old daughter thoroughly loved testing these sites out.
Anatomy for Teens
For Jr and Sr High School students more detailed anatomy learning games can be found at Anatomy Arcade with Whack-a-Bone and Poke-a-Muscle, among numerous others. The top level of these games are challenging and a great interactive way to learn anatomy. If you really want to get into anatomy including reviews of iPod and iPhone apps, dissection videos, and learning inter-actives visit Think Anatomy.
During your next yoga class with kids/teens be sure to take the time to teach anatomy whether for basic understanding or more in depth comprehension of how the body works. Its quite a miraculous thing. How do you teach anatomy to your students?
Today children are inundated with poor food options. From chicken nuggets to processed treats, its all readily available and marketed to the hilt. One of the worst culprits is school lunch. School cafeterias often don’t have a single ‘from scratch’ option made without preservatives and chemicals. Where are the fruits and vegetables that are supposed to make up the largest portion of the daily intake? And ketchup is NOT a vegetable!
Educating children about healthy eating is critical. There is much we can do to promote fresh, healthy, delicious food. It is essential to change children’s relationship to food so that they understand that what they put into their bodies effects how their bodies feel and perform.
Here is a 20 minute talk by Ann Cooper, the renegade lunch lady, who is passionate about changing what kids eat for lunch. She promotes a local, sustainable, seasonal and educational diet.
There are numerous ways to change how children relate to food. Here are a few suggestions
Teach proper nutrition- develop awareness for the food groups, portion size, and label reading
Involve kids in the kitchen – even the smaller kids can help in the kitchen, get them involved and empower them with life long skills
Eat together – studies show famlies that eat together have better health habits
Grow your own food – even a small garden can grow fresh produce for the table
Appreciate the body - learning basic anatomy develops an appreciation for and awareness of the body, its systems, and how to care for it with proper nutrition
Other articles with a focus on improving the health and nutrition of children include:
February is Teacher Convention Month in Alberta, Canada. This is a time for teachers to enrich themselves personally and professionally. I teach various workshops to help teachers bring yoga into their schools and lives. Each workshop lasts approximately 75 minutes at conventions, but are ideally suited for 2-3 hour in-service sessions. Here are a few workshops which can be used for in-service or PD Days. If you are interested in learning more or in booking a workshop for your group/school please contact donna@yogainmyschool.com
Once Upon a Pose
Yoga stories for children fulfill numerous curriculum requirements and are a fun, fully interactive teaching methodology. Learn how to use basic yoga poses in story format to enrich the classroom experience, improve physical fitness, reduce stress, increase attention span, and engage students on a totally different level. Stories in French also provided. A fun, high energy workshop with great ideas to use today. Come prepared to actively participate. K-6 applications in Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Art, Music and PE. Also meets the DPA Requirement.
Yoga for Teens
The ancient practise of yoga can have a tremendous positive impact on adolescents. Benefits include improved self-esteem, better academic performance, increased attention span, and greater stress management. This fully interactive workshop will progress through seven types of yoga poses (standing, balance, forward bends, back bends, inversions, twists and arm balancing) as well as include relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. Come prepared to actively participate and discover how to use yoga with your students. Applications to Physical Education, Fit for Life, CALM, Physics, Biology, Algebra, Social Studies, English, Foreign Languages, Drama, Counselling and school athletic teams.
Yoga with a Chair
Yoga with a Chair is a fun way to work yoga into your everyday routine. Reduce fatigue, prevent carpel tunnel, improve posture, strengthen your core, and open your hips all while using a standard chair. This workshop will surprise you as you discover the many adaptations to the poses and the incredible workout you can get while sitting down. Come prepared to participate and leave with numerous tips and techniques on how to use yoga at the office, in the classroom or while in a wheel chair.
These are just a few of the possible Professional Develoment workshops offered. For a complete listing of in-service workshops visit the In-service Page.
Teens these days are very diet conscious. However, many have adopted destructive habits such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking or using laxatives (see How Yoga Helps Teens Battle Eating Disorders). Parents and teachers need to make sure they are teaching their teens how to have a positive relationship with food and body image. Here are 20 dirty diet tricks that will help teens maintain, or achieve, good health in a positive way.
don’t eat while standing – you don’t wear off more calories by standing (common myth) and your brain doesn’t register the food you are ingesting (mindless snacking a big no-no); sit down and enjoy a meal/snack instead of nibbling
don’t eat more than a palm’s worth of anything – portion control is important and your hand is always available to measure by
munch while you grocery shop – if you forgot to eat before shopping, snag a bag of baby carrots & munch while filling the basket – ring up the empty bag
do traffic light isometrics - while waiting at a red light tone buttocks & abs by clenching until light turns green, you’ll learn quickly which red lights in town are the longest
enjoy gorgeous nails – give yourself a manicure when food cravings hit – hands are pretty and out of trouble
go monochrome - use colour to your advantage by dressing from top to bottom in one unbroken vertical line=instantly taller and thinner, this really works well with sophistocated dark colours (navy, gray, black, chocolate)
don’t eat and…(read, watch TV, work, study) – being mindful about what you put in your mouth makes it more satisfying, tune into what you put in your mouth and enjoy every morsel to its fullest
sign up for a fund-raising walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon – enlist sponsors and get moving, you’ll be motivated, be helping others and have a deadline which is good for body & soul
live the 80/20 rule – eating healthily 80% of the time allows for small indulgences the remaining 20%, also don’t beat yourself up when you do indulge (we all do) just count it as your 20 percent and return to eating healthy
keep it small- never order anything involving the words “deluxe,” “supersize” or “jumbo” – order small sizes of everything especially at a fast food outlets and the coffee shop
start a healthy cooking club – exchange recipes & ideas with like minded friends and celebrate success together, you’ll be developing skills and habits you’ll use throughout your life and will have a great cache of healthy eating recipes for when you move out
love soup – enjoy a steaming bowl of broth based soup before your meal – it’ll fill you up and quench your hunger
employ mind games – cut your sandwich into quarters or use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate to fool yourself into thinking you are eating more - mind games work, use them
always buy thin crust pizza – deep dish is trouble and will go straight to your thighs – ugh!
drink water – you’ll stay hydrated and feel fuller as well as avoid the unneeded sugar in sodas or the caffiene in coffee & colas
smuggle healthy snacks into the movie theatre – you’ve got a big bag, use it for good
always bring a guilt free option to get togethers- a fruit or veggie platter are always hits, or if you want to indulge, raid your stash of healthy recipes from #14 and whip up a divine low fat, low sugar option of your fav dessert
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Journaling has long been a tool for achieveing better emotional and mental health. It is a remarkable device for easing concerns, identifying hopes and fears, allowing the creative process to flourish, and connecting with your inner self. Journals help to identify your personal wisdom and realize that you are wiser than you once believed as ideas and solutions flow from deep inside. The process of uniting your conscious and sub-conscious mind through ink and paper, in black and white, empowers and enlightens, connecting us with our true selves and shining a light on who we truly are.
Adding journal writing to your yoga practice allows you to access these transformative benefits and takes the process from being simply a physical experience to becoming a window to the soul.
You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed. – Anita Brookner
There are two way to use journalling: prompted or free flow. Both have their advantages and disadvantages as well as a place within the yoga journal experience.
Prompted Journaling & Yoga
Prompted journaling is when the teacher assigns a topic for students to journal. For example: “We’re going to do Pigeon pose and I want you to pay attention to what your hips are telling you. We’ll then spend a few minutes recording the thoughts and feelings this pose generates.” Journals also are a wonderful place to record personal affirmations, set goals, and recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Topics I’ve used include:
Comfort is relative – how do backbends teach this idea?
How does doing Fish pose help you look at life from a different perspective?
What do you feel while doing Eagle pose? What do you feel after?
What images come to mind while doing Warrior pose?
Let’s write an affirmation for Mountain pose. Everytime you do Mountain Pose repeat this affirmation to yourself.
Which is your favourite yoga pose and why?
What do you want/need to get out of class today?
Free Flow Journaling & Yoga
Free flow journaling occurs as an organic result of the yoga experience. Allowing yourself to simply reflect upon the experience, identifying and putting into words your thoughts, feelings, insights, etc. while upon your personal yoga journal, is an enlightening endeavour. It is not uncommon for yoga asanas and breathing techniques to release strong emotions. We often hang onto negative emotions such as fear, anger and sorrow because we have not dealt with them adequately in the past. Our bodies remember and hold these feelings deep inside. A regular yoga practice will release this negativity and tension, allowing us to return to a state of happiness and relaxation. Journaling these experiences will hasten emotional recovery and is widely used as a self-discovery and therapy tool.
How to Use Yoga Journal Writing
In children’s classes I almost always provide a prompt. This helps the children get to the journaling without wasting time on wondering what to write about. Younger children can draw a picture of their feelings and insights while older ones can put these into words.
Teens and adults are more familiar with the journal writing process and can adapt it to the yoga classroom generally without difficulty. Since this is the case I will use both techniques while encouraging them to ponder and explore their yoga practice. Yoga classes that begin with setting an intention are a wonderful place to start if students seem stumped for a topic to journal.
Entries by my students have ranged from sketches and quick insights, to lists and pages and pages of emotional outpouring. The lovely thing about journal writing is you can’t get it wrong. It is a snapshot of who you are today. There are a number of fantastic yoga blogs which serve as journalling for the authors. Some of my favourites who share the more emotional/trans-formative side of their yoga practice include:
A teen’s life is full of change, stress, peer conflicts, relationships, academics, part-time jobs, life altering decisions, and discovering oneself. Yoga can be instrumental in assisting teens in becoming their best selves and dealing with the daily challenges of this chaotic time of life.
There are three principle areas in which yoga can benefit teenagers: Physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Physically
Teenagers’ bodies are undergoing tremendous changes. Their hormones are all over the place and they are going from children’s sizes to adult sizes in everything from shoes to dinner entries. Yoga helps teens deal with these radical changes. By strengthening the body as it grows, the proper form and alignment is created. Yoga helps tone the entire body including the key core muscles which will aid in coordination, balance and good posture. Natural flexibility is also improved as yoga lengthens muscles and increases mobility in the joints. Additionally yoga will help equalize energy. It helps to revitalize low energy and tempers hyperactivity which leads to more even moods and energy levels. Another way yoga helps teens is to develop healthy sleeping patterns. Yoga helps regulate sleep/wake rhythms allowing for deeper, more restful sleep and a greater sense of vitality when awake. This is especially helpful for teens as they are busy growing and need all the rest they can get.
Mentally
The number one way yoga helps teens mentally is with creating a healthy body image. Yoga focuses on an internal perspective. As teens recognize their attributes and begin to value their contributions they value themselves more. They develop gratitude for what their body can do and are less critical of themselves and others. They then transfer this inner work to their outer body and see themselves in a more positive light. Yoga also helps develop discipline and will power. Introspection leads to an understanding of self on a deeper level with clarity coming for what is important and of value. As teens recognize these life goals, they learn to say ‘no’ to destructive behaviours and ‘yes’ to positive ones. This is very powerful and will help them make choices that respect who they are, and what they truly want from life, instead of making choices based on following their peers or on rebelling from their parents.
Emotionally
Reducing stress is one of yoga’s greatest benefits and it applies to teens as well. Teen’s lives are packed with stress. School, exams, schedules, peers, girl/boy friends, family relationships, their future, etc . are all vying for attention. Yoga helps by decreasing the stress response while increasing the production of feel good hormones such as oxytocin. This change in hormones and neurotransmitters results in improved mood and sense of well-being. In addition, yoga increases compassion. Learning to live with peace, love and kindness for self and others is a crucial aspect of yoga practice. Yoga builds upon teen’s connections with others and the world through partner poses and breathing exercises. Yoga also allows teens to unplug. In our technologically driven world permission to turn it off and rest is vital. This time is crucial to understanding the chaotic world in which they live.
This is a general overview of some of the benefits yoga offers to teens which are specific to their needs, lives and unique life situations. For a full discussion of the many benefits of yoga for teens listen to this audio podcast. Or follow this checklist for All You Need to Do to Have a Rockin’ Teen Yoga Class and start bringing teens the benefits of yoga today.
