Teaching Teens Yoga

Teaching Teens Yoga

Being a teenager is intense: those few years when you are no longer a child and not yet an adult. This brief and yet unique stage of life merits its own category: adolescence. Yes, you are still a human being and yet you feel like you don’t belong anywhere. You don’t know how to relate to your parents any more. You feel that no one understands you. You don’t really understand yourself. The future seems at once totally scary and crammed with possibilities.

Or was that just me?

We’ve all been there. Those teenage years are a time of tremendous development for everyone, both physically and mentally. I’m sure we can all recall vivid images and overwhelming emotions from our teenage experience, however old we are. That’s the nature of having been a teenager. But having been one does not qualify us to understand all teenagers. Whilst there are some physiological similarities, the challenges and pressures and opportunities that teenagers face today are continually evolving and may fall out of our area of expertise or personal experience.

In the UK, many increasingly inactive children and adolescents are facing a significant level of obesity. And poor physical health has a detrimental impact on mental health. According to the BBC News article Mental health: 10 charts on the scale of the problem from December 2018, 1 in 10 children aged 5-16 have a diagnosable mental health condition. Half of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14 and three quarters of all mental health problems are established by the age of 24.

With the stresses of economic austerity, educational pressures, the influence of social media, peer pressure, poor lifestyle choices, you end up with a significant increase in child mental health referrals, which coupled with cuts in child mental health support and intervention services, result in the current crisis in child mental health in the UK.

However, if you talk to a range of young people in the UK, you will discover those who are becoming increasingly committed to looking after their own wellbeing. They’re ready to take responsibility for their self-care. They know for sure that wellness matters. The most fortunate among them have teachers and parents and sports coaches and mentors who are invested in the wellbeing of these young people – there are many great adults out there doing a wonderful job at signposting the path to wellness.

And yoga has an important role to play in that path to wellness. As a yoga practitioner and teacher, you know that already in your own experience and in the lives of your students. The great news is that you don’t have to wait until you’re an adult to begin a yoga adventure of your own. Many schools across the UK are already working with qualified yoga teachers to introduce young people to yoga and mindfulness as an alternative to PE or as part of the wellbeing curriculum.

A focused yoga practice can be highly beneficial for teenagers especially when the teachings are taken off the mat and transferred into the whole of life. When adolescent brains are still developing, teaching them to self-regulate is key to a healthy body and mind. Regular exercise has also been shown to increase enthusiasm and positivity, enhancing self-esteem. Yoga and pranayama, provides the tools to combat stress and anxiety in everyday situations. That’s important because stress, depression, and anxiety are often an underlying causes of substance use, or other forms of addictive behaviour, as teenagers turn to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. If yoga relieves stress and calms the nervous system, then young people may be better equipped to deal with challenge.

The mind-body connection of a yoga practice helps a young person come to know and accept who she/he really is and to make sense of his or her insecurity about their changing body, the enormous pressure to fit in and that disturbing uncertainty about the future.

This beautiful ancient practice is an effective positive intervention.

And these teenage years are a wonderful time to explore all that this practice can offer. It’s a pivotal time, as expressed here by American writer, public speaker, former child prodigy, and activist Adora Svitak – Us teenagers are at the perfect crossroads of childish naivete and adult realism — we still believe that problems can be solved, and now we also have the tools and knowledge to solve them.

A yoga practice can be one of those tools.

Empowering young people to bring positive change in their own lives and in the world is such a massive privilege. Seeing them grow in confidence and compassion and developing a supportive community with their peers is an honour.

A qualification in teaching yoga for teenagers is not compulsory in the UK and in some cases, where a yoga teacher has previous experience working with teenagers as a school teacher, youth leader, social worker, mentor etc, then maybe specific training in teaching yoga to teenagers is not essential. However if you’ve never worked with teens or you’d like more practical tools there are some great trainings out there designed to give you specific skills for working with young people and help you navigate the education systems.

When you enter a room of teenagers, you may encounter individuals struggling with varying levels of stress, behavioural issues, anxiety, addiction, depression, sleep deprivation, obesity, bullying and attachment issues. Faced with these complex needs and behaviours, you will need to balance wisdom to structure the session with compassion for each individual. Teenagers can often be self-conscious, so the right level of challenge, positive reinforcement and encouragement

But speak to any yoga teacher who works with teenagers and you will find that this work is the most rewarding part of their teaching. It’s a challenge, that’s for sure, but it’s such an adventure too. Seeing young lives transformed by the power of yoga is awesome! With the right training and support, it is truly inspiring work to offer. If you find yourself inspired right now to look into bringing yoga to teenagers, then do check out the Yoga teacher trainings below, all available in the UK and designed specifically to explore yoga for young people.

Live Love Yoga – Sussex

TeenYoga – Worldwide

Calm for Kids – London

Yoga Bananas – Surrey

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