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Last year I decided that I was done teaching yoga for children… forever! I’m not sure what inspired it, but it felt incredibly final. I was asked to lead a series of programs for a summer camp and offered to record them instead of doing them live so that they could be saved and re-used in the future because I was most certainly not interested in doing yoga with kids ever again. Ever.
And then I completed my Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher (RCYT) certification in the autumn. My amazing teacher, Shaye Molendyke designed a training on yoga for teen mental health and I couldn’t resist. And suddenly, I had completed all of the required workshops to finish my RCYT. And now, I’m “official”… almost. I need to complete teaching hours to finally get my designation. This is somwhat ironic considering the fact that I have taught hundreds upon hundreds of hours of yoga to children since I started teaching yoga in 2011. But I am no stranger when it comes to checking boxes and jumping through hoops to get the elusive seal of approval from the powers that be. A new certification to add to my list? Count me in!
So I started pitching the idea for child, teen and family yoga to everyone I know. I was pleasantly surprised to get positive feedback and interest. (If you know of a group of young people who would benefit from therapeutic yoga techniques and education, reach out to me at zenwithgwen@outlook.com.)
The best part is that the wonderful Hope House Community Hospice worked with me to run a program! I got to work with their amazing Child Life Specialist to design a 5 week program for children and their families. The aim was to provide education around emotional wellbeing for bereavement clients and families, followed by a yoga practice.
Each week focused on one of the 5 Big Emotions (worry, anger, sadness, surprise, joy) and one of the 5 Koshas from yoga philosophy. The Koshas are often described as layers of the body, but I prefer to think of them as aspects of ourselves. I borrow language from Internal Family Systems and refer to them as parts of ourselves. The program began with a little social chit-chat, and an info piece. We did not record this part of the class, but if you click on the link below, you will see that each YouTube video has a detailed description to catch you up on the concepts for that week.
But enough about me, let’s check out the classes! Please bookmark, save and share with anyone you know who could use a mood boost from breath, movement and mindfulness. Thank you for your interest in yoga!
The classes are available below:
Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiuivQ0zGoaHiOX-TQ1JKy9-eKrojC2Em&si=aDWqtkbDMP0XIpTL
Week one: The physical body kosha and the emotion of worry/fear
Week Two: The energy kosha and the emotion of Anger
Week Three: The mental-emotional kosha and the emotion of sadness
Week Four: The wisdom/intuition Kosha and the emotion of surprise
Week Five: The bliss kosha and the emotion of joy
ZenwithGwen 