24 May How I've Seen Kids Transform From Yoga

The joy and pleasure I get in going to work everyday comes from being able to watch children blossom into their best self through yoga. I’ve worked with kids as young as 1 and a half years to early teens and have seen a variety of transformations among the ages. As they are already developing physically and mentally in their own way, it’s been interesting to see some kids who were initially squirmy and struggling with things like sitting in a group transform into kids that after weekly yoga are slowly able to be calmer and more self-disciplined. I’ve worked with some kids consistently for as little as several weeks to as much as several years and have seen positive changes in each situation and age range.  Some kids that I’ve worked with over longer periods of time have displayed major leaps in self-confidence as they achieve a new or challenging pose. Oftentimes, after continuous breath work, I see kids that were very high energy throughout class, relax quietly for 5-10 minutes in savasana. I’ve also witnessed rather shy kids come out of their shell as we worked on partner and/or group poses. The best to see is when we discuss how we are feeling or deeper topics like respect of self and others, what does namaste mean, how choices we make (good or bad) are part of our journey and that they are our choices to make. It’s been touching to see the way some kids have such a deep understanding of some of these topics and I believe their reflections in class rub-off on their peers, which is monumental as we know sometimes kids just get through to kids better than grown-ups do.

Finally, as yoga is the journey of the self, through the self and to the self- I am so blessed to be a part of planting this seed in children’s’ lives with the hope that they carry a passion for yoga or well being for their entire lives 🙂

YogaJen