Protecting youth mental health

Every child’s path to adulthood—reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and dealing with problems—is different and difficult. Many face added challenges along the way, often beyond their control. There’s no map, and the road is never straight.

Fun moves for focus

Yoga is a mind-body-heart practice so it makes sense that different Yoga Asana’s (Poses) have different effects on our body.  Balancing poses are a great way to foster focus and concentration and also help us tune into any imbalances we may have in our bodies.  For instance, when doing Tree Pose most people will notice that there is one side of their body that feels more steady. 

A simple activity to help kids feel centered and balanced is below.  I call it Moving Mountains

Start in Tadasana or Mountain Pose.  To make it fun and easy to remember I tell children that Mountains have 4 S’s.  They are stable, straight, silent and still. (The silent and still is usually the trickiest for them!) Ask them to place their feet like train tracks (parallel) and feel their feet rooted to the earth.

From here you can explore shifting the gaze upward or closing the eyes and seeing if you can feel balance in your body.  You can begin to place with balancing postures by lifting one foot off the ground and then the other. (Everything we do in yoga on one side we do one the other!)  Ask them to notice, without any judgement, how each side felt in their body and if any thoughts came up in their  mind.   Practicing balancing postures is a good lesson in Yoga is a practice not a perfect as well as help us tune into our own Mind-body connection.

Kids yoga benefits

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of yoga for the reduction of symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth.

Happy new year!

Wishing everyone sweet new beginnings and a healthy and happy 2022! Stay turned for exciting new announcements and offerings coming this year. We are most grateful for your involvement in our yoga and wellness programming for kids!

Yoga for kids anywhere

Join Lauren Chaitoff and Yogi Beans, available exclusively on Omstars! Get your kids to start practicing yoga with Lauren Chaitoff's Yogi Beans Course on Omstars! This course offers classes designed for children aged 3 to 13 to immerse themselves into the world of yoga.

Visit Yogi Beans on Omstars >

Play with contrast

Bean TIP: Play with Contrast

One of the most helpful tools I’ve discovered for getting kids to cooperate during class is to play with CON/TRAST.  If you want kids to stand still in Mountain pose, for example, first let kids wiggle around and jump.  If you want kids to be quiet while repeating a mantra in their head first let them say it out loud in a BIG VOICE. 

Using contrast not only engage kids and fosters cooperation in learning, it’s use as a mindful anchor of attention can help reduce an overly heightened stress response in thoughts and feelings. This suggestion comes from Susan Kaiser Greenland in her book Mindful Games: Sharing Mindfulness and Meditation with Children, Teens, and Families.