By Liz Bragdon, Our Place Studio
Yoga can be a wonderful body-mind-heart-buiding practice for tweens and teens. Yoga provides a framework, based in physical activity, breathing, self-inquiry, and meditation, to help adolescents tune into their changing bodies and feelings with more compassion and appreciation. Yoga also teaches them how to use the breath as a tool to help defuse and transform stressful situations, thoughts and emotions. And, perhaps most importantly for this age-group, a Yoga practice can provide a safe, motivating space to learn more about themselves – a process that occupies the days & nights of most kids in this age-group. At heart, Yoga is about tuning into your own clear, honest voice. It has often been called “meditation in motion,” a description that fits well. It’s entirely non-competitive – the only relationship that matters as you are practicing is the one to your own body, mind & heart. Yoga encourages curiosity, respect and appreciation for one’s self and one’s health; it asks you to examine your thought processes, emotions, and assumptions in order to understand and even transform them into healthier ways of thinking, feeling & doing, helping to build greater confidence, self-esteem, self-compassion, and overall physical health. When we care for and value our self, we more naturally and easily extend the same compassionate regard to others. Our children are under intense pressure from peers, from a media culture that thrives on making them feel not good enough, from the expectations generated by school and what comes after. In that kind of pressure cooker, undergoing the rapid often confusing physical and emotional upheaval of adolescence, Yoga provides kids with a neutral space to engage in personal inquiry, as well as learning & growth through movement and postures, breathing, mindfulness practices, games, positive peer interactions, journaling, and discussion. www.opcovington.com
Liz Bragdon is a Yoga Instructor and Movement Educator at Our Place Studio in downtown Covington. Learn more about Liz’s work at www.move-with-me.com
