As a teacher and educationalist, I have spent over 17 years working with young people and adults and supporting them in learning, assessment and achievement of their goals. It has been my passion to teach and from a young age I knew thats what I would like to do. It took a lot of confidence and doing things that I didn't want to do in terms of jobs that finally led me to the right path but I wish i had known about yoga tools as this would have made the whole process easier. Many young people are not sure what their career vocation is and they can feel under great pressure from parents and teachers to select something early on, and often they pick an academic subject that they quite like but struggle to fit this into a passionate career choice once they go into work.
Young people also suffer lots of anxiety and pressure as part of growing up and this starts at a very young age. When I started teaching Yoga to young students from the age of 7 to 16, I was not surprised that young people knew what stress was and could identify its symptoms and causes, because they have personally experienced this. Schools are beginning to introduce mindfulness and concentration techniques but they are miles away from incorporating this into the curriculum. Parents tend to notice the signs but feel helpless in terms of introducing strategies that work for their children.
I remember my mum saying don't stress about your exams, you'll be fine. But the simple truth is I did stress and this feeling and anxiety was felt throughout my youth and in my teenage years and was simply horrible. As a global issue, these matters are becoming more serious as we observe the rise in statistics in abuse around cyber bullying, self harming and the alarming increases in teenage depression and recreational abuse.
Take note that booking your child into a children's yoga class will be the best investment you could make for your children. What you are giving them is a self help survival tool that they will have for the rest of their life. Simple techniques to aid concentration, manage anxiety, and boost confidence can't be underestimated. The best impact will be for you when your children are confident, good decision makers and can handle themselves out there in the big world and still retain good values to keep them balanced!
