How was lockdown for you? I can imagine that everyone reading this has a different response. So why are we generalising young people’s reactions into a homogenous mass? The reopening of schools has been depicted in some quarters as something that might have grave implications on wider society. The media seems to imagine that young people may not be able to act responsibly. Yet, like every other sector of society, some will and some won’t. What seems more clear to me is that the weeks and months ahead are going to be exceptionally challenging for teenagers.
Our young people will need extra support over the coming weeks to navigate a shaky world, where one certainty falls after another, and the future seems unclear. I spent lockdown teaching young people yoga. I remember teaching my group one drizzly Saturday morning, spring seemed to be round the corner and I was planning a new course. By the following week, my class had shifted online. I hope the months I spent with my teen yogis online demonstrated to me and to them how yoga and in fact any other form of embodied movement can offer precious respite in finding a path through challenging times. I feel I’ve gained an insight into what support might be required by them over the months ahead.
I found the period of lockdown liberating yet boring, frustrating and wonderful at the same time. I had deeply anxious moments and yet at other times, I had moments of feeling care-free. I had a free pass to having to be present. After all, sometimes the future was so unclear, it seemed best to focus on the here and now. As we now emerge, blinking into the ‘new normal’ and find it to be anything but, the world seems frustratingly confusing and the future uncertain. I’m not entirely sure of the path ahead, or the regulations I should be following. I can imagine it is bewildering for teens, yet, most seem to be taking new-found constraints within their stride: the joy of being reunited with friends; finding steadiness in a familiar routine and being able to resume their place within their communities outweighing the challenges we all face.
Here is why I think that yoga will help our tweens and teens over the coming months:
Nothing has ever been certain but the last few months have felt a time of greater uncertainty. Yoga offers young people the tools they need to make peace with uncertainty and learn to breathe through whatever challenges come their way. Many of my students have told me that they like yoga because it helps them to feel calmer, knowing that what they are experiencing is normal. Most importantly yoga and qigong give them the space and time to breathe: to really connect with what they are feeling and making space for challenging emotions: for grief, for anger, for frustration and boredom.
I have found that one of the things my students most appreciate about attending yoga classes online is that they are able to plug in to a community and a feeling of connection. Whilst many activities are still able to go ahead with social distancing, this is likely to remain fluid. A regular movement class offers young people a sense of somewhere to anchor themselves and somewhere that they can fully exhale the pressures of being young during a global pandemic.
Yoga helps young people to cope with anxiety and stress. Joining a regular class also gives them a space they can be themselves and can express how they are feelings. In teen yoga classes, students learn to challenge themselves only to the extent that is going to be of benefit. Focussed breathing exercises help them release stress and anxiety and the movement practice lifts moods.
Although yoga is most associated with movement and yoga postures, in my classes, I gently lead students through an exploration of different relevant themes. I want to promote positive body image and good all round health rather than a focus on achieving a certain pose. I teach students to understand and develop their own abilities. I add in qigong (a Chinese energy and healing practice). Young people are able to develop a deeper relationship with their own health and wellbeing, but it also helps them to see their own health and experience reflected within their wider environment and in nature.
Yoga helps focus and during times of uncertainty our focus can waver. Yoga is a great way to increase a feeling of steadiness and will teach teens how to balance. In my yoga classes, I also emphasise mindfulness. This helps young people to recognise their feelings and to develop an understanding of when to take action and when the best option may be to sit it out, making space for the uncomfortable feelings.
All yoga instructors are top professionals, kind and attentive for everyone participating in their classes, they make all aspects of yoga enjoyable and welcoming, starting from relaxing music in a room, taking us for a journey of opening our hearts, stretching, breathing, finishing for relaxation. Classes are challenging but with different options to suit different people.
Thank you, I will definitely come back.