It was an honour to be asked to speak at the Festival in 2022, although we soon realised that with 300 speakers over 2 days, there would be a lot of choice for the attendees. Keynote speaker Amanda Spielman delivered an impassioned talk about Ofsted and how schools cannot separate wellbeing from education, the two
Category: TeenYoga News
TeenYoga Ambassadors
As climate strikes pepper the land, it strikes me how one little person from Sweden has inspired millions to speak up about what they are passionate about – Mother Earth.
I had the privilege of spending Monday evening with 8 hand-picked young yogis in London. They had all been through a selection process and were chosen for their passion and experience in yoga.
Inspired by Greta Thunberg and the influence she has had in the world, young people are gathering together to offer their solution to the worlds’ problems. These young people have all practised yoga for many years already. Two of them were on the autistic spectrum. They came to be trained to share yoga with their peers in the new programme run by the Teen Yoga Foundation.
Again and again we hear the cry from the young – we are experiencing a mental health crisis, but what can we do about it?
These brave young souls will be marching forth into the arena of mental health, equipped with specific training to help others, multiplying the wellbeing effect in their school and other contexts.
In yoga we learn how to lift ourselves up, by controlling our minds, by lifting and opening our hearts, we learn how to be well on every level. Part of being well is recognising our interdependence with the planet and each other. Once we recognise this, we can only support others.
There is no separation between us – this profound truth is experienced in meditation, one young person at a time, finding their feet, finding their way, finding their wellness, lifting themselves and others up into light and hope.
Charlotta, September 2019
On the 18th of June, we were invited to the conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, inaugurated by Prince Charles. We put together a panel of teenagers including Olivia, Maia (15 yrs old), Shivani, Leonie and Sophia (17). Our trustee, Dr Jo Barker who works in CAMHS as a Psychiatrist specialising in Eating Disorders
TEEN YOGA AMBASSADORS PROGRAMME In 2020, mid-pandemic, the TeenYoga charity launched the first Teen Yoga Ambassador course. It had 10 girls join. Here are some of their stories; Joy had suffered severe panic attacks and through yoga, had become a confident and clear-headed young woman. The breathing exercises combined with movement and visualisation particularly
This talk is from 2018, the inaugural speech at House of Commons YOGA IN SCHOOLS Mental health issues are a dominant issue for young people today, and stress is the root cause. 1 in 5 UK teens between the ages of 13 and 18 will experience at least one major mental health issue. 1) According
CLOSING 2021 AND LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW BEGINNINGS IN 2022 2021 will probably be remembered as the second year of Covid, a year most people might want to forget, so much of our freedom curtailed and so many restrictions on our movements. Many yogis have a free spirit and thrive off travel to India
Our first Instill conference took place in London in 2015, with 70 attendees. The conference was a foray into whether there was interest in the topic of Young People, Yoga, Research and Education. The conference was then called Instill. This year the conference was opened by Sir Michael Dixon,
April has been a crazy busy month for TYF with the launch of three new courses. The Teen Yoga Ambassador course has had some publicity and is something that we are all extremely excited about, where we invite various young people from all backgrounds to join us for three weekends to
Coming to the end of Lockdown and of what feels like a year of isolation for many, will be a big moment for most young people. When we are young, our natural tendency is to seek company and role models, breaking with old structures, trying out risky behaviours and finding out
With eternal rain, wind and dreary, cold days, it is easy to understand why some of us feel “under the weather”. In yoga we tune into Nature’s rhythms; time of day, the weather, the season, our monthly cycle and our age. All this informs us how to behave, whether we should be energetic or passive,