Many young people are preparing for exams now – whether it is end of year, GCSEs, A Levels, or Uni exams. Yoga is well known to combat stress. In one study we did together with the CBeebies, cortisol (the stress hormone in the body) dropped by 30% at the end of the class, but more
Category: Mindfulness for teenages
As I was training a group of secondary school teachers, psychologists, social workers and psychiatrists last week to share yoga and mindfulness with teens, it became more apparent than ever that poor mental health of our young adults is not showing any signs of abating. As the group shared the reasons for coming on the
Yoga is a science of wellbeing. It is designed to take the student from a place of lethargy and disengagement to a place of optimal wellbeing through 8 steps: Ethics/ civic attunement Mindset/positive thinking Exercise Breathing practise Inward reflection Focus Stillness Balanced and sustained joy
Last week I had the privilege of spending time with 23 students and 7 teenagers in the South of Spain. There was no Wi-Fi, TV or other distractions. It was a good 20-minute uphill hike to the nearest village. We all found the daily meditation and yoga practise a beautiful reminder of how to slow
Can any two people have the same perception of God? Can anybody perceive the whole of God? God comes to us in all shapes and forms and means. But, do we notice? How do we hear God speaking to us? What is in our minds when we pray? How can we stay
In our accelerated society, it has become the norm to be activated through sensationalist shocks. When we do this, we immediately feel the need to “fix” something that is broken. When we are told how many teens are depressed, in states of anxiety or suicidal, it grabs our interest and we listen. We feel good,
It has been an extraordinary week but maybe for me personally, what was most extraordinary was on Monday evening, where everything happened in slow motion. The exiting on to Parliament square, Big Ben towering over hundreds of people with Corbyn placards and a fervent, excited energy quivering over the entire area, which reminded me of
I heard a story – an anthropologist went to study the songs of the Huichol Indians and found that they were almost all about rain. She asked the chief, “why is this?” The chief responded, “We sing about what we long for, what we miss and what we need. That is our yearning and our
This week I asked my boys why they do yoga, #broga! My year 8 yoga class (12 yr old boys) is entirely made up of boys, more and more each week. Noisy, rambunctious and lippy, they take about 10 minutes to calm down. I am used the crazy chat by now, the giggling, the
Better than, more gifted, more flexible, less able, more friendly, less sociable, ADHD< Aspergers, dyspraxic, dyslexic……. On and on these labels, “help” teachers and parents to differentiate in a class, categorising and measuring outcomes, people, products. As OfSted looks at “inclusion”, and we take side glances at Finlands’ non-streaming, all inclusive successful and happy school