This summer, I spent two weeks at a sleepover camp teaching yoga to teens. It was my first time teaching older youngsters. At first I was nervous, and tried to change things up, but then I decided to trust in the teachings of the yoga sages who created the Ashtanga yoga system for 12 year old boys, and just teach what I know and love. And it worked. The teens caught on. They worked hard. They stopped chatting with their friends or looking around to see who was watching. My classes were filled with enthusiastic and interested people who seemed able to shelve their insecurities with their shoes at the entrance of the studio.
This week, I am pleased to invite teens to our WEDNESDAY evening practice. A new student asked if she could bring her teenaged daughter, and I suddenly remembered the request of one of my summer students, the one who lives with me. She had, gotten so much out of the regular yoga sessions, with some degree of surprise I might add, that she had begged me to keep that up during the year. She said she finally got why I spent so much time in these weird poses all these years.
If you know a teen or have one in your proximity, invite him or her this week, and you can come for free. The benefits of such a practice for our youth cannot be overemphasized. At a time when we feel most insecure about our bodies and thoughts, yoga can bring us in, soften and secure the all too powerful meanderings of our minds and allow us to learn a moment or two of how simple and pure our lives have the possibility to be.
MONDAY FEB. 8 8:30-9:30 AM
WEDNESDAY FEB. 10 6:30-7:30 PM
In appreciation,
Michelle
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