I teach yoga and mindfulness at Day One Recovery Center for teens through Sea Change Yoga. Sea Change brings the healing power of trauma-informed yoga & meditation to all.

The teens in Day Ones’ outpatient therapy program are there for support with substance and alcohol abuse. Yesterday one of the students was graduating from the program and left a testimonial on the board at the end of class.

This particular student shared how much mindfulness, in particular, helped him. He enjoyed learning more about his thoughts and how his brain works. He was always open-minded and excited about the class. The counselor mentioned to him that he did so well in the program because of his open-mindedness and persistence. He showed up and gave it his all each time.

Yoga and mindfulness offer people an opportunity to increase self-awareness. This empowers the individual to be able to get their thoughts under control, rather than having their thoughts control them.

If you’ve ever experienced stress or anxiety you might notice that your thoughts are fast-paced and potentially negative in these moments. We can teach youth to pause, take a breath and then choose their thoughts/actions- a lifelong practice. Planting the seed early will build that ‘muscle’ so it can become second nature.

The thing about all this yoga/mindfulness ‘stuff’ is it’s a practice. Over time it changes us. It changes our minds, bodies, and behaviors. It has the ability to empower us to choose. “Is this the road I really want to go down?” “Are these the thoughts/beliefs I truly want to choose?” If we don’t have self-awareness, we never get a choice.

Yoga and mindfulness help us strip away layers of ego to get to the core of our true being. Our authentic self.

When anxiety is in ‘beast-mode’ our thoughts tend to be negative. Think about the quality of your thoughts when you are overwhelmed, tired, thrown off and irritable. Imagine feeling that way ALL. THE. TIME.

Yoga and mindfulness are tools that build self-awareness, resilience, compassion and emotional regulation. If we can decide what thoughts, words, and actions we are going to choose rather than having our thoughts/emotions rule us, we can change our lives.

Hello!

Over the past 5 weeks, my colleague Erica Marcus and I have been leading Portland Public School teachers through a 6-week course titled, Mindfulness and SEL. Teachers develop tools for themselves and their students to increase resilience, self-awareness, and compassion through mindfulness.

Last week our class focused on “thoughts.” As I use mindfulness to navigate my anxiety disorder, ‘thoughts’ has been the most powerful concept for me to dive into. If we can be aware of our thoughts, we have the ability to choose which ones are truthful vs others that our ego decides to be true.

When we are in a state of fight/flight our thoughts can overtake our body and mind and we are not able to choose a different way.

I remember when I was at the height of my anxiety/depression and I saw this cartoon:

It made me feel shameful and guilty because I was waking up each day with the inability to choose. No matter how hard I was trying to get to the other side I just couldn’t… I was in a state of chronic fight/flight which left me with the inability to use my rational mind. Fear was all I knew.

If you are feeling stuck in a constant state of stress/anxiety you certainly are not alone. I realize now that shame and guilt are only going to make things worse. Beating myself up for feeling the way that I did was only causing lower self-esteem.

It’s that self-compassion piece that was missing for me. “Wow, being in a chronic state of fight/flight is really uncomfortable and hard”. Rather than “Julie, what is wrong with you? Get your sh*t together and pull through”.

If you are someone who is feeling a lot of overwhelm I invite you to give diaphragmatic breathing a try the next time anxiety arises.

Belly Breath

• Sit up tall then relax your shoulders
• Soften through the jaw, forehead, and temples
• Bring one hand to your stomach and one hand to your heart
• Inhale through the nose and begin to fill the belly up with air
• Full breath in then exhaling all the air out completely
• If the breath isn’t going into the stomach area, that’s common- especially if we are feeling overwhelmed. This is a practice that takes new muscles to develop. The more you practice the better you will get in moments of stress and anxiety.
• Practice, Patience, and compassion mixed with this deep breathing technique is proven to help slow the mind and relax the body.

The breath is one tool among many that we can try when we notice that our thoughts are like a million buzzing bees in a beehive. When we are aware that we are feeling an uncomfortable emotion, we can choose to sit with it and notice how it feels in our bodies and minds to create more resilience.

If you are finding that this is heightening your stress and anxiety then we can use a tool like belly breathing to feel better.

Some days we can sit with discomfort, other days it is just too much and we need a tool that can calm the nervous system.

Each day we wake up with a different demand or experience. Increasing self-awareness is the first step in changing the thoughts so we can begin to heal.

This past year I’ve had the opportunity to teach a 1 hour professional development called, Mindful Tools for Stress and Anxiety to classroom teachers.

I’ve been in and out of hundreds of schools over the past eleven years and have found that teachers are craving moments of calm so they can take care of themselves. When teachers are consistently taking care of their students in roles such as a nurse, best friend, parent, social worker and the list goes on, it’s very hard for them to manage their own stress and put themselves first.

Yesterday I got to my PD a little early and got to watch the school secretary during dismissal time. The secretary was managing at least 7 tasks at the same time while 400 children flooded out the door to be dismissed.

This was a sliver of the job I got to see. My mom was a secretary at an elementary school for over 20 years. I would see her overworked and overwhelmed as she put her self-care on hold for the benefits of the school community.

When we get to teach schools how to find moments in the day to pause and connect with themselves it serves as a self-care practice that will benefit everyone. The person experiencing stress and the school community. We cannot pour from an empty cup.

I’ve been talking about what mindfulness is and how we can create moments in the day to be mindful. We don’t need to wake up at 4:00am and sit on a pillow with our eyes closed for 30-60 minutes. We can find these mini mindful moments when we are bustling through the day. We can notice the air on our skin, the way a bite of food tastes on our tongue, the breath moving in and out or the way our feet feel in our shoes as we walk slowly to the bathroom for a break.

If we can empower teachers to understand what happens in the brain and how to shift from anxious to less anxious, they can then teach their students.

We are in an epidemic of stress and anxiety. It’s unrealistic to make our teachers teach stress management when most are trying their best to teach a particular curriculum, take a bathroom break when they need it and attend to multiple behaviors in the classroom. Basic needs must be met before we can truly feel capable of leading tools for stress and anxiety.

 

 

Hello,

Teens are stressed. It is no secret that everyone is craving tools for stress management and healthy coping strategies.

The American Psychological Association reports that “many American teens report experiencing stress at unhealthy levels, appear uncertain in their stress management techniques and experience symptoms of stress in numbers that mirror adults’ experiences.”

The thought of growing up in today’s world with little to no coping strategies would send anyone into consistent panic or fight/flight response.

Yesterday I taught a class that was a humbling reminder of how yoga and mindfulness practices don’t have to look the way you may envision a typical yoga class.

I get to teach a weekly trauma-informed yoga class with Sea Change Yoga at Day One Recovery Center for teens. This week I walked into class and everyone was feeling completely exhausted- emotionally and physically.

We started our class on bolsters (big pillows) in a restorative position with our bodies. We scanned our bodies for tension, practiced deep breathing techniques and set an intention. I reminded them that they had full permission to do what felt right in their bodies and minds. If that meant lying down and resting, that was completely fine.

I wrapped up our time on our backs in the beginning of class (about 5 minutes) and guided them toward their hands and knees into a table top position. None of them budged. I was happy to see they were listening to their bodies and minds, and rest is what they needed. They spent 45 minutes on their backs, resting. They were respectful and genuinely needed time and space to simply relax.

The power of giving people permission to listen to their bodies in a safe space can shift us physically and emotionally. A beautiful reminder that yoga doesn’t have to look a certain way and that lesson plans are terrific, but sometimes they need to be thrown out the window to authentically serve.

For kids in today’s society, life includes many pressures and distractions. Many children are torn between school, friendships, video games, smartphones, sports and other activities. On top of all that, many kids also must struggle with their parents’ divorce.

All these pressures and stressful events can have detrimental effects on a child’s physical and mental wellbeing. However, there is one thing that can help relieve a child’s stress and help them feel a sense of calmness and relaxation: yoga.

Benefits of Yoga

Yoga is beneficial for children going through a divorce because it is calming by nature. When a child is holding a pose or sitting quietly, they will learn to calm and relax themselves. They will learn to focus without being distracted. This will help children relieve stress and eliminate feelings of anger.

Stress is also eliminated when children become more aware of their breathing. Yoga classes use breathing exercises in various ways. They may be used to help kids relax or energize them. Deep breathing helps kids better connect with their bodies. This helps release healthy hormones and reduce stress.

Yoga also boosts a child’s self-esteem. Children learn to express themselves in a healthy way, which is necessary during a stressful event such as a divorce. Children develop a quiet strength that helps them become confident and strong. They are also made more aware of their bodies through an activity such as yoga, which is not competitive. They become part of a group, so they learn to cooperate and have compassion. This helps children develop friendships, which can help them through a difficult time such as divorce. Having someone by their side as they struggle with the stress of life can be very beneficial.

Yoga also brings about physical benefits. It enhances strength, flexibility and coordination through the various stretches. The body becomes stronger and is able to work more efficiently.

How Radiant Beginnings Yoga Can Help

Based in Denver and Portland Maine, Radiant Beginnings Yoga has been focusing on mindfulness for children since 2010. Children enjoy our programs because they are play-based and include fun interactive activities, not boring lectures. Children with a variety of learning styles and personalities can benefit from our classes.

We focus on the use of yoga as a coping strategy. It helps children become more resilient to stress from divorce, school and everyday life. The programs at Radiant Beginnings Yoga use deep breathing, guided relaxation and mindful movement. Children develop a foundation for lifelong practice.

Radiant Beginnings Yoga offers classes for children as young as preschool age. We offer special needs classes, private classes, group classes, self-empowerment for girls, summer camps, birthday parties and more. We even offer audio and video courses so classrooms teachers can just press play and join their students in deep breathing, mindfulness and relaxation in 5 minutes. We would love to hear from you if you are interested in learning more!