Zen Yoga adds kid friendly yoga session to teach mindfulness at a young age

WESTMINSTER ― At Zen Yoga and Wellness, anyone of any age and ability has the opportunity to learn mental and physical awareness through the practice of yoga.

The local yoga studio gives Westminster residents adult level barre, Pilates, and yoga classes but now they offer a 45 minute children's yoga class every Tuesday and Thursday after school at 3:30 p.m.

Yoga instructors Vanessa France and Jessie Tagan lead the kids' yoga sessions with France usually instructing on Tuesdays and Tagan on Thursdays.

After school ends at 2:55 p.m., the children registered for yoga get a 15-to-20-minute homework and snack break at the Meeting House School cafeteria before Zen Yoga instructors walk them over to the studio. The studio is at 97 Main St., a short walk from both Westminster Elementary School and Meeting House School.

The instructors lead a group of kindergarten to fifth-grade level children.

School-age children take part in yoga classes

Zen Yoga has been in business for a year and the studio has worked with Westminster Elementary and Meeting House Schools to promote mental and physical health education for children. In early 2022, the yoga studio worked with both schools to offer 30-minute yoga classes during school hours.

The class is a great place for children of all ages to have a sense of community, France said, as well as a safe place to reflect on how their bodies and minds are doing.

The push to create a children's yoga session came from seeing the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on kids. France said that now, more than ever, children are experiencing an increase in anxiety and depression. France is a mother of four children, and she was able to see personally how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them.

Building community through yoga

"We just love working with the students," she said. "A lot of them come both days and have made friendships with the other kids. We just see so much growth with them being able to work through their feelings through the practice."

No child should fear embarrassment because they are not able to do the yoga positions exactly as instructed, France said. She emphasized that each session is a safe space for children of all abilities and if a position is uncomfortable or not easy for a child to do, they have several props used to modify the positions to the child's ability.

Each session has a wide range of ages and abilities. France said it's beautiful to see how well all the children work together, respect each other, and how the class bonded them together no matter their age.

"One of the things that we highlight is don't worry about what your partner or your neighbor looks like on their mat," she said. "Every pose is going to look different, and everybody is different. That's been a really great part of my day with working with them is seeing that bond."

Experiencing positive results

For 10-year-old Caitilin Prymack, the Zen Yoga class has been a place to work on her breathing and to simply relax with her friends after a long day in school. Prymack started participating in the weekly yoga classes last spring and she has noticed positive results ever since.

Prymack said yoga has helped her focus during school and has helped her improve as an athlete. She said the biggest thing yoga has taught her is how to breathe when she is frustrated or anxious.

"It's an effective class so I feel a little more flexible and I wasn't getting sore at school, and I feel more calm," she said. "I don't feel like I'm all stressed out or anything. It just makes me so calm and relaxed."

Yoga is helpful to child with back problems

Fourth grader Meya Duval was diagnosed with severe scoliosis last year and her mother, Pam Duval, said yoga has helped her daughter stabilize the curve in her back. Before the children's yoga classes were available, the Duval family had to travel to other towns for Meya's physical therapy, so having these classes locally has helped them a lot.

"We were traveling a lot for physical therapy and at the same time Meya started doing yoga just as an extracurricular activity," she said. "We found out with some of her checkups that the yoga was actually helping her scoliosis stabilize."

Meya Duval said she has a lot of fun during the sessions and it's a plus that it also helps her back.

To learn more about children's yoga class

A kids' four-class pass is $49, and a single drop-in kid class is $15. To learn more about what the studio offers visit zenyogaandwellness.com.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Zen Yoga offers children's sessions twice a week after school