Yoga program teaches kids how to cope with stress at school and home
New Leaf Yoga Foundation is teaching yoga and mindfulness to kids from marginalized communities where there’s a lack of supportive services.
By: Isabel Teotonio Living reporter, Published in the Toronto Star on Thu Nov 13 2014
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On those mornings when Blain Romain is in a “terrible mood” at school — the kind when he doesn’t talk about what’s bothering him, slams doors and ignores teachers’ requests to remove his hat — only one thing brings him comfort.
“I go to yoga and I feel better. Relieved.” says the 16-year-old in Grade 11 at Bendale Business and Technical Institute in Scarborough.
“It’s like a dog being let out of a cage. It’s like ‘Woooo.’ I can’t explain it, but it takes away the bad and brings in the good.”
It’s a sentiment being echoed by a growing number of youth participating in classes offered by New Leaf Yoga Foundation, a charitable organization that teaches yoga and mindfulness to kids from marginalized communities where there’s a lack of supportive services. The goal is to work with kids who are struggling with issues at home and school, which could put them on the path to facing bigger challenges.
Through yoga movements and conscious breathing, youth are learning to be still, to focus, to relax and to have greater self-control — life skills that stay with them after they’ve rolled up the yoga mat.
This fall, New Leaf expanded its partnership with the Toronto District School Board and now offers weekly programming in eight schools — three elementary and five secondary.
Last month, classes started in the Jane and Finch area at Westview Centennial Secondary School and C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute.
The organization also runs community-based drop-in programs in Rexdale and Regent Park and runs yoga classes in facilities for incarcerated youth. New Leaf relies largely on private donations — it’s hosting a fundraising gala Dec. 3 — and schools contribute when possible.
The goal isn’t really to teach kids about poses, explains New Leaf’s executive director Laura Sygrove, who co-founded the organization in 2007. Rather, it’s to teach them how to understand the connection between their emotions and what they feel in their bodies. New Leaf’s work is rooted in a growing body of research showing yoga and mindfulness can support young people who have experienced forms of trauma.
“Our programs offer youth an opportunity to build their capacity to identify feelings, breathe through difficult emotions like anger, anxiety, stress, and make more empowered choices about how to respond to those emotions,” says Sygrove.
“When these skills are practised over time, youth recognize they have tools within themselves to work with challenges in more positive ways.”
In schools, yoga classes aren’t typically open to all students, but limited to those whom staff think will benefit the most. That means students may miss a regular period to attend yoga and then have to make up lost class work. But the benefits are such that teachers and parents support the initiative.
Child and youth counsellor Jennifer Haugh says that at C.W. Jefferys “word has gotten out” and there’s already a wait list for the girls’ yoga class.
“If we can get these kids to focus and be quiet for a few minutes, that’s a success because that may be the only quiet they have in their day,” says Haugh.
Tenth grader Janeil Treleven, 15, has only been doing yoga there for the last month, but already notices a change: “I’m not mad all the time. It helps relax me.”
That’s, in part, why Christopher Graham of Bendale is hooked. His school introduced yoga for boys last year and the twelfth grader says he’s learned to remain “supercalm” when angry.
Prior to yoga, Christopher used to act out. He shows the stitches on his right hand, which he got after smashing his fist through a window.
“I would hurt myself. I punched lockers and bruised myself. Like, I don’t want to hit anyone, so I hurt myself so I feel the pain.”
The 17-year-old football player also feels the benefits of yoga on the field: “I’m a lot looser and flexible,” he says, adding he’s taught poses to some teammates.
The yoga program was such a hit last year at Bendale, that in late August, as principal Wendy Blain was gearing up for a new academic year, kids were stopping by the school to ask if there was again going to be yoga and if they could join. As a result, the boys’ class grew in numbers and they introduced a girls’ class. There’s also a waiting list at that school.
For Haifa Ali, 16, of Bendale, yoga is an escape: “I go with a lot of stress from school and family problems … When I go into that room and sit, I feel like I can run away from everything.”
When first founded, New Leaf’s focus was on youth in detention centres. It only expanded into schools three years ago, after principal Jason Kandankery of Nelson Mandela Park Public School
in Regent Park reached out to New Leaf after learning of its success in youth facilities.
At the time, he was running out of ideas on how to address the needs of a particular group of children. There was a special education class — made up of students with learning disabilities — where the kids were struggling with behavioural issues, which was affecting their ability to learn and resulting in a high suspension rate. Kandankery brought in mentors and resource staff — but little seemed to work.
“I wanted us to think outside the box,” recalls Kandankery, who learned about New Leaf from a community member. “I had done some reading around yoga being used in the (United) States, in schools with similar demographics experiencing some of the same issues around suspension and self-regulation and it was used to good effect. So I thought, ‘Let’s try it.’”
Results were quick: Kids were better able to deal with conflict, more focused in class, and suspensions dropped to zero for that group.
“We were ecstatic,” recalls Kandankery. “We need to be creative in how we address supporting our children and I think this is an example of an intervention that can be really effective.”
Results were evident at home too. Mother Nicole Scott, whose son Landon Rands, 11, started yoga there three years ago, has also seen “a big change.”
“If something were to happen he would explode and not know how to react,” says the mom. “Since he (started) yoga he’s learned how to take his time, sit down, relax.”
Landon says he’s learned to “breathe and walk away” from conflict — both in the schoolyard and with his 4-year-old brother. The sixth-grader also learned yoga isn’t just for girls: His yoga teacher is Andre Talbot, a former Toronto Argonaut receiver who played in the CFL for 10 years.
Across town at Bendale, twelfth grader Dylan Ramkay says taking a break during his studies to do a couple of poses helps keep him on track.
“I get frustrated if I don’t understand the work I’m doing,” explains the 17 year-old. “I’ll step back and think I need to breathe and try to clam myself down. (I tell myself) ‘I can do this.’ I do a couple of stretches and go back to work.”
Classmate Blain Romain also does yoga on his own time. It not only helps in the morning when he’s in a terrible mood, but is a great way to cap the day.
“I find it relaxes me before I go to sleep,” says Blain. “I fall asleep faster.”