By Jennifer Cantwell and Katie Rayner
The United Way of Greater Plymouth County Family Center in partnership with the Drug Endangered Children’s Initiative recently offered a trauma-sensitive yoga workshop through Balance4kids yoga. The 8-week course met for two hours each week.
Balance4Kids yoga helps to engage and challenge children, teaching focus and relaxation to help them find their own personal strengths and help them develop confidence. Their main goal is to empower children through meditation and yoga. “The children may not be fully focused on every pose (they are still kids) but they are still learning them. I think when the children are then feeling stressed or scared, the poses and breathing techniques that they learn during class gives them something to focus on and a way to calm and center themselves,” Sarah Piper, in intern for the Drug Endangered Children’s Initiative said.
Balance4Kids yoga program recently trained 20 facilitators across Plymouth County. This training gives children more of an opportunity to express themselves through yoga and meditation. It also gives them another coping mechanism when they feel overwhelmed or stressed out it allows them to feel a sense of calming and know how to better handle the situation.
Included with the trauma sensitive yoga were lesson plans and an activity that went with each yoga session. The craft activity promotes stress relieving activities that coincide with the yoga lesson. One of the crafts included children making beaded key chain with positive and affirming words on that the children can see and remember.
This workshop is designed to give children who deal with traumatic experiences various coping mechanisms to handle their emotions, or anxieties that they may be feeling.
For more information on Balance4Kids, visit https://balance4kids.net/
For more information on the Drug Endangered Children’s Initiative, visit https://hwc.plymouthda.com/abo...lymouth-county-deci/
For more information on the Family Center, visit https://www.uwgpc.org/frc
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