Though the children’s art show is coming down from the storefront of the Junior Arts Collective on Metcalfe Street, here, the impact of the artistic experience for the young creators will be long lasting, as will the yoga practice that inspired it.
The six-week program Kids Yoga and Art brings children from age seven to 12 together to learn principles of yoga combined with an artistic project that reflects the course.
“The kids enjoy the yoga, but it is work,” said Jenn Burn, owner of Awareness Yoga Studio on Mill Street West. “The art keeps them in the yoga practice. They have to learn inner-stillness. I use the art and layer it with the yoga teachings. We take the deeper principles of yoga and make it fun.”
The art exhibit is called Finding Stillness and features an image of a person in a seated pose, meant to represent the students, creating an opportunity for the children to express their inner and outer senses.
“On the outside are the projections of the outside world,” Burn explains of the artwork. “The art is about understanding the importance of meditation and why we do it.”
She adds, “I’m trying to teach them that, if there is craziness around you, know you are not that. The children need to relate to their external environments, see it for what it is and then anchor their minds to themselves and move inward.”
Burn said the art images all had a heart in the centre of the figure that would be lit up at the exhibition. The heart was symbolic of being centered.
“I teach them to check in with their heart. Ask yourself what feels right,” she said. “Decide if the decisions you are making are right for you.”
Burn is a certified yoga instructor for children and adults, with extensive training in Hatha Yoga and Satyananda. She has studied in Toronto and the United States and each year travels to India to deepen her understanding of yoga.
As a mother, she understands the physical and mental health benefits associated with yoga for her daughter.
“This is about teaching the kids tools and techniques for dealing with stress and anxiety as they grow older,” Burn said. “That’s a big issue for children these days, even though they don’t know it.”
Burn points to the obvious health benefits of yoga for children.
“At this age there are breathing techniques and meditation techniques. In the tradition I teach, there are specific guidelines for this age group.”
She points to issues such as body awareness, increased concentration, benefits for the nervous system and adrenal function, hormones, posture and flexibility.
Alison Kuntz, of Alma, is a yoga student. She enrolled her 12-year-old daughter, Michelle, in the Kids Yoga and Art classes a year ago.
“I realized the benefits for myself and I thought it could benefit my daughter,” Kuntz said, who like most parents understands that the anxiety and pressures on youth are difficult to cope with, as a child and as a parent. Having an artistic outlet was an important part of the course for her child too.
“The course helped calm everything down and we have some tools now for an outlet if we need them,” Kuntz said.
Her daughter agrees and has incorporated yoga into her studies with Burn who offers yoga to senior students at Elora Public School.
“It helps me relax. I get better sleep. It helps me focus better in school,” said Michelle Kuntz. “I am more flexible and overall, I’m more aware of how my body works and I pay attention to it.”
Kuntz said her daughter’s contribution to the art show surprised her, happily so.
“I was surprised at the depths she found in herself and how aware she was,” said Kuntz. “I thought it was very cool. And it was amazing how individual the art was and how self-reflective and aware they were.”
In a class of 13 students of various ages, Burn is impressed with the student’s dedication and creativity. She hopes these lessons will stay with them.
“If we plant that seed, they do it without even realizing it. These are the skills that, as they grow, they will call upon themselves, using their breath to find their centre … to reduce stress … it is going to be secondary nature to them.”
A new session of Kids Yoga and Art begins in April. For more information visit www.awarenessyoga.ca.
