Dear Teachasana, What are some tips on teaching yoga to teens? Specifically how to keep their attention while still having fun? ~Yoga Teacher B

Dear Yoga Teacher B,

What a great question! Interest in yoga for teens continues to grow, and it can be a wonderful opportunity to develop your teaching skills. We’ve got a few tips as well as resources for you to consider in how to engage teens:

Ask Them

Whether in school or on the mat, this one is often overlooked. When you’re interested in teaching teens, one of the best ways to find out what they want (and thus better keep their interest) is to ask them. Trust us: they’ll have opinions! Consider preparing some guided questions for journaling or discussion to help them get into the conversation. If you open with “what do you want,” you might only hear the sound of crickets chirping. But if you can ask specific questions, you might get some very helpful information.

Ask the Adults Around Them

If you’re teaching at a school, community center, church, etc., it can be really helpful to have an in-depth conversation with the teens’ teachers/adult leaders. Although they may not have the same perspective as the teens themselves, they can provide valuable feedback about any number of issues, including things going on in their lives that may be helpful to be aware of (and that the teens may not share if they don’t know you).

Keep it Relevant

Teens are like adults in that they want yoga that is relevant to their life. If you’re not sure what’s relevant, you can always do as above and ask them. But some of the universal themes that work for adults are also helpful for teens — coping with stress, finding meaning, etc.

Engage Them

One way to keep teens’ attention while still maintaining a playful environment is to engage them directly. This could happen in many different ways: allowing one of the students to do the opening or the closing namaste, asking questions & asking for feedback (if that won’t derail your plan) or giving each student a small journal and pen and asking them to jot down some thoughts related to your theme at the beginning and ending of class.

Provide a Touchstone

Another way to keep teens’ attention is to provide an anchor. The anchor is a word or movement that you come back to throughout the class. It’s something you can use to bring everyone back to the present moment. You could agree on one as a group, or you could ask each person to find their own — a word that would help them come back into their bodies.

Use Your Resources

As yoga for teens continues to develop, so do the resources. Here are some great ones to check out:

• Yoga in My School has a great section for teens on their site
• Teaching Yoga to Teenagers
• YogaMinded has teacher training for teens as well as a book available for purchase
• Shanti Generation offers teacher training for facilitating classes in peacemaking and yoga for teens
•  Breathe: Yoga for Teens is a book created specifically addressing yoga and teens

With a variety of feedback and using your resources, teaching yoga for teens can be a very rewarding experience for everyone!

If you’ve taught teens before, what tips worked best for you?