Aerial yoga classes for kids are soaring in popularity in Dundee, as more young people are keen to experience the benefits the practise can have.
The free classes, offered at Heart Space Yoga & Bodyworks in Dundee, help improve confidence, resilience, acceptance, as well as strength and balance.
Finlay Wilson is the development manager at Heart Space and runs the children’s classes at the studio.
Not only can kids take part in traditional yoga classes, the charity also runs their aerial sessions for those who want a different type of challenge.
Finlay says: “At our regular yoga classes, the kids learn breathing techniques and traditional yoga poses interspersed with games to help with attention levels.
“It’s all about building confidence and familiarity with the poses, but also a healthy lifestyle.
“Our kids’ aerial class uses an aerial hammock that is suspended from the ceiling. It’s outrageous, it’s hilarious, it’s pure chaos for an hour.
“But you see kids really coming out of their shell. They are fearless at that age.
“We also differentiate between that and aerial silks. Our silks are seven metres long and we have crash mats.
“The class is more performance and circus arts, so slightly different. It’s all about strength and conditioning, as well as confidence building.”
‘We want to get yoga to as many as possible’
All the kids’ classes at Heart Space are free to attend, thanks to fundraising – Finlay recently raised £3,000 for the charity after completing the Dundee Kiltwalk.
He continues: “We’ve offered community classes since day one.
“We do classes for adults seven days a week and the proceeds from those allow us to offer subsidised spaces and do outreach work in the community, as well as free programmes within the studio.
“We want to get yoga to as many people as possible.
“Our classes are very multicultural. I see a mixing of groups from around Dundee who wouldn’t normally cross paths because they’re not necessarily at the same school or in the same catchment area.
“We’ve seen this really organic development of our own little yoga community.”
‘Kids become more confident’
Yoga is known for its many physical and mental health benefits: But do these rub off on young people in the same way as adults?
Finlay explains: “We’ve seen kids become more confident, but also stronger. A lot of the narrative we use in class is about acceptance.
“There are things they have to accept that at the minute, their body just can’t do yet. Aerial is a great one for learning this.
“If you don’t have the strength because you’ve never done it before and never developed those muscles, you’re going to have to practise before you can do it.
“So, from this, they understand patience and development.
“When they’re in a yoga pose and maybe they fall over, there’s an immediate reaction of ‘I can either be really upset and storm off in a huff, or I can accept it’.
“It’s great because you see kids really coming out of their shells.”
- For more information about free yoga for kids in Dundee click here.
Conversation