The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
Ep 136: Yoga for Teens & Tweens with Karen Pascoe
Description:
Tweens and teengagers can be a difficult audience to reach. They are changing physically, mentally, and emotionally, and that comes with a whole different set of challenges. Dr. Karen Pascoe has found her niche in catering to this specific age group and on this episode, shares some of her strategies and tips for teaching yoga to younger students.
Dr. Karen Pascoe is a Licensed Psychologist, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Therapeutic Yoga Teacher, and an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200) with Yoga Alliance. She began teaching yoga in 1996, and in 2015, launched the Mind Body Life Transformation Center. Apart from yoga classes, therapy and wellness sessions, she offers classes, parties and summer camps specially targeted at tweens and teens.
How is teaching tweens and teens different from teaching adults? What are some of the challenges you might encounter in reaching this age group? Why is communication and connection so important when structuring these classes? Karen shares her insights on these topics, as well as the business side of marketing and promoting yoga for tweens and teens.
If you teach tweens and teens, or are interested in niching down to this age group, or if you just have teens of your own and would like some tools to share with them, this episode is just what you need to listen to.
Key Takeaways:
[6:08] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Dr. Karen Pascoe.
[7:27] What is Karen's yoga journey and how did it bring her to where she is now?
[10:05] What is the biggest difference between an adult yoga class and a class for teens and tweens?
[11:52] What age group is tweens and what age group is teens?
[13:06] How do teen and tween students differ?
[14:57] What motivates younger students to participate in yoga classes?
[15:56] How does Karen deal with students who come in as a result of being signed up by their parents and who are unmotivated?
[17:24] What do Karen's tween classes look like vs teen classes? She walks us through the structure of her classes.
[22:39] Karen incorporates pauses into her classes for younger students. She explains how that works.
[24:45] Shannon and Karen discuss why making yoga an empowering practice is so important for this age group.
[27:23] What are some tools that Karen teaches her students to help them with emotional regulation?
[31:39] In her work as a psychologist, Karen works with tweens and older. She shares more about her work in that area.
[34:35] What are some of Karen's tips for yoga teachers who have never taught a tween or teen class?
[38:23] Karen explains more about what it takes to be "cool" with tweens and teens.
[41:40] What is the most effective strategy to get the word out about tween and teen yoga classes?
[43:42] What does Karen's tween and teen camp look like?
[45:53] Karen shares some resources for yoga teachers interested in teaching teens.
[48:30] Connect with Karen via her website or Facebook to find out more about her work and trainings.
[49:04] Karen leaves us with an anecdote of how impactful teen yoga can be.
[51:08] Shannon would love to hear your feedback!
Links:
Gratitude to our Sponsors Schedulicity and MamaNurture.
Quotes from this episode:
"In the tween and teen classes, you have to have these pauses to engage and re-engage, because they don't have the attention span for that. It needs to be more of a community-oriented experience."
"One of my goals for that age is empowerment."
"After the inversions, because those are the single most calming pose that you can do ... it will be silence."
"I want so much of the yoga to be strategy, for it to be empowering."
"If they are not being taught strategy and skill for emotional regulation, they feel very vulnerable."
"Depression, anxiety, no matter what they're coming in for, it's in their body as much as their mind."