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Five-year-old Armani Ayoub stood in her winter coat and little white socks, ready for yoga. She also made it clear that before the stretching, controlled breathing and mindfulness could happen, a little housekeeping was required.

“I'm wiping my mat so you don't get dirty mat, and it makes sure it's clean,” Armani earnestly told a reporter just before she and a group of her peers ages 4 to 12 began a recent after-school yoga session at St. Paul’s Conway Recreation Center.

Armani may not know the skills she’s learning now will help her to regulate her emotions and improve her concentration and focus later in life. But she does know she's having fun and that yoga makes her calm. 

Fun is the goal of the adults who teach the classes run by the nonprofit group Peace in Practice, but they believe the benefits of yoga for children will show up later in school and life. They see it as especially beneficial for students of color.

“Kids are just a bit more present, curious and open to the moment,” said Chance York, co-founder of Peace in Practice. “So sometimes working with youth in the sense of mindfulness and yoga, it just translates easier for them. If you can just connect them to the present moment, they get it and they get a lot from it.”

Battling ‘weapons of mass distraction’

The kids move through three sections during their yoga class: awareness of breath, sequenced posing and stillness. As part of posing, the kids raise their arms to the sky and drop them to their feet as they practice a sun salutation with a fun song. At the end, the kids shout, “Namaste!”

York said one goal of yoga practice is to teach the kids to value their attention and slow down. Children, he said, are inundated daily with screens and media — “weapons of mass distraction” — that keep them from staying focused. 

Mindfulness is an adult concept, so York and his team introduce it in a way kids can understand.

“There's all types of ways to gamify,” York said. “Even breathing. It's like, imagine you have a cup of hot chocolate, smell it, and it's really hot. So we want to blow it, you know. So all of those different ways of just doing the thing, but in a way that makes sense to them.”

Teaching kids yoga has been transformative, said yoga instructor Elijah “Razz” Williams. He’s been with this group almost two years.

“I think especially inner-city youth, they don't often get these opportunities to kind of create their own space. And like, this is my mat, this is my area, and I feel comfortable in it. And so, in a way, I've seen us really empower these kids to create their own space and feel good.”

Williams said when kids first are introduced to yoga, they’re usually pretty reluctant, but eventually they open up. 

“I've just seen them grow in patience, and I've seen them grow in, as well, like, in trusting themselves,” he said. “I think that's a big part of it, too.”

Peace in Practice instructors say learning yoga can be especially beneficial to students of color. Ten-year-old Jakaylah Reed said it helps her relax after school.

“I think more kids should do yoga,” she said. “Because, like most kids do get stressed out a lot, so because of work and stuff. So I feel like that it would calm them down more.”                   

Fifth grader Oba Obayemi agreed. “It also calms me down, and whenever I get hurt, it just relaxes my muscles.”

Local philanthropic groups help pay for the classes to keep them free for kids, but recent federal funding cuts to grants has forced the Peace in Practice to reduce its offerings. 

Still, over the years, York said he’s seen kids grow in how they care for their bodies and minds.

“They know how to use these practices, because we've made them practical,” York said. “If you're at the bus stop and it's really cold out, you can breathe a certain way to make you warmer. If your back is stiff, or if your parents are complaining about their back, it's like, show them how to do this.”

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Kyra Miles | MPR News

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