Jane was nine-years when she came into her first yoga class with a defiant twinkle in her eye. She quickly proved herself to be intelligent, creative, and have great leadership qualities. Unfortunately, she channeled these strengths into disrupting the class for the other children.

Jane was the ringleader of classroom revolutions on a regular basis: plotting with other kids; rolling up her yoga mat and using it as a sword; bursting into loud rap during quiet relaxation. I discovered that at turbulent home life which was the root of some of her disruptive behaviour.

As we got to know each other I discovered that Jane had a special interest in her First Nations heritage, and began weaving traditional tales into the yoga classes. The children heard dramatic animal origin stories and did yoga poses of deer, raven, frog, wolf and bear. At last I had a captive audience.

Eventually Jane started to look forward to yoga and greeted me each week with her big smile. Nowadays Jane is my special class helper. She comes in early and helps me set up. In exchange, she teaches one pose or yoga game to the group.

Unsurprisingly, Jane is an excellent teacher.

Help more kids like Jane find the healing they need and belonging they crave.