Teaching yoga and mindfulness to guide and scout groups

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Have you considered delivering a yoga or mindfulness session for a community group such as guides or scouts?

This is something that I have done before and I think it can be a really lovely thing to do for a number of reasons.

In this blog. I’m going to share with you reasons why I think it can be great and also I’ll answer some frequently asked questions about this subject.

Why do it?

1. It can be really fun to teach these groups. You may even have been to a club like this yourself as a child and it might feel good to ‘give back’.
2. It can be a fabulous way to make connections. Scouts and Girl guides are really big organisations,  Squirrels, beavers cubs, scouts, explorers in the scouts and Rainbows, brownies, guides, rangers in the guides. There is a really big age range of children and adolescents that go to these groups. There are often multiple groups in the same city- it might be worth finding out your local groups. It is a great way to become more ‘visible’ in your community- you can share information about other services that you offer that might be of interest to them. For example, you could give fliers out about classes or workshops that you run in the local area.
3. There are lots of badges that these groups work towards that yoga and mindfulness skills can fit into and your skills are a perfect fit!

Questions I’m often asked:
 
Should I charge?
This is a really personal one. I know many people do this for free as they may know the group, perhaps their child goes there. My own personal opinion of this is there needs to be a fair energy exchange.  For me, if I give my time, energy and resources (driving their and back use of my equipment etc) and there is no energy given back to me – I feel resentment. I personally do charge for these experiences, but some don’t and you may feel like there is a fair energy exchange in sharing details of another class or service that you are trying to promote. It really is a personal thing and you need to do what feels good for you.
 
How do I manage behaviour?
Meeting groups of kids for the first time can be a bit overwhelming! Here’s some tips:

• Find out if there are any children or issues that you should be aware of prior to the session.
• Watch this video about boosting behaviour or read this blog
• Try and set up either before the children arrive or ensure that the children are occupied elsewhere while you get yourself organised. This helps you feel calm and prepared rather than trying to set up when children are all everywhere!
• Keep it super simple! Don’t have too many different props to use or too many different games, if you have too much going on, you are more likely to forget what you are up to and feel stressed!
• Keep it safe If you don’t know the children, avoid anything that could be dangerous (this means no acro-yoga!). Make sure you have a risk assessment and insurance in place.
• Keep it YOU. It can be really tempting to ask advice everywhere about what to include and for ideas for plans, but I recommend sticking to a simple structure that you know works for you. If you don’t have a plan that works well for you, check out this planning grid that I use.

 
What should I teach in the session?
It depends! Make sure that you know the outcomes that the group are hoping you will meet. There may be some aspects that you need to include for children to achieve a certain badge.  Other than that teach what you are comfortable with! What has worked for you with this age group before? What do you love to share?
 
Sounds great, how can I do it?
Check out these links here:
Scouts local groups
Girl Guides local groups
Find your local groups and get in touch with them 😊
 
Reaching out and working in the community can be really great for growing your business and also your confidence. Consider if this is something that you would like to do and how it could work for you in your kids yoga business.

I'd love to hear from you, is this something that you have done? How has it worked for you?

Would you like to work with me? Email me [email protected]