After an initial trickle of stories last year, there seems to be an outpouring now of articles and research concerning how yoga, meditation and mindfulness can improve mental health, not just in adults, but in children and teenagers. In the last few days alone I've read about schools in San Fransisco and in Toronto that have implemented programmes that are providing demonstrable results, and adoption of these programmes is snowballing. By demonstrable, I mean happier children who are behaving more appropriately, willingly, it seems.
This is really great news, especially when you consider that, according to The World Health Organisation (WHO) there are around 350 million people in the world who will suffer from some form of mental illness during their life. And further, according to the WHO factsheet, almost 50% of mental health issues begin before the age of 14. Frightening stuff. So it's great to see the momentum building, and more and more children and young adults being given access to tools and techniques that can help to improve their mental and physical fitness.
PHOTO: Rene Johnston / Toronto Star (c)
This is really great news, especially when you consider that, according to The World Health Organisation (WHO) there are around 350 million people in the world who will suffer from some form of mental illness during their life. And further, according to the WHO factsheet, almost 50% of mental health issues begin before the age of 14. Frightening stuff. So it's great to see the momentum building, and more and more children and young adults being given access to tools and techniques that can help to improve their mental and physical fitness.
PHOTO: Rene Johnston / Toronto Star (c)