Yoga & Mindfulness Club

😀🧠💛Welcome to Levin's Yoga & Mindfulness Center😀🧠💛

• I have been practicing yoga and mindfulness since 2001 when I was in college at Penn State.  That year, the tragedy of 9/11 occurred, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, my sister was going through her own cancer treatment for the second time, and my mother was laid off from her employer, starting an early retirement.  It was a lot. Things were not good.

• At first, I joined a yoga class at Penn State as a gym requirement and as a way to stay in shape, but it quickly evolved into more than than for me. It gave me a sense of calm among so much unknown and uncertainty.

• Now, throughout teaching, managing adulthood, and with the CoVid-19 pandemic, I have been using yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to help with my own anxiety and uncertainty.  It is amazing how a little bit of movement, deep breathing, and intention has helped make me a better teacher, mom, and human.

• I know that things are very overwhelming and so can starting a mindfulness practice.  However, it doesn't have to be a big commitment and a few minutes a day can be just what you need to reset, relax, and rejuvenate.

• Meditation is beneficial for your own mental health as well as your physical health.  We have so much stress, anxiety, screen fatigue, and pressure in our everyday life!  Knowing how to manage it is necessary in our current climate.

• Yoga is not about postures and twisting yourself into a pretzel.  It is about taking a moment to "be". Taking a moment to be self aware, a moment to see how you face challenges, how you improve, and how you need to breathe through it all. It's about getting up when you have fallen down and how amazingly resilient you are.  Yoga is for every "body": seated, reclined, supported, or standing on a mat.  I hope you will give some of the links below a try!

• I am committed to your mental well being, always.  There are a lot of new stressors everyday that we both can see coming and get blindsided by. Nevertheless, I will do everything I can to provide you with resources and tools to get through any challenges you are experiencing.  Scroll down and check out the links below.  Please let me know if you have any questions or need any help:  levija@abington.k12.pa.us 

Yoga & Mindfulness Club at Abington

Info for the Club and Activity Fair 

Link to Join our Google classroom 

⏱Need a Quick Reset? Here are some Sample 1-Minute Mindfulness Exercises⏱

• Yawn and stretch for 10 seconds every hour, set a repeating timer!

• Give a loved one 3 hugs and take 3 big breaths together

• Trace your hand with the other and switch, watch your hand as it traces the other

• Mindfully eat a raisin/chocolate - close your eyes, savor it, describe the taste, smell, texture...

• Clench your fist and breath into your fingers, expanding them as you exhale

• Read more examples at:  PsychCentral 1-Minute Mindfulness Exercises 

• Grounding Techniques for Kids Who Worry - 10 Exercises that Work by Counselor Keri

🍎📱Smart Apps for Your Phone on Apple Store & Google Play🍎📱

• Click below for the Websites or Check out their FREE YouTube Channel

  • Calm YouTube Channel 

  • Headspace YouTube Channel 

  • Insight Timer YouTube Channel 

😀🧠Meditation and Mindfulness Links😀🧠

• Mindful.org 

  • A Mindful Breath Counting Practice for Teens 

• Mindfulness Mediation for Kids on YouTube 

• Classroom Mediation with Adriene on YouTube 

• Mediation for Anxiety with Adriene on YouTube 

• 7-Min Mediation to Start Your Day with Adriene on YouTube 

✌🏿✌🏾✌🏽✌🏼✌🏻Yoga is For Every "Body" on YouTube Links✌🏻✌🏼✌🏽✌🏾✌🏿

• Yoga for Beginner Teens

  • Yoga for Teens - Yoga with Adriene 

  • Yoga for Beginners - Teens Yoga Class with Yoga Ed 

  • Yoga for Teens - Beginners Class 20 Minutes from Ray Yoga Videos 

• Yoga for the Classroom

  • Yoga for the Classroom - Yoga with Adriene 

  • Yoga for the Classroom - Yoga with Rachel 

  • Yoga for the Classroom - Body Break: Yoga with Rachel 

• Computer / Lunch Break Yoga

  • Yoga for Neck and Shoulder Relief - Yoga with Adriene 

  • 10 Min Neck Stretches to Reduce Pain & Stiffness - Yoga with Kassandra 

  • 15 Min Yoga for Lunch & Office Break - Breath and Flow Yoga 

  • Take 4 Yoga Break - Yoga with Adriene 

  • 5-Minute Break - Office Yoga by beyoutifulliving 

  • Yoga at Your Desk - Yoga with Adriene 

  • Yoga for Your Lunch Break - Yoga with Adriene 

  • 5 Min Standing Yoga Stretch - Yoga without Mat - Yoga with Uliana 

  • 12 Min Yoga for Brain Power - Yoga with Adriene 

😀🧠💛Supporting Research on Mediation😀🧠💛

• National Institute of Health (NIH) - Mediation: In Depth 

• Forbes Magazine: 7 Ways Mediation Can Actually Change the Brain 

• Harvard Gazette:

  • Mindfulness Mediation 

  • When science meets mindfulness:  Researchers study how it seems to change the brain in depressed patients 

  • With mindfulness, life's in the moment: Those who learn its techniques often say they feel less stress, think clearer