Northern Illawarra local Erika Steller is a yoga and mindfulness teacher with over a decade of experience in sharing the transformative power of these practices. What began as an unplanned venture has evolved into a profound passion, nurturing the minds and bodies of local children. Read more about her journey.

Tell me about your Yoga and Mindfulness classes for children.

I have been teaching yoga to children for the past 11 years, and I love it! I didn't plan to teach yoga to children, but one of my first Mums and Bubs Yoga students nearly 13 years ago asked me if I would think about teaching a children's class as she wanted that for her four-and-a-half year old.

I was curious about teaching children yoga but I didn't know how. I thought of a contact of mine who had been teaching yoga to children for many years in the ACT and I sat in on some of her classes. After watching her teach the classes, I thought to myself that I could do it too – she made it look so easy. I soon discovered it was not easy!

I then did a number of post-graduate courses for teaching yoga to children and a few years later I completed training to teach mindfulness to children in schools. All the while, I practised patience, setting and maintaining boundaries, communicating in a clear, calm and kind way, how to have fun and do some yoga, breathing, relaxation and sitting mindfulness at the same time, how to understand and engage kids, and to listen to their ideas and interests.

I had to dig deep within myself to be as present as I could and to keep on finding my Zen, allowing kids to express themselves – so that I could understand them and build mutual respect. Not yelling or blaming or shaming in response to a child's behaviour, but finding a way of teaching to co-create the classes with input from each child, so they would all feel valued.

I realised my biggest and most important role was to find a way to meet each child's needs as best as I could within the class context, so that my students could feel comfortable really being themselves in my class. It is important to me that I remind myself to see the gold in each child in my class, while we practise being open and inclusive and kind to each other. All of this is yoga.

What age would you recommend children take part in classes? And why?

Children may be interested in and ready to engage in yoga sessions from about the age of two years, but many younger children will be curious about it, especially if their parents practise yoga at home. My first classes for kids were for three- to five-year-olds with their parent, and the parents joined in the yoga play with their child.

For the last 10 years I have been teaching mainly the primary school age group –  five to 11-year-olds. I would recommend any interested child, or child of a parent who's interested, to start at any age! I do find that when children start at five to seven years before they get too busy with other scheduled activities, they often continue for multiple terms – and that's where the most benefits are.

In general, the longer a child attends yoga – over the course of a couple of terms or sometimes continuing for years – the more they will learn about self awareness, ways to calm themselves and integrating a sense of self-belief. Sometimes children only come for a short period of time and get what they need from the classes. A seed may be sown in them that one day they may remember and come back to.

What benefits do your students experience during and after classes?

In my classes, children can increase their self-awareness (come to understand themselves more) and feel valued for who they are, as they are.

Benefits for children attending my children's yoga and mindfulness sessions include:

• Increased physical strength, flexibility and body awareness
• Skills for calming body and mind, improving concentration and emotional regulation
• Enhancing self-belief, confidence and a growth mindset
• Breathing and relaxation skills
• Building on a sense of belonging and social and emotional wellbeing

During classes, we have lots of fun so that students enjoy coming and want to keep coming! My aim is to engage the kids with what we are learning, so breathing practices are fun or interesting and relaxations include visualisation stories; and we play yoga games!

I tailor sessions to the group as I get to know them better, which helps each individual student to feel valued and included whilst building a sense of togetherness. If an upset arises between children, we work it out together so everyone can understand why hurt feelings might have happened – without blame – and how we can help someone feel better, and to know how we might prevent hurting someone's feelings another time.

Why would you recommend parents sign up their kids for classes?

Life is busy and often children have busy schedules with many extra-curricular activities. Managing emotions and relationships in our busy and complex world is super important for children's social and emotional wellbeing, and yoga and mindfulness offer these life skills.

Why do you also host family sessions? What are the benefits?

I have been running Family Yoga and Mindfulness sessions for about five years as I wanted to offer parents the opportunity to experience yoga and mindfulness that is tailored to children, that might inspire them to bring some yoga and mindfulness into family life.

The practices and teachings in my family sessions help to bring connection and understanding, as well as some peaceful or joyful moments between parent and child/ren or between siblings. My family sessions may also inspire parents to incorporate yoga and mindfulness approaches or practices for themselves in their home, which will benefit them and their children.

These sessions are great for younger children to be able to attend yoga with their parent/s or whole family – as my after-school classes start from 5+. While giving parents a little bit of yoga and mindfulness time together with their children, I'm keen to spread the word that yoga and mindfulness can be done at home when parenting young children – even if only in snippets. Snippets can make a world of difference!

When I had my babies I was determined to find ways to continue doing yoga for myself at home and this was SO helpful for my mental and emotional wellbeing.

If we accept that we don't need an hour-long practice and that it can be in a messy room with lots of jobs still to do, we can weave five to 15 minutes here and there into home life with kids to help our own and our kids' wellbeing. If we find ways to give to ourselves, we can also be more present for our children, and ourselves.

For more information about Erika's classes, visit the website www.erikasteller.com.au or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.