Rebecca came down to the Blue Hut and ran some yoga sessions with our young people throughout September. We sat down with her and asked her some questions about yoga, how she became a yoga instructor, her work with young people, and her view on the benefits of yoga, particularly for younger people.
1. How did you get into Yoga?
I was recovering from severe depression and anxiety, so I tried Yoga to help me get well. It gave me my confidence back after being in an abusive relationship. Yoga made me feel that life can be a safe and happy place.
Yoga builds strength, both physically mentally and emotionally. It can help with the difficulties that come with the changing and growing bodies of young people.
– Rebecca Keenaghan
Our young people try to touch their toes
2. How long have you been practicing?
I’ve been practicing regularly for coming up to 12 years, but I was interested in it before that. I had a couple of books about it, but I didn’t make it to class until I really, REALLY needed it.
3. What do you think the benefits of Yoga are especially in relation to young people?
Yoga builds strength, both physically, mentally and emotionally. We know how important it is to brush our teeth in the morning, but this wasn’t always the case. It can still be taboo to talk about how we are feeling but in yoga it’s safe space. Yoga is mental hygiene. It helps us to keep a well-balanced emotional life and give us the tools to cope with the issues we have to deal with. It can help with the difficulties that come with the changing and growing bodies of young people. It does this is by building confidence and self empowerment. With perseverance and practice we see ourselves getting better at stuff we may have first found challenging, this gives us self-belief and a great sense of achievement. All good qualities. Yoga also just makes us better people as it teaches us to care about ourselves, each other and our planet.
Rebecca demonstrates some of the benefits of yoga
Our staff got involved in trying some of the relaxation techniques that are a staple in yoga practice
4. How did you find running the Yoga session with people at SkyWay?
Teaching at SkyWay was great. Giving young and older people a chance to experience the benefits of Yoga (who may not otherwise get the chance) was very rewarding. Hearing some of the young ones say they weren’t ‘Yoga people’ was a good way of questioning why they thought that. What does it mean to be a Yoga person? What do they look like? It’s interesting for me to question how Yoga is being perceived these days or even misunderstood. Yoga is for EVERYBODY. Whatever religion, shape, colour or creed. We can all benefit from the movement medicine that is Yoga.
5. How could Yoga be easily accessed by young people?
It would be great to have more Yoga and meditation happening in schools for one thing. But also with the rise of great companies like MoreYoga who are keeping the cost of Yoga down but still keeping standards high, it’s getting more accessible for people from all walks of life
Yoga also just makes us better people as it teaches us to care about ourselves, each other and our planet.
Thank you so much for answering our questions, before you go could you tell us one interesting fact about yourself?
Hmmm. The first place I traveled to out of the British Isles was to the Amazon Jungle in Peru. I didn’t do much travelling when I was younger. I wanted to but didn’t have the opportunity. So it was a really big deal for me at 25 to be travelling so far to experience nature on such a profound level and with my now husband. It was amazing!
We would like to say a huge “thank you” to Rebecca for taking the time out of her day to sit down with us and answer some of our questions. You can find Rebbeca at:
- Web: https://www.justrelaxyoga.co.uk/
- Email: rebecca.keenaghan@ymail.com
- Phone: 07500 444 558
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