The problem 

When I talked to different agents in the area at 4-H camp they mentioned it had been a while since someone had taught yoga at camp, so I was really happy to help in this way. They said the campers were asking what had happened when they saw that yoga was not an option to sign up for at camp the past couple years.

The educational program response

This activity is to help students/campers to slow down, connect with their breath and body to create movements that allows them to open and stretch their bodies so that they understand what it means to take care of our bodies. 

The participants/target audience

The target audience were 4-H campers from 4 different counties: Rowan, Menifee, Morgan and Magoffin

Other partners (if applicable)

Program impact or participant response.

The campers that had signed up for class vocally enjoyed both days of yoga class. Some of the feedback included; a girl from Menifee county, Mara Craft, loved taking yoga so much that she wanted to continue taking yoga when she got home but did not know where to find yoga classes to take. Once of the adult counselors from Menifee notified me of this through social media and I reached out to let her know what types of resources on YouTube and as well offered my time to practice with her if she wanted to do that. The parent acknowledged that Mara would try the online classes first and go from there. Mara had also mentioned that it helped her relax her mind during our classes and made her also feel calm. The Rowan County agent had commented to me that all of her campers that participated in my yoga class really enjoyed the benefits of yoga at camp and thought I did a really great job teaching to them. She said that one camper in particular was going to implement some of these practices when she got home. After each class I would ask everyone how they felt compared to when we started class, both days, and majority of responses were very positive. Some of the comments and feedback I remember from campers were: 'I feel like I have more space in body to move!', 'I didn't know yoga could make me feel like this.', 'I feel like my body is happy that I did that.', 'My mind feels calm after all that.', 'I'm not as sore or tight in my (body part) like it was before class.' 'I didn't know yoga could be fun.'. I would ask the campers during certain poses how they felt all throughout class and majority of the campers would always say that they felt stretch and that it felt good. When we would do some fun/difficult poses I would acknowledge that like life yoga has some strengthening poses that can be hard to do but also encouraged them to not feel dissapointed if they fell out or maybe couldn't do the exact pose but a modification. Some of the students also mentioned that they felt their breath more than they had beforehand, which is important during yoga and something I mentioned throughout each class.