The Oxygen Project, Yoga for Youth

The Oxygen Project, 501(c)(3), partners with schools and youth agencies in the St. Louis area to provide youth with the powerful tools of yoga and mindfulness that equip youth to successfully manage everyday stress and the impact of trauma. The Oxygen Project is one of the only organizations in St. Louis dedicated to offering consistent yoga and mindfulness programming, through a curriculum aligned with social-emotional learning core competencies, delivered by an experienced staff of paid instructors, with programming designed to meet the needs of individual schools and youth agencies, to ensure sustainability. 

The Oxygen Project instructors are trained in teaching youth yoga in a trauma-sensitive manner, and most have backgrounds in education or mental health work with youth. In addition to direct services for youth, The Oxygen Project offers professional development opportunities for teachers, school staff, and mental health professionals, on integrating yoga/mindfulness techniques into work with youth. Since 2016, The Oxygen Project has served 50+ youth service agencies including public, private, and charter schools; afterschool organizations; family court programs; and residential facilities.

Most youth living in urban environments such as St. Louis City experience a tremendous amount of stress that could stem from racism, living in poverty, witnessing violence in their neighborhoods, bullying in schools, as well as the typical stresses of growing up such as family conflict, academic pressure, social pressure, and physical growth and changes. This stress builds and can negatively impacts brain and body development, causing physical tension and difficulty in self-regulation and social emotional skill development. Couple these high levels of stress with a decrease in physical education time in schools and a lack of opportunities for outside physical movement due to unsafe neighborhoods, and youth are limited in physically releasing stress.

Through the physical practices of yoga and mindfulness techniques, youth can learn to:
- increase concentration
- regulate emotions
- learn to respond, rather than react
- decrease aggressive behavior
- self-soothe in times of stress

We believe that these are necessary life skills, and that these techniques need to be accessible to all. The need for feasible, effective social-emotional wellness programs that can be delivered in school systems is urgent, especially now.