87. Empowering Youth Through Yoga with Laurie Brockhaus

Laurie Brockhaus has worked with youth in the St. Louis area since 2000, as a classroom teacher and social worker in school and community organizations, and has taught yoga to children and adults since 2004. She brings together years of experience in education, social justice work, therapy, and yoga/ mindfulness. Laurie co-founded and directs The Oxygen Project: Yoga for Youth which empowers youth through the tools of yoga and mindfulness by offering low or no-cost programming at schools and youth agencies in underserved communities. She also coordinates yoga teacher training programs and instructs group sessions at Urban Breath Yoga. Laurie is certified as a Yoga Therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists; she often instructs yoga trainings relevant to mental health and social service and is a mental health and yoga therapist in private practice, specializing in work with children and adolescents.   In the conversation, Laurie shares her yoga story and what inspired her to begin sharing yoga with underserved communities in St Louis. She describes why offering yoga and mindfulness programming in school systems to all children is so important and the challenges and rewards that come along with that work. She also talks about how she has been caring for herself during the pandemic and the blessings she's found within it all. Listen in NOW!