Yogazeit Mindful Hearts Project wins Active Australia Innovation Challenge
Announcement posted by Yogazeit Ltd 16 Aug 2021
Yogazeit is excited to have been successful in being announced as one of four Western Australian organisations to receive a $10,000 grant from The Heart Foundation.
Research shows that young people in the Kimberley region aren't doing enough physical activity and often face many barriers. This grant will be used to empower young Australians in the Kimberley region to include mindfulness and yoga in their daily lives. Project Mindful Hearts will provide a health and wellbeing program to remote Kimberley school communities and support teachers to use brain breaks and mindful movement to encourage physical health, mental wellness and mindful education.
"We're very excited to continue our support for remote and regional communities in the Kimberley. With seed funding from the Heart Foundation, we'll be able to empower young people at school and in the community with culturally relevant sustainable mindfulness and movement. Our education programs and classes are planned to predominantly be held at schools, helping teachers to understand and learn the skills to independently facilitate curriculum-aligned, easy to use mindful movement brain breaks to support mental and physical health, social-emotional learning and connection." Regina Cruickshank, Executive Director Yogazeit Ltd.
Mindful Hearts will build upon Yogazeit's culturally relevant Yoga and Mindfulness Education project, completed in June in the remote Ngaanyatjarra Lands region. Mindful Hearts will be fun and engaging while providing two-way learning activities supporting breathing, movement and relaxation to foster awareness for mental health and joy of movement for all classrooms from Kindy to Year 12.
What makes our mindful movement program unique is the trauma-informed framework of evidence-based Yoga, which is then culturally customised to meet the region we travel to. "We found that mindfulness together with movement was a real success for the kids in remote schools. When we can focus kids' attention on the movement and the power of their breath, we can see immediate changes in their behaviour and wellbeing, and the classroom dynamic can be changed with just three deep breaths", says Sharnell Avery - Aboriginal Outreach Coordinator for Yogazeit.
Project Mindful Hearts kicks off in early 2022. Yogazeit is looking for schools and community partnerships to help maximise our impact: Supporting growing bodies and minds. One breath at a time.
If your school or work place is interested to be part of this unique mindful movement collaboration please contact Sharnell Avery at Sharnell@yogazeit.com.au.
Regina Cruickshank
Yogazeit for Schools and Aged Care
0405 551 635
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