Local children benefit from yoga-infused mental-health counseling

Ten tiny shoes sat in a pile outside the room, and the laughter of children burst through the door as Brianna Schiavoni and her class of children struck a dead bug pose on a Sunday afternoon last month.

Some had spent their young lives battling depression, dyslexia and bipolar disorder. But as they contorted their bodies and quieted their minds, their symptoms subsided.

In Schiavoni’s eyes, yoga has the power to heal.

Through her business, Yoga 4 Youth, the 34-year-old renaissance woman — she’s a mental health counselor, clinical social worker and yoga instructor — has channelled all of her passions to help children in the community achieve mental-health equilibrium.

Schiavoni said she wants her classes to be a place parents and caregivers can turn to, as they are often too spread-out to have the resources they need for children with conditions.

“I hope to continue to build a community that is interested,” she said. “I feel very strongly that it takes a village to raise a child.”

Schiavoni’s classes, which cost $30 per 90-minute session or $200 for 10 sessions, focus on the practice of mindfulness, a form of meditation that teaches her students from kindergarten to 10th grade to focus on the present.

Through yoga poses, games and discussion, Schiavoni helps students identify what makes them feel happy and how to create “ups” when life has them feeling “down.”

She said she has seen her students improve their social, motor and communication skills, along with their self-esteem.

Parents, too, have noticed the impact the class has had on their children.

Christine Miller, whose 7-year-old son Hayden Fletcher shows symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, said Schiavoni’s yoga therapy has helped him stay focused in school and contain his emotions.

Miller said she has worked with her son’s school and tried other methods to help him, but yoga therapy has proved to be the most successful, because Hayden can use what he learns in class at home.

Surrounded by other children struggling in their own ways, Miller said, Hayden feels welcome.

“Instead of being the odd one, it’s nice for him to feel normal for a while,” she said.

Jessica Krauth, a UF second-year master’s student in mental health counseling, has volunteered with the program for the last year.

The 24-year-old said the program gave her experience working with children she never would have gotten during the first year of her program without Yoga 4 Youth. She said she believes in the goals of Schiavoni’s program and the creative methods she uses to reach them.

“You can’t get a child to meditate, but you can play yoga games with them,” Krauth said.

Through her program, Yoga 4 Youth, 34-year-old Brianna Schiavoni has channelled her passions for mental-health counseling and yoga to help children in the community achieve mental-health equilibrium.