Camerton author and yoga teacher, Charlotta Martinus, invited locals to the launch of her first book on Yoga for Teenagers, which was published recently by Singing Dragon in the US and the UK.

Teen Yoga for Yoga Therapists, a guide to development, mental health and working with common teen issues, is the first of its kind, as it calls for yoga to be part of the school day to combat many debilitating issues that face young people. With the alarming suicide rate at Bristol University hitting headlines and a BBC news report last week citing statistics that a fifth of fourteen-year-old girls in the UK have self-harmed, Charlotta argues that there is a crisis in mental health among our youth.

She says that whilst mindfulness has become very popular at all levels of education, it lacks a certain physical element as found in yoga. Charlotta has been offering yoga to schools in the area for many years, with Writhlington and Norton Hill School students enjoying the benefits since 2003.

With 75% of young women opting out of PE at the age of fourteen (Sport England 2016), yoga offers a non-competitive activity that also has many and wide-ranging mental, emotional and spiritual benefits. 27% of Primary Schools now employ a yoga teacher, and the figure is rising among Secondary schools, too.

Ms Martinus is also part of a national movement, working with the Government to measure the benefits of yoga in schools. Westminster University works closely with the charity, the Teen Yoga Foundation, which she volunteers for, together with 25 other dedicated individuals. The charity has been based in the village since 2016.

Speaking about the book, which was launched in Bath on Saturday, 25th August, Charlotta told The Journal: “It took three years to write (but a lifetime of experience) – the first draft was rejected, as I wrote it for teens, and publishers just didn’t seem to cater for them. The second version was rejected for too much information, and the third version took a year to write. It covers all aspects of yoga and how to apply them to common teen issues.

“The statistics are horrendous – it seems our youth are deeply unhappy, and I think it’s in large part because of the pressures in schools. I also believe that many young people lack an alternative perspective to a consumerist society, and need a spiritual dimension that is unhooked from religion. But attitudes have changed considerably over the last few years towards yoga.”

“The Teen Yoga Foundation is completely voluntary and all proceeds from the book and the courses which we run will go back to the charity. We have no funding.

“It began in response to the need for young people to access preventative healthcare and for teachers and the Government to understand what is happening to our teens at a grassroot level.

“We speak at conferences and at Westminster; as well as keeping yoga and schoolteachers, therapists and doctors resourced by sharing yoga amongst young people.”

Interested readers can access the book via Amazon.