Bliss.ed

Peer-to-Peer Course for young people and teenagers

Look after your mental health through yoga and mindfulness.
Help others do the same.

Managing school, relationships, emotions and life choices is challenging enough. Add in stressful events, uncertainty about the future, and pressure from social media, and life can feel overwhelming. 

Too many people feel stuck in a spiral of anxiety, with no clear path forwards. We mentor young people to develop individual strength and resilience, growing in confidence as they find ways to cope, adapt and thrive.

Bliss.ed by Shift helps teenagers and young people to:

◖ Use breathing, movement and mindfulness to manage stress

◗ Be creative with yoga: you decide how, when and where you use the techniques in your day-to-day life 

◖ Share what you’ve learned with friends struggling with the same issues

Imagine having a personal toolkit for mental health and wellbeing…

◗ You’re about to go into a big exam – so you quietly use breathing exercises to lower your anxiety level.

◖ You’re frustrated by something that’s just happened at home – but you’re able to quickly take a breather and calm yourself down.

◗ Your thoughts won’t stop racing and you can’t switch off – a yoga sequence helps you to move stress out of your body, reconnect and feel grounded.

◖ You start judging yourself after watching a video on social media – but you break that comparison cycle by using positive affirmations to help build your confidence. 

◗ Your friends are inspired by the impact yoga is having on your life – you have fun practising together and sharing what you’ve learned.

Be part of our Shift Community

Yoga for teenagers: what’s different about the Peer-to-Peer course?

Young people come away from the Bliss.ed course with something important to pass on. As well as developing their own self-care tools, they instinctively start bringing wellbeing strategies into their everyday interactions.

When things get tough, teens may not open up to parents, teachers, or counsellors. They find role models among their peers and look to them for guidance. With supportive training, young people can positively influence and inspire their friends, helping to prevent mental health problems like anxiety and depression.

By mentoring young people to be leaders and role models, Bliss.ed can have a huge impact on young people who may never have signed up to a yoga or mindfulness class if it hadn’t been for this programme.

Our Bliss.ed students are always surprising us with their innovative ideas for sharing wellbeing techniques with their peers and making healthy strategies a normal part of day-to-day life.

  • “I use yoga as a means of anger management. I use it every day. I like to use breathing techniques when I’m not thinking straight. I count my breaths, breathe in for 4 and out for 8 seconds and it helps distract me from thoughts and feelings and calm me down.

    -Asher Courts 17 years old male

  • “I do lots of football during the week and yoga helps me relax my muscles and mind so that I don’t get stitches and cramps.”

    -Orson Robert 11 year old boy

  • “I suffer from some issues with depression, yoga keeps me on top of that. I feel bad, come to yoga and feel good, it’s literally like medication, it’s so good!”

    -Max Munro 23yr old male

  • “Because I have yoga and this wonderful tool, I find that I am less stressed and worried about exams and I sleep better.”

    -Ishani Mukerji 16 year old female

What does the course involve?

Whether you’re an educator or a student discover what’s included in the course.

  • We’ll kick things off by bringing all the participants for a 3 hour session to start the course together. You’ll meet other young people who share your interest, and feel inspired about what’s to come.

    Halfway through the course, we’ll have another meet up: this time for a whole school day to go through some of the content as a group.

  • You’ll access the course content through our online learning management platform. Most schools will allow at least an hour a week for this during PE lesson time. Then you’ll need to spend about 2 hours at home each week completing the e-learning, coursework, and your personal wellbeing practice.

    Through the online learning modules, we’ll cover:

    ◗ breathing techniques

    ◖ movement sequences

    ◗ guided relaxation

    ◖ beginner’s meditation

    ◗ mindfulness tools for day to day life

    And we’ll also help you understand why they work: you’ll discover the science behind the practices, and how these strategies positively affect your nervous system, body and brain.

  • We’ll help you to create your own daily personal practice, based on ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ to help with your own mental, emotional and physical health.

    Throughout the course, you’ll also have our support to develop your leadership skills and we will train you how to share what you’ve learned with your friends.

  • You’ll complete the course with an observation of your teaching to friends or peers. And we’ll meet up in-person again to celebrate and hand out your certificate!

Want to know more? Head to our FAQ’s section or get in touch with your questions.

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Who is the Bliss.ed course for?

At Shift, we believe yoga is for absolutely everyone - we want to see it become more accessible, more diverse, and more inclusive. This course is an opportunity for young people to grow as leaders and wellbeing ambassadors. 

Bliss.ed brings together young people, schools and professional yoga mentors: 

◖ A teacher leading the implementation of this project in their school works with Shift to explore how the course will fit their setting and plan the timetable.

Schools can choose whether to:

Share the opportunity with whole year groups, so students can make an application; OR invite individual students who would benefit from taking part.

◗ Depending on their school, young people either make their application online, or if they have been invited by a teacher they accept their place by signing the course agreement here along with their parent or guardian.

◖ Students are ready to begin the course and work together with our team of experienced yoga teachers.

We love getting to know young people who want to find creative solutions to take care of their own mental health and make a difference in their friendship groups, schools and communities.

  • “I’ve been running a wellbeing enrichment option for year 12 and year 13 every Wednesday afternoon. It’s been a little bit different due to Covid but it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve been furthering my knowledge by continuing to do yoga classes. Thank you for the amazing opportunity of the Bliss.ed ambassador training. I want to go on and do my 200hr training and become a yoga teacher once I finish my A-levels.”

    -Emily newman Penny Bournside School

  • “I found the bliss.ed ambassador half training day very enjoyable and it really improved my day..I felt much more relaxed in lessons.”

    -Lottie Maurcie Bournside school

  • “During each session students have been happy to engage with yoga, most doing it for the very first time. Robin sets an appropriate tone where students respond openly to her instructions and she manages to hold their focus whilst they attempt postures. Feedback from our students has been great, and they request more yoga in school.”

    -Ann Hobdell -Teacher at Rednock secondary school

  • “It’s hard to sum up how important Robin is to me and my 2 teenage daughters (14 and 17). I thought, ‘I want this beautiful, vibrant, inspiring young woman in my girls’ lives’. Both of my girls attend her yoga classes. They talk enthusiastically about the classes and now practice yoga and meditation at home. My eldest has been invited to assist Robin in a new class, boosting her confidence and she is now considering training to become a Yoga teacher herself ”

    -Juliette Saville - Parent

  • “Robin has been teaching my husband, daughter and I yoga. I can honestly say that we have all noticed significant benefits as a result of this. Greater awareness of the body and the mind and how they connect, an improved sense of relaxation and emotional well being. Robin is a great teacher, adapting sessions as we go, to our individual requirements and needs. I have started to incorporate some of the things I have learned, such as the breathing techniques, into my day to day activities and I have found them so helpful.”

    -Doctor Sally Morgan

Ready to start breaking cycles of stress and anxiety for yourself, your friends and your peers?

If you’re a young person that wants this to start in your school or a teacher that wants to offer this to their students, contact us and we’d love to explore how we can get this programme going in your school.

The Shift Story

Founded by Robin, Shift Movement has grown into a team of skilled yoga teachers delivering a range of innovative courses.

While still at secondary school, Robin experienced the huge impact of yoga and meditation on her own mental health and confidence, ability to learn effectively, and formation of healthy relationships with peers. After struggling academically and following years of bullying in Primary and year 7, she was motivated to share yoga with others.

She realised that not everyone has the same access to these life-changing opportunities for improved wellbeing.

So, in 2015 she trained to become the UK’s youngest certified yoga teacher, and immediately began passing her knowledge on to friends, receiving the Princess Diana Award, for improving the lives of others through her work.

Shift has since grown, with a team of 8 yoga professional yoga teachers and incredible sponsors, with diverse experience working in: education, health, art and charity sectors. Shift has delivered an arts and wellbeing festival, trained 100 teachers in Gloucestershire and reached thousands of young people through workshops, assemblies, clubs and courses.

At Shift, the goal isn’t doing a handstand or fancy yoga pose on a beach and posting it on Instagram! We work to see sustainable positive change in people’s day-to-day lives, happiness and health. We see yoga like brushing your teeth - basic hygiene for the mind!

As our participants prioritise daily self-care and implement the skills they learn in yoga for themselves, changes ripple out into the way they interact with their families, friends, colleagues and students, and how they approach challenges and handle stress.  They’re able to share these tools with a wide variety of people who may never have had the chance to try them otherwise.

If you think that traditional yoga and wellbeing sessions aren’t for you, we’d love to show you something a little bit different.

Frequently asked questions about the Bliss.ed course

  • No, beginners are welcome! Any previous experience of yoga you’ve had will be helpful, but we’ll teach you what you’ll need to know on the course.

  • It’ll be a mixture of both. Most schools will allow some PE lesson time for the learning, but you’ll probably need to spend about two hours each week in your own personal time completing the e-learning, coursework and your personal wellbeing practice.

  • This will depend on your school, but most of our students complete this course when they’re not studying for formal exams (in year 8 or 9). GCSE and A-level students are also welcome to apply if your school is happy with this.

  • You’ll be able to contact your Shift mentors on the learning platform if you feel stuck at any point. You’ll also be paired with another young person taking part so that you can support each other along the way.

  • That’s natural before beginning the training - we’ll be giving you lots of ideas, and you can also swap innovative ideas with other young people on the course.

  • No. This is a short course of 25 hours, and you would need to complete more training to become a fully qualified yoga instructor. But you will come away with lots of tools and tips to share with your friends and family.

Want this at your school?

If you’re a young person, teacher or parent and this project isn’t happening in your school but you want to find out more, please get in touch with us - we’d love to hear from you!