Children’s Mental Health Week: Know Yourself, Grow Yourself – How Yoga Can Help

Children’s Mental Health Week: Know Yourself, Grow Yourself – How Yoga Can Help

Children’s Mental Health Week: Know Yourself, Grow Yourself – How Yoga Can Help

From 3rd to 9th February, we celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week, an initiative by Place2Be to shine a light on the importance of emotional well-being in young people. This year’s theme, “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself,” encourages children to look inward, understand their thoughts and emotions, and use that self-awareness to build confidence and resilience.

Self-discovery isn’t just about what we do—it’s about how we feel, respond, and grow from experiences. Through activities like art, play, movement, and mindfulness, children can explore their emotions in a safe and creative way.

How Yoga Supports Self-Discovery and Growth

Yoga is a powerful tool that helps children connect with themselves—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Here’s how it supports this year’s theme:

Self-Awareness Through Movement

Yoga encourages children to tune into their bodies. Through mindful movement, they learn how different poses make them feel—strong, balanced, calm, or energized. This helps them understand their physical and emotional states, a key part of self-awareness.

Emotional Resilience Through Breath

Breathing exercises teach children how to manage emotions. When they feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, simple breath techniques help them regain control and feel more centered.

Building Confidence Through Practice

Just like with art or sports, yoga is not about being perfect—it’s about showing up, trying, and learning. Over time, children see their own progress, which builds confidence and encourages a growth mindset.

Expression and Fun Through Playful Yoga Themes

Yoga can be a playful and creative practice. Whether pretending to be animals in a jungle adventure or flowing through a calming story, yoga allows children to express themselves freely, just like drawing or playing a game.

Quiet Reflection to ‘Know Yourself’

Each Yoga or Mindfulness session is layered to include a reflection, piece of wisdom or life skill tip. Children are encourage to share their findings at the beginning of each session but this is only optional. For instance, it might be to ‘Hi Five' yourself in the morning, or to start your day with a gratitude practice. This reflection time help children process their thoughts and turn to a state of curiosity and enquiry, which is positive, alert and quiet.

Encouraging Growth in Every Child

As Ricky Martin from CBBC in support of Place2Be’s campaign shares, self-expression through activities like art, skateboarding, or even fun drawing challenges with friends helps children discover who they are. Yoga can have a similar effect, it allows children to move, breathe, and reflect in a way that supports both self-awareness and growth.

This Children’s Mental Health Week, let’s encourage kids to explore who they are, embrace what makes them unique, and grow with confidence. Through yoga, mindfulness, and creative expression, we can help children “Know Themselves” so they can “Grow Themselves” into resilient, happy, and emotionally strong individuals.

Join us in celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week with yoga and mindfulness activities designed to support self-discovery and growth!