Yoga for Teenagers in Taiwan and Bali

By Rutger Tamminga

Yoga for Teens in Taipei

When the global Gurukul Conference was held in Taiwan in 2015, our theme was Yoga for Teenagers. It was many years ago and though Yoga for Teens is a project I have been longing to implement for a long time, it did not really materialize in Taiwan. My personal commitment to continue the promotion of Yoga for Teens is maybe because I was fortunate enough to get in touch with asana practice when I was twelve and learned meditation when I was fifteen and remember how much it helped me personally. Another reason that I am committed is that Shrii P.R. Sarkar somewhere said that (I paraphrase) “If one gets in touch with Supreme Consciousness during adolescence, life will develop smoothly.”

Off and on I did get the occasional chance to share Yoga with teenagers. However, most of the programs have been for younger children and adults. Until now.

Last week we had our official “Think of Something Beautiful – Yoga for Teens” teacher training, and this week this was followed up by an afternoon class for Senior High School students in Keelung, Taiwan. About sixty students attended and they embraced the class wholeheartedly, experiencing the peace and love of getting in touch with one’s own breath, body and finding peace and rest within. The beauty was that the organizers will now help to find more schools interested in implementing yoga in high school. While this is more common in western countries, in this part of Asia it is still not widely practiced. even though Taiwan has a higher than average suicide rate (7 in 100,000) and mental health is a growing concern for students aged 15-19. In fact, suicide is the second highest cause of death in this age group.

Yoga in schools can help prevent the occurrence of mental problems and can support academic learning. Schools that invest in a yoga program for their students find it to be beneficial. For these reasons we look forward to expanding the Think of Something Beautiful activities in Taiwan and China too. There will be yoga for teens teacher training later this year in Taiwan, Singapore and China and in 2026 in Bali.

Yoga for Teens in Bali

For many years I have been passionate about mental health for teenagers. Adolescence is a precocious time in our lives, when there are major glandular changes in the body and teens are expected to take on new social responsibilities and identity. As not everyone passes through this time smoothly, suicide rates in this age group (15-29) is relatively high. Mental health issues affect one in six or seven people on average.

It is also a time in our lives when there is an innate urge for answers to our true identity. Shrii P.R. Sarkar, the founder of the Neohumanist Education movement, has said that if during adolescence one comes in contact with supreme consciousness, one’s entire life unfolds smoothly.

As the teenage years are such a crucial age, I was overjoyed to be invited by the Bali education department to train junior high school teachers from ninety different schools in three districts (Bangli, Kungklung and Gyanyar).

Under the management of AMURT Indonesia and the amazing work of Didi Ananda Haripriya and Didi Ananda Kanika, we spent two days in each district to introduce the benefits of yoga for teens and especially for mental health.

We focused on three aspects:

Quiet time exercise
Bio-psychology (asana)
Emotional Awareness through the fifty vrtti cards of Yoga Psychology.

To support the teachers, AMURT published several posters for reference for the teachers. One set of fifty cards for the fifty propensities was also given to each teacher.
The training introduced the three subjects and practiced the poses, quiet time and games and activities. There also were extensive discussions. Sister Amala, who is the liason between the education department and AMURT Indonesia, expressed her joy to see the teachers discuss emotions as Balinese culture is more reticent, prone to hide behind a smiling mask while deeply emotional within.

As the two days were obviously not enough and only could function as a start, we have continued with online follow up workshops. We mix practical methods with scientific explanations of the benefits of yoga practice for neural and mental balance. The program will continue in 2026; the teachers who are actively applying yoga in their schools will attend the advanced program and we will also open this program in other districts of Bali.

Yoga practice is written in the education vision of the Balinese government. Unfortunately, it is not being practiced, but there is a great acceptance and interest and support for introducing yoga in schools. As there is such a great scope for expanding the yoga for teens activities, we are hoping to employ a full-time facilitator and currently are looking for funding to do so. If anyone is interested to become involved, feel free to contact Gurukula .

The program this time was also attended by several teachers from China and Taiwan, who stayed with the Didis, learned meditation and enjoyed our yoga lifestyle. They also visited Arun’s Wood school, and other local Neohumanist Education projects. We hope in 2026 January we will again have a team to join this activity.

If you are interested in the resources for teenagers to help you start your own yoga for teens program, we are ready to share with you the artwork for the cards and other resources. Feel free to contact me.