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ART OF LIVING FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH THE VALLEY YOUTH AGENCY IN NEW YORK CITY

In December 2004, twenty-five teens from the Valley Youth Agency – from various NYC public high schools - attended the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!), a five day workshop, and a program of the Art of Living Foundation. YES! is a powerful course for teenagers which teaches stress management, anger management, healthy living, and practical techniques to increase focus and clarity which help teens have greater ease in school. The teens, ages 13 to 18, were a mostly at-risk population, and were selected by the Valley Youth Agency, an inner city youth agency dedicated to empowering young people to become responsible and self-sufficient adults. An open pilot study was conducted to evaluate the beneficial effects of the YES! program.

Teens who participated in the YES! Course reported that they: felt more calm; reacted less to provocation; did not experience as much anger; had more control over their emotions; felt happier in general; felt more alert and focused in class; more easily finished homework; and felt less nervous on academic tests.

At the end of the YES! Course the teens wrote: “We speak for all the participants when we say that we had fun the whole week. It was a week of learning relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, increasing awareness, empowerment and stress management that helped most of the young people that attended the seminar. Also, they learned an alternative way to negative habits of unhealthy eating, depression, and unnecessary stress. Everyday we had food before and after the actual activity. A lot of students who were shy came out of their shells. Our point of view changed completely when we thought it was going to be boring, but it wasn’t. It gave us a new view on things such as, exercising with breathing techniques to relieve stress. We were more energetic when it came down to our regular activities such as our job, basketball, baseball, football, and dance revolution. It also helped us be able to calm down in certain situations that we would normally get upset; instead we were more open-minded. It helped us make better decisions because now we have a positive train of thought. This event was very empowering and a nice way to relieve stress. A lot of us walked in sad and depressed, but came out joyful and energized. “

A standardized test for anxiety, depression and anger levels was given to the participants before and after the YES! Course, as well as one month later. Preliminary results show very positive improvements for the teens in anxiety, depression and anger, both short and long term. Final results are being prepared for publication.

The Art of Living Foundation and the Valley Youth Agency will be expanding their partnership for the 2005-06 school year. They will be offering the YES! program in several inner city public schools as a year-long after school program to aid students in long term stress reduction, academic enhancement, and leadership training.

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