Product Details

• Directors: Abby Wills, Michael Kuehnert, Pablo Garrahan, Jose Delgado
• Producers: Aaron Wills, WSR Creative
• Format: NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English, Japanese, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: WSR Creative
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 2009
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002FPX1CC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,141 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Yoga Skills For Youth Peacemakers, a DVD from Shanti Generation, teaches yoga as a path to inner calm, emotional mastery, self-esteem, and resilence. The teachers on the DVD are seven teenagers who use yoga for their own personal development and wellbeing. The DVD is ideal for tweens and teens, ages seven to 16, and includes 18 yoga poses for focus, energy, and calmness; five techniques for stress management and self regulation; mindful awareness exercises and interviews with yoga teens. Abby Wills, a Los Angeles-based yoga instructor with more than 15 years' experience teaching youth, is the project creator; her husband, Aaron Wills (a.k.a. P-Nut, the bassist for the popular rock band 311), supplied the DVD's upbeat grooves. --Yoga Chi

Yoga teacher and New Roads School faculty member Abby Wills has teamed with the filmmakers at WSR Creative to create a visually inventive Yoga DVD program that captures the visual aesthic of young, hip, urban cool. Wills has drawn on her background and training in Yoga and childhood development to provide engaging instruction for breathing and meditation practices and guide the Shanti Warriors - the students on screen.


The introductory screen combines images of youth with a background evocative of shanti (Sanskrit for peace). Available features include a library of poses to review technique, "Choose your Path" which provides a variety of practices, "Breathing Room" with breath instructions, the "Self-Connection Room" featuring meditation techniques and short interviews with the students.


Themes include creating happiness, choosing peace and energy amplified. The practices are taught in a choice of English, Spanish or Japanese, making the same disc suitable for a wide range of students and situations.


Beyond asana (posture), Self-Connection offers Wills' guided meditation instruction to help students "relax and connect to their source of power in any situation."


The segment, Meet The Peacemakers, features interviews with the diverse group of students who pracitce on screen: Dante, Gyasi, Janely, Kaya, Kimberly, Kyoko and Starlight. They reveal the superpower they'd like to have, why they started Yoga and what it does for them and they all express their joy in sharing what they know with others. Clips like shots of Dante skateboarding can be a tool to convince young people of the cool factor or to showcase images of a relatable peer group.


Thoughout, Wills emphasized safety and self-awareness as cornerstones of the practice, reinforcing the uplifting message of self-empowerment and community involvement. --LA Yoga

Product Description

Shanti Generation (www.shantigeneration.com) makes yoga cool, fun, relevant and accessible for all levels.

Join teen yoga students along with teacher Abby Wills to develop your physical, mental and social skills. Music by 311 bassist Aaron Wills (aka P-Nut). Designed for ages 7 & up.

DVD features include:

- CHOOSE YOUR PATH: 5 unique half-hour practice sequences

- LIBRARY OF POSES: 18 mini-sequences

- BREATHING ROOM: 5 breathing exercises

- SELF CONNECTION ROOM: 2 relaxation exercises

- SPECIAL FEATURES: interviews with teen yoga students Sequences Translated in Spanish and Japanese.

Ideal for home use as well as classroom applications. No previous yoga experience necessary.

Abby Wills, MA - For over a decade Abby has joyfully guided youth in movement arts, mindfulness and yoga in schools and communities. Abby's approach to yoga for youth is informed by studies in social justice and development education at Pacific Oaks College. She also holds workshops for teachers internationally.

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Tweens and Teens January 18, 2010

By mystikdance

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was looking for a yoga video to use with my 4th grade class, and ordered the Shanti Generation DVD. It provides a great variety of 30 minute sessions to choose from, which makes it a great deal for the price. It teaches form, concepts, and personal development with ease and beauty, and uses young people (male and female) as the guides through all the postures. They are appropriately challenging for young folks being introduced to yoga, but as an adult I also enjoy the routines. I've been amazed how well the DVD has been received by my class. They now regularly ask for this one over my other DVDs, and are more eager than ever to do Monday morning yoga! It really is geared to the older elementary or middle school child, and I highly recommend it for anyone who works with or has children between 7-16 years old.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Shanti Generation Yoga skills for Youth peacemakers DVD September 5, 2009

By Deborah Van Handel

Format:DVD

I love Shanti Generation's new DVD. It's exceptional in quality and inviting in a multitude of ways. Abby's wealth of experience working with this age group is very clear. I love how Abby gently, clearly and respectfully guides her students from the background, allowing each one to step into his/ her own light. Her voice is both strong and soothing and immediately creates a safe space for adolescents to explore. The reciprocal trust between Abby and her students is beautiful and this DVD offers an invitation to join in that experience. The yoga sequences are fun and easy to follow. I love how Abby offers step-by-step suggestions for greater understanding of each pose. Her choice of language is very clear and impressively age-appropriate. It's real, down to earth and empowering. Meeting the peacemakers is fantastic! The choreography is exquisite, the set designs calming and beautiful and the musical accompaniment is brilliant. In my opinion, Shanti Generation is a very valuable work of art.
I recently viewed this with my 13 yr old very athletic, energetic son. We did a yoga sequence from "Choose you Path." He chose "Being Peace." Amazed that he was wiling to try this with me, I followed his lead. After a few moments I looked over at him. He was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, breathing peacefully. It brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you Abby and team for sharing your creative gifts with the world and for moving yoga education forward with such love and respect.
Deborah Van Handel
Youth Yoga Teacher and Trainer

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Our Youth December 15, 2009

By Rahasya Poe

Format:DVD

Shanti Generation for Youth Peacemakers
(Instructional DVD)
By Abby Wills, MA
Available through [...]

As a counselor for adolescents going through recovery I observed first hand that physical health was synonymous with mental and emotional health. There is nothing more important for a young person than to find a way to simply sit and be present. At the very heart of most problems that any of us experience is our inability to sit still. Whether you are a yoga teacher or a parent seeking ways to guide your children to find their own bliss in a world filled with distractions, you will find this DVD invaluable.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide Magazine
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