Secaucus Kids Learn Yoga, Meditation With Local Yoga Teacher

SECAUCUS, NJ — Every month, the Secaucus Public Library Children's annex — located at XChange — invites a different member of the community to give a talk to children about their careers.

It's part of the library's "People in Your Neighborhood" series: Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller has talked to kids, as has former Secaucus Fire Chief Joe Schoendorf, the owner of a popular Secaucus deli Steve Natoli, the owners of Hudson Bread and the nurse at Secaucus High School.

This June, it was local Secaucus yoga teacher Jade Alexis who gave a talk to the children on Wednesday afternoon at the library annex. Wednesday also happened to be National Yoga Day, and was also the summer solstice.

Secaucus parents might recognize Alexis because this past spring she taught yoga after school at Clarendon Elementary as part of Secaucus' Beyond the Bell program.

"I taught a yoga class at Beyond the Bell from 3-4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays," said Alexis, who lives in Harmon Cove Towers with her young daughter. "The kids really enjoyed it. We had 8-10 kids who signed up, and we are hoping to expand it in the fall and have 15 kids. Beyond the Bell wants to expand the after-school yoga classes to Huber Street, as well. So we are trying to get the word out to Secaucus parents about this new offering."

"I love teaching kids yoga," she said. "I love the energy of the kids in the room; their innocence, their willingness to try new things. This spring, I also taught the kids to meditate and how to slow their heart rate and breathing when they get upset. I gave them homework assignments to watch either the sunrise or a sunset and then draw a picture and write what they saw and how they felt. The kids loved it; I couldn't believe how they could do a whole series of sun salutations when class ended."

Alexis usually works full-time teaching yoga at Equinox in New York City and she also teaches special rooftop classes at The Edge at Hudson Yards. But she also teaches yoga three times at week inside the gym at XChange (those classes are offered through XChange and only open to XChange residents.) She also teaches private lessons and you can find her yoga practices on Spotify and iTunes under Peace of Jade.

When she's not teaching people yoga, Alexis loves being a Secaucus mom.

"I know what yoga did for me, and I know how it can help people," she said. "People come to yoga because it's a place to heal; a place to grow and it's a place to build strength. I like helping people see that they are stronger than they realize. It's really inspiring."

In July, Mike Flaherty, the owner of Mike's Ice Cream, is next in the line-up to give a talk to kids as part of Secaucus' "People in Your Neighborhood" series.