Posts Tagged ‘do yoga’

Yoga and Children

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

My experience affirms that it works.

By Linda L. Viel

Children that practice Yoga will lead a more stress-free life. I have been practicing Yoga for six years and during the last few years of my 35 year Middle School teaching career, I found that teaching the students in my grade six classes a few asanas, postures, and simple meditation or relaxation techniques really helped them to focus on the task at hand. We started the day with some breathing and simple stretches while they are in their seats. Before taking a test we stretched and breathed away a lot of the stress. We even did a little tapotement on the head to stimulate the nerve endings and enliven their focus abilities. One of my students saw me while I was out shopping one day, several years later, and told me he still used the techniques I taught him. He said they really helped him get rid of his test stress.

During the last two months before I retired, I was assigned the detention classroom to oversee the students that were having a hard time in class and were asked to leave the regular class for a time out. I would play very calming music as a background and teach them a few stress relieving moves and breathing techniques. They would sometimes enter in a very agitated state and after a few minutes of the calm atmosphere in the room I would see them relax enough so they could actually ask to do work. This was a new approach and had positive results for this classroom. Some students actually asked to come to this class because of the calm they felt there and could then do their work. Just recently I returned to school to help with the testing of a small group of special needs children.

The first day we practiced a few stretches and breathing techniques prior to testing. The next day they asked “Can we do Yoga before the test today?” I was surprised they actually asked to practice. I think it helped them relax and focus better the day before because they made sure we did the exercises before the rest of the tests. The stressful middle school years, because of the many emotional and physical changes children undergo, is a wonderful time to incorporate Yoga into the day. My experience with children and the positive results it has, has led me to become a certified Yoga Teacher so I can help students and adults improve their lives.

After completing the Aura training I am enrolled for the YogaEd K-8 teacher training at Kripalu this summer to improve my skills and give me a retirement career. I convinced my 500 HR Kripalu teacher friend to apply for a Grant to take the YogaEd training. He was awarded the Rachael Greene Diversity Ed grant and we will both be working at my old Middle School to train the teachers how to incorporate Yoga into their daily classes and also to train a class of students with special emotional needs to utilize the mind body connection to help them deal with the stresses and emotional frustrations in school and at home. Currently we offer an after school Yoga class for teachers and they tell us they can’t wait for the training in the Fall. I am looking forward to helping students and teachers embrace Yoga as a beneficial life practice.

I did research the benefits Yoga has for children to affirm what I was noticing. I found that there are many programs designed for children and that the professional research confirms what my personal experience has taught me. I would like to share what I have learned about Yoga and children.

I read many articles about Yoga and children. Mira Binzen summed it up nicely after attending a Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research, in 2007 and found that” real research” has now been done and has proven what she already knew about Yoga and children. She sums up what she found. “Experience has shown [her] that yoga is an excellent system for promoting healthy development and can be an incredibly effective means of facilitating wellness in children. It is noninvasive and its ‘side effects,’ including improved self-esteem, emotional equilibrium, more energy and the ability to self-calm, are completely benign if not totally beneficial.” What she expressed is exactly what the research showed. They are the same things I noticed while working with children.

The specific benefits that a Yoga practice gives children are the same as the ones adults receive.

• It boosts concentration, focus, and attention

• It increases the self esteem and confidence

• It enhances creativity and imagination

• It develops strong, flexible and healthy bodies

• It gives an experience of a relaxed state of body and mind

The children of today lead faster more stressed lives as do adults. Many do not get much physical exercise and eat a diet that is not as healthy as it should be. Obesity is a problem for many today. Just sit and watch the children come out of a school. It doesn’t matter if you watch Elementary aged, Middle School aged or High Schoolers, obesity is a problem. The amount of physical movement has lessened over the years. Many of the more active students still need the benefits of Yoga to relieve stress. The growing bodies of our youth need exercise not only for proper body development but for proper mental development. They need to learn skills which will allow them to slow down and be in the present moment.

They need the proper body alignment which facilitates appropriate balance while their bodies are growing. The mind needs to be able to slow down and quiet the chatter. The relaxation response needs to be relearned so they can deal with the stresses that are generated in their busy lives. Better focus will result from breathing techniques learned in a Yoga practice. Knowing how and when to use the ocean breath, dirga or three part breathing, or alternate nostril breathing will come in very handy when stress begins to get out of hand. By learning to focus on the present, the child will not feel overwhelmed by the amount of homework due or the test they need to study for or take but will be able to focus solely on the job in front of them. All of these needs can be addressed by developing a Yoga Practice for children. So far we know that Yoga can be a form of stress management, it can be viewed as a sport (alternative challenging exercise), it can be thought of as a natural medicine since illness occurs less in a healthy body and mind.

Now we know what it does, how do we go about accomplishing our goal of getting children to practice Yoga? The first thing we should do is show them the need for it. It needs to be enjoyable and rewarding.

In the May 2010 issue of Kripalu Online Exploring the Yoga of life, I read an interesting article that explained the benefits of daily meditation for teenagers. Brian Leaf explained while talking to a stressed teenage boy “Running builds your endurance. Bench-pressing builds your pecs. Sit-ups tone your abs. Similarly, meditation builds your concentration “muscles” and strengthens your ability to stay focused.” He suggested a five minute daily meditation practice morning and night to help deal with the stress and focus problem the student was experiencing during tests. The following is the practice he suggested.

Leaf explained,“Here’s how to meditate. Sit in a comfortable position on a chair or cushion. You need not imitate a swami with your legs twisted together. Then close your eyes. Relax your face. Relax your body. Sit up straight, but relaxed. Become aware of your breathing. Find a spot where you notice your breathing, either the rise and fall of your belly or the in and out of air through your nostrils. Bring your attention to this place. Now, count 10 normal breaths. Unless you are already a Zen monk or a superhero, your mind will probably wander. That’s okay. You’ll start counting “One, two, three, …” and then wander off and think about breakfast, the SATs, or yesterday’s game. Whenever you notice that your mind has wandered, gently come back to counting the breath. Start over at 1. If ever you make it to 10, start over at 1. Do this for 5 minutes.

“Five minutes of this every morning and every night will change your life. Your concentration will improve. Your grades will go up. Your SAT score will go up. Your stress level will go down. It’s a win-win.”

This practice is easy and it doesn’t take much time from the busy day. It is important to note that “noticing” the mind wander is very important when trying to learn how to meditate. The acknowledgement that the mind is “thinking” helps to “let go” and get back to the practice. The five minute routine doesn’t take long and if practiced will give the results that were promised. Five minutes is easy to fit into the busy day and will become habit because the rewards are beneficial for the whole day. Students of all ages can benefit from brief meditation experiences.

Engaging children in a Yoga practice has some basic elements but will change a little as the needs of the individuals in the group change. It is just like teaching school no two classes are the same and the teacher must be able to adapt and modify quickly as things change.

First set up a routine so the children know what to expect. In a Yoga studio shoes are off at the door, you get your mat, find your space and sit or lie quietly waiting for class to begin. This is good for children too. Classes should be of a length to suit the age you are working with. The younger the children, the shorter the class, due to attention span differences. For an elementary class 20- 30 minutes is good. For a Middle school child 30-50 minutes and High school an hour is fine for a formal practice. Teaching short 5- 10 minute techniques to reign in stress or improve focus is great and can be used throughout the day when needed.

The actual practice can be made more game like for the younger ones and more sport like for the older students. Middle School aged kids think they are very adult so a more mature connection is necessary. A connection to famous sport personalities is a great way to connect with the boys. They need to know it is “manly.” Of course the plan of action would be centering, warm-ups, breathing, asanas and relaxation. There are many asanas that can be looked at as animal poses or actions and really catch the fancy of the children.

Examples of these poses are cat, dog, lion, cobra, eagle, fish, frog, crocodile, and crow, blue whale (bridge pose), butterfly, pigeon, tortoise, locust, dragonfly (shoulder-stand variation), cow, and camel. Relaxation ideas can be as simple as listening to the ticking of a clock or timer to quiet the mind, breathing and counting on the fingers one to five for younger children, or feeling the breath as the belly rises and falls. The child can feel it by placing their hands on their belly or by feeling the rise and fall of a small stuffed animal placed on their abdomen. Of course, calming music can be played as a background while children take up a relaxing pose like deadman’s pose(savasana), child’s pose, candle (legs up the wall), little buddha (lotus),or the sleeping snake. The sleeping snake is good for a group of friends.

Children lie down one by one with their head resting on the stomach of the other. They feel the rise and fall of the belly of the person their head is resting on. Breathing techniques that help are the breath of joy for invigoration; the humming bee breath is good for relieving the stress of oral speaking; the sighing breath helps to relieve stress as does the ocean breath. Alternate nostril breathing is good for balancing the mind and improving focus. Simple chanting of sounds has a very hypnotic effect with children. The vibrations resonate through the body and have a chakra cleansing effect. Practicing diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, visualizations, and affirmations are all ways to raise stress free kids.

A well rounded practice is one the children will want to do because it is fun and they can feel the results. Children that enjoy Yoga will soon be showing it to their parents and friends. Parents of my students and children from other classes have asked me about Yoga and I gladly help out as much as I can. Reducing the many everyday stresses and maintaining a supple, fit body via a Yoga practice will carry over from childhood to adulthood. The children of today are our adults of tomorrow so why not develop healthier ones by practicing Yoga?

Cited Resources

This is a partial list of the articles that I read while working on this paper. There were many more which concluded that Yoga really works for children.

Archive for the ‘yoga for children’ Category http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/blog/category/yoga-for-children/

Animal Yoga Poses for Kids Article by April Duke Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/health/alternative-medicine/articles/14352.aspx#ixzz0mmCB9Wb8

Benefits of Yoga During the Teen Years An excerpt from “Yoga for Teens” by Thia Luby http://www.beliefnet.com/Holistic-Living/Yoga/Teen-Yoga/Yoga-for-Teens.aspxFour Ways to Help Your Kids Become Stress Free Posted on09 February 2010 http://yogainmyschool.com/2010/02/09/four-ways-to-help-your-kids-become-stress-free/

Freedman, Francoise Barbira, Bell Gibbs, Doriel Hall, Emily Kelley. Yoga and Pilates For Everyone A complete Sourcebook of Yoga and Pilates Exercises to Tone and Strengthen the Body with 1500 Step by Step Photographs. Hermes House. 2006.

Kids Get Health Benefit From Yoga By Megha Satyanarayana Detroit Free Press http://www.latimes.com/sns-health-kids-yoga-benefits-health,0,6282601.story

Taking kids to the mat:Structuring yoga classes for children Fall 2004 by Craig Hanauer Craig Hanauer, a Kripalu Yoga teacher, board-certified art therapist and longtime director of Kripalu children’s programs, has designed and implemented a full-time yoga program at The Parkside School, a special education elementary school on New York City’s Upper West Side. Craig will offer the workshop Every Kid’s Yoga: Teaching Yoga to Children with Varied Abilities and Needs at the 2004 KYTA Conference, Oct. 21-24.

Why Yoga For Kids is Good. November 2nd, 2007 By Yardley Moore. http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/2007/11/02/why_yoga_for_kids_is_good/

Yoga Benefits Teens – Helps Them Deal With Many of the Challenges Specific to Adolescence November 7th, 2009 By Donna K Freeman http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/2009/11/07/yoga-benefits-teens-helps-them-deal-with-many-of-the-challenges-specific-to-adolescence/

Yoga Breathing Exercises – Air Walk Posted on13 January 2010 http://yogainmyschool.com/2010/01/13/yoga-breathing-exercises-air-walk/

Yoga for Children–Now Proven Effective!

Experience of yoga meets experimentation of the West at SYTAR.

By Mira Binzen http://www.yogachicago.com/mar07/yogachildren.shtml

Yoga For School Age Kids. Feb. 25 2010.by Rick A. Lee. http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/2010/02/25/yoga-for-school-age-kids/

Yoga for Kids – Teaching Our Young Ones How to Deal with Stress January 10th, 2008. Bob A Nicholson. http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/2008/01/10/yoga_for_kids_teaching_our_young_ones_ho/

Yoga for Teenagers By Michael Russell . http://ezinearticles.com/?Yoga-for-Teenagers&id=218760

Yogic Tips for Test-Taking Teens by Brian Leaf Reprinted with permission from McGraw-Hill’s Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT English, Reading, and Science, by Brian Leaf. © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Read in the Kripalu Online May, 2010.

Yoga Twists for Kids Simple and Beneficial Posted on18 December 2009 http://yogainmyschool.com/2009/12/18/yoga-twists-for-kids-simple-and-beneficial/

Linda L. Viel is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in the Salem, Massachusetts area.

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I’m not Flexible Enough to do Yoga

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Bound Angle Pose - YogaBy Tracy Moran, CYT

“I’m not flexible enough to do yoga!”

It’s a typical lament of the would-be yogi, and quite a catch-22: Because of inflexibility, people avoid practicing hatha yoga, yet this ancient practice is the very thing that can allow muscles and joints to move through their full range.

A regular asana practice has many physical benefits, including strength, balance and flexibility. Yet I’ve never heard anyone say, “I have such terrible balance I could never do yoga.” Why the fascination with flexibility?

Muscle and joint tightness and limited range of motion can affect any one at any age – even young people.

“The average individual can no longer touch the floor with his fingertips when his knees are straight, even at the age of twenty,” writes Swami Vishnu-devananda in his book The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. “This type of ligamentous stiffening can be kept at a minimum through yogic exercises, and the body will be as pliable as a child’s, even at the age of eighty.”

That’s quite a claim, and may be something of an exaggeration. While there are some octogenarians with the flexibility of a youngster, they stand out because of their rarity.

Yet such hype doesn’t diminish the fact that the practice of hatha yoga is valuable in creating and maintaining flexibility – both of body and mind.

“A well-trained body,” Swami Vishnu-devananda reminds us, “helps a great deal to train the mind, which is the main purpose of all yoga, in order to attain complete freedom and immortality…”

Flexibility, strength, balance – yogis come to the mat seeking these traits for their physical body, and eventually, dedicated yogis may find these same qualities reflected in their mental and emotional outlook. Like all components of good health, flexibility is something we tend to take for granted until we don’t have it. But through a regular asana practice, we can free up the body and mind, which helps explain why flexibility is so important.

According to Michael J. Alter’s Sport Stretch, “Flexibility is developed when connective tissues and muscles are elongated through regular, proper stretching.”

The ligaments are a form of connective tissue that holds bone to bone at every articulation. Although we don’t want to focus primarily on stretching the ligaments, as an overstretched ligament will compromise a joint’s integrity, the ligaments do serve an important function in flexibility. When they’ve become compressed, pain and tightness will follow, as Swami Vishnu-devananda explains.

When posture and balance are good, he writes, “the ligaments have a long and elastic life.” But, he points out, faulty alignment and poor balance cause ligament shortening. For example, Swami Vishnu-devananda explains that those who sit much of the time will find that ligaments of the vertebral column will shorten. Working at a computer, the head and neck are thrust forward. This sets up a situation where shortened ligaments in the cervical spine irritate the nerves that pass through the facial attachment. The irritation travels throughout the head, neck and shoulders. Yoga postures that stretch the head and neck, such as fish and shoulder stand, help stretch those ligaments and alleviate the compression.

Another factor that contributes to inflexibility is age. With age, the spine stiffens and the ligaments become tighter. Gaining flexibility is not impossible as we age, but it will likely take longer to achieve. Patience and persistence in practicing asana eventually will pay off in greater mobility. It’s well worth the effort.

“The ligamentous structures are continuous,” writes Swami Vishnu-devananda, “and if mobility is restricted in any area, the entire attachment is affected; this brings general immobility of the body.” So inflexibility in one area of the body can impact the whole structure. Moreover, Alter cites research that shows that flexibility is not a general characteristic, but is specific to a particular joint; people can be open in their hips, but tight in their shoulders. And flexibility is not necessarily symmetrical: one hip can be more flexible than the other, one shoulder more open, for example.

But it’s not just age and lifestyle that contribute to inflexibility, according to renowned yoga teacher, physical therapist and author Judith Hanson Lasater.

“After injury, the fascia can become adhered to surrounding tissues and interfere with pure muscle function and locomotion,” she writes in her newest book, Yoga Body. “During asana practice, you may have noticed areas or specific muscles of your body that never seem to stretch out. The sensation of stretching that part of your body seems to be the same year after year. This could be an area where your fascia is adhered to surrounding tissue.”

Fascia, she explains is another form of connective tissue that “holds each muscle and can hold muscle groups … It is thin, white and has a strong cobweb-like look.” If fascial adhesion is the cause of inflexibility, Lasater suggests deep tissue work or massage to free those areas when asana practice cannot.

In fact, stretching the fascia is a key component of increasing flexibility, according to Alter. “A question of great interest to all athletes is the relative importance of various tissues in joint stiffness,” he explains. “The joint capsule (i.e., the saclike structure that encloses the ends of bones) and ligaments are the most important factors, accounting for 47 percent of the stiffness, followed by the muscle’s fascia (41 percent), the tendons (10 percent), and skin (2 percent). However, most efforts to increase flexibility through stretching should be directed to the muscle fascia. The reasons for this are twofold. First, muscle and its fascia have more elastic tissue, so they are more modifiable in terms of reducing resistance to elongation. Second, because ligaments and tendons have less elasticity than fascia, it is undesirable to produce too much slack in them. Overstretching these structures may weaken the integrity of joints. As a result, an excessive amount of flexibility may destabilize the joints and increase an athlete’s risk of injury.”

There’s yet another factor in what we can perceive as inflexibility: compression. In his DVD Anatomy for Yoga, Paul Grilley says that “if your overlying musculature is tight, you might not know what your range of motion is, because you can’t stretch your muscles enough to get there. But after you’ve done enough yoga, you’re going to be stopped in your postures by compression.” In other words, at some point your skeletal structure will prevent you from going any further in a particular pose. However, for some people with tight musculature, gaining enough flexibility to get to a point where they can even discern range of motion can present a challenge.

For all yoga students, but especially those with limited flexibility, regular reminders during class about safety and non-competition are warranted. The ego may not like it, but the body will appreciate such modifications as keeping the knees bent in forward folds to protect the lumbar spine. There should be an emphasis on using the breath to deepen and lengthen into a pose, (“inhale and lengthen first”) versus muscling into a posture. Using force is counter-productive not only from a yogic perspective but also from a physiological stance, as it triggers the “stretch reflex” in the muscle that’s acting as the prime mover, the agonist. This is a reflex designed to protect the body from injury. When there’s a change in muscle length, as when we’re stretching into a pose, the reflex causes the stretched muscle to contract. The more sudden the change in muscle length, the stronger the contraction.

“For the safest stretching,” according to Alter, “relax the parts of the muscle that perform contraction and employ slow or static stretching to reduce the probability of initiating the stretch reflex.”

Another physiologic principle that can aid yogis in their quest for increased flexibility is reciprocal innervation. When one muscle, the agonist, is contracting, its opposing muscle, the antagonist, is relaxing.

“By taking advantage of this phenomenon,” Alter explains, “you can induce relaxation in the muscles you want to stretch.”

So to increase the stretch in the hamstrings, for instance, contract the quadriceps. Reciprocal innervation will allow your hamstrings to relax and enable you to go deeper into the stretch.

Yet another method for increasing flexibility, in fact, one considered to be the most effective, was explained in a Yoga Journal online article by Fernando Pages Ruiz.

“Among the recent developments in Western flexibility training are neurological techniques that retrain the stretch reflex, promoting quick, dramatic gains in flexibility,” he writes. “One of these techniques is called—take a deep breath—proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. (Fortunately, it’s usually just called PNF).”

He explains that the PNF method “manipulates the stretch reflex by having you contract a muscle while it’s at near-maximum length.”

A common method of PNF stretching is called “hold/relax” or “contract/relax.” After moving into a passive stretch, for example uttanasana, the muscle being stretched, in this case the hamstrings, would be isometrically contracted for 7 to 15 seconds, then relaxed for 2 to 3 seconds, then immediately passively stretched again, allowing for a deeper passive stretch, which is held for 10 to 15 seconds. PNF isn’t recommended for children or those whose bones are still growing. Because it’s considered very strenuous, it should only be performed on a given muscle group once per day, and no more than once in a 36-hour period.

Regardless of the method used to increase flexibility, yogis should not lose sight of the ultimate purpose of yoga. It’s not for having a stronger, more balanced, flexible body, though those may all come through the practice of hatha yoga. Rather, yoga’s aim is, as Swami Vishnu-devananda reminds us, “to achieve truth wherein the individual soul identifies itself with the Supreme Soul or God.”

Tracy Moran is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches classes in the Carlsbad, California area.

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