Posts Tagged ‘yoga for children’

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The Benefits of Yoga For Children

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

yoga teacher trainingBy Debbie Richardson

Yoga means union. It is an ancient science that teaches the importance of allowing mind and body to unite and work in harmony for the creation of a more, balanced, responsible human being. Engaging children in Yoga at an early age will lead to an easier and faster path to this end result. Yoga gives us the tools to empower ourselves through healthy habits of stretching, breathing, positive mind-training, good nutrition and rest. Yoga leads one to take responsibility for their body through exercise, (postures or asanas), proper breathing, proper relaxation ( physical, mental and spiritual rest), diet ( colorful, natural, balanced and organic when possible), and positive thinking and meditation. Children are easily molded and imparting helpful, beneficial Yoga knowledge will build a healthy body and mind with a positive mental attitude. Yoga leads to a complete art of living well. It is an interdisciplinary system of teaching, combining the multiple intelligences within us. Children become more observant by encouraging the use of their senses and this gives them a new perspective on the world around them, each other and themselves. The whole child can be stimulated by using color imagery, storytelling, visualization, music, language, speech, body articulation and drama. Yoga conveys foundational values of life: ecology, anatomy, nutrition, the interdependence of things, a sense of sacredness of life and care for self and others. These values in turn build confidence, self-esteem and self-expression vital for mental and emotional health and forming connections with others.

For children, as all through life, your body is changing and yoga helps one understand all their parts and movements. As children grow, Yoga keeps their body balanced, healthy and strong. Yoga provides an increase in general health and fitness levels and improves motor skills. It leads to a healthy toned body. It promotes flexibility, strength, balance, stability and poise cultivated through postures which ensure the correct alignment of the body. Coordination and rhythm are improved as children move from one posture to another. Posture is improved and Yoga keeps bones healthy, and strong . Muscles around the bones are kept supple and toned. Holding poses builds muscles necessary for strengthen in everyday children’s activities and for a healthy metabolism.

Yoga poses teach how to stretch and strengthen every part of the body even those not reached in everyday activities. Flexibility fades past the age of three in most children who do not bend and stretch regularly. Performing Yoga helps maintain their flexibility with practice of the postures. The poses develop flexibility and coordination skills that help prevent injury during sports or other physical activity. Yoga stretches and body alignment can create a better athlete. Motor skills and overall physical fitness are improved by practicing Yoga.

The low impact aspect of Yoga and it’s gentle movements are commonly used as part of physical therapy and rehabilitation of injuries. The adaptive postures have been used for special needs children. It can improve physical and mental functioning of children with Aspersers, ADHD, Muscular Dystrophy, and Autism.. A few hospitals now use Yoga for children with Downs Syndrome and Cereal Palsy to help improve muscle tone and breathing. Asthma and stress related disorders improve with Yoga breathing techniques.

Yoga is a way to get children moving into a healthier lifestyle, regulating weight along the way which may improve self-esteem. The movement expands energy and burns calories. It adds muscle and muscle mass fuels metabolism. More muscle means more calories are burned on a daily basis therefore controlling or even loosing weight.

Breathing exercises teach proper breathing techniques which expands lung capacity which improves performance and increase endurance. Breath control helps in sports especially swimming. It will help control anger, help prevent frustration and help prevent panicking when in a difficult situation. Impulse control problems can improve with Yoga by focusing on breath control and body movement. Breathing and madras (hand gestures) also soothe the nerves and glandular system, thus reducing aggression. Helping children become more aware of their breathing may help them control their anger, releasing negativity, and can give shy children more confidence and self-acceptance. Busy people use Yoga to calm their minds and relieve stress and children are experiencing the same problems thus Yoga can provide the same benefits to children. Relaxation techniques of Yoga help children balance their energy levels; an active child will be calm and relaxed after Yoga and a quiet child will become more alert. This relaxation also helps children sleep and rest. Sleeping better and proper rest leads to improved concentration and mental clarity.

Internal health is improved by Yoga. Children grow up in a fast paced world with a busy home life and busy parents. They are confronted with in your face media and advertising, competitive schooling and raging hormones. Yoga can empower children with the tools to handle stresses, moods and anxiety. It helps to balance hormonal system and bad moods. At around the age of eight through adolescence accelerated rates of physical , mental, and emotional growth block hormones. Glands in the body secrete hormones, which affect behavior and mood. Yoga helps to balance the hormonal system with massage. An excess flow of adrenaline can be adjusted by practicing Yoga. By holding poses blood can get into different parts of the body to stimulate organs or open blocked passages. Hormones are related to emotions. Emotions are calmed through Yoga by removing anxiety through stretching and breathing and helping children relax thus enhancing mental focus and physical performance. They learn a new way to cope when emotions take over. Children need help expressing what they are feeling and naming their emotions in order to recognize and accept them, or they may be expressed through negative behavior. Listening and communicating through out Yoga practices will help children understand and embrace language enabling them to express their feelings. Overactive adrenal glands make a child fearful and reactive and can lead to loss of control and anger.

Physical well- being enhances mental well-being. Yoga addresses the person as a whole; mind and body are one. Mental and emotional health is improved and empowered through the discipline of Yoga. Children are more positive and develop an overall sense of well being. They become aware of the interconnectedness of all things. They develop a reverence for life by an understanding that all things in life are connected. Mental activity is increased from engaging both their mind and body. Staying flexible mentally by opening the mind fosters thinking and motivation to learn new things. This flexibility of the mind enables children to better cope with new or unexpected circumstances. The meditative aspects of Yoga lead to a better observation of children’s thoughts, helps them discover and explore their feelings and learn to enjoy themselves.

The cultivation of nonviolence is also a practice in Yoga. Nothing or no one is hit , kicked, run into or interfered with while practicing Yoga. Slow, steady, balanced movement is practiced and all are encouraged to develop at their own pace and adjustments can easily be made to Yoga poses.

The brain of young children needs to be challenged and worked in order to become focused, and steady so it is able to properly learn. The right side of the brain is associated with intuitive, spatial, lateral thinking and governs the left side of the body. The left side of the brain is associated with logical, analytical, linear thinking and governs the right side of the body. Both sides need equal value. Intuitive, artistic subjects such as art and dance should be developed alongside math and science in order to unite the intellectual and intuitive. This unification of both sides enables relaxation and concentration at the same time. The relaxation techniques of Yoga help to balance the brain and breathing exercises help refresh the brain while listening techniques help the imagination grow freely. The brain requires more oxygen then the rest of the body and inverted postures increase the flow of oxygen to the brain. In order to learn the body needs to be relaxed, breathe freely, the emotions stable and the mind focused. People tend to learn best in a relaxed and calm atmosphere where they can be attentive but not tense.

Concentration is encouraged through discipline and focus. Positive thinking and confidence are enhanced. Balance poses enhance skills which require focus and clarity of mind, These mental skills enable children to learn more easily in school and outside school. For older children Yoga can help prepare them for tests by doing breathing exercises and imagining themselves calm and focused which helps with concentration. In the middle of studying it can be helpful to try a few poses to get their minds working and then go back to studying. Doing better in school helps boost self confidence and helps children feel better about themselves improving their mental health and overall well-being.

Infants and toddlers have also benefited from Yoga. It is said to improve sleep, ease digestion problems, facilitate neuromuscular development, strengthen their immune systems and deepen parental bonds. It can relieve stress for the small child and their parent.

Self-expression is encouraged which leads to empowerment which raises self-esteem. Yoga helps young girls get in touch with their bodies and feel better about themselves. They see another purpose for their bodies, one they can control and love. They learn their body is strong and that they have the ability to control it and this encourages a healthy image of beauty and strength. By exploring self-expression and practicing with others, communication skills and respect for others ideas are learned. They gain the ability negotiate with and pay attention to each other thus making them more considerate of others. That makes them better citizens and better people, making the world better. Children can improvise movements and engage in fantasy by associating poses with inanimate objects and animals. They can creatively express themselves and maintaining spontaneity and carry this forward in their lives. Gaining self-confidence empowers children and opens doors allowing them to believe that anything is attainable.

Yoga improves motor skills and physical fitness in children but it also sets them on the path to the art of living well. It encompasses improvements in physical health, mental health and social skills. The mind and body working in harmony will lead to a healthy, balanced, responsible child leading to a better over-all person.

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Yoga for Obese Children

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

yoga certificationBy Gopi Rao 

Childhood obesity is a condition that is becoming far too common. Parents and healthcare practitioners often wonder what can be done to alleviate the issue. Yoga for obese children could be a natural starting point when facing the problem. It is widely known that moderate exercise and healthy eating habits are just a few of the ways the childhood obesity can be treated, or better yet, prevented. However, overweight children might not have the strength or energy levels needed for many different types of exercise. Yoga, however, can be used to help kids get up and start moving.

It is widely known that obesity can cause diabetes and heart disease. It can also contribute to physical stress on the body as well as mental and emotional stress.

Using Yoga as an exercise regime for obese children can provide the child with a sense of focus and accomplishment. Learning the poses and coordinating the breathing techniques can help to instill self-confidence as well. Self-confidence is often a missing component for overweight children and restoring it might help them make better decisions in regards to food, exercise and healthy living choices.

Sports and exercise can help children, yet obese kids might not be able to compete with other kids and feel comfortable at the same time. That’s yet another reason that incorporating Yoga can be a positive contribution. Yoga is a way for children to use exercise as a tool to help them instead of seeing it as a competition with their peers. It can be taught to them in a comfortable and non-judgmental environment so that they associate positive feelings with Yoga practice.

One of the best things about Yoga for obese children is the fact that it can be taught to all age levels. It can help to restore balance (both physical and emotional) as well as provide a calming sense of security. Incorporating Yoga into a child’s schedule can be a building block in which to add other healthy lifestyle changes. The pride and sense of accomplishment an overweight child can feel after finishing a Yoga session might just go a long way toward helping parents and healthcare practitioners reduce the effects of childhood obesity and the many health issues that are associated with it.

Obesity in children has sprung forth in computerized societies. This may not be the entire source of the problem, but computers and video games have taken the place of many outdoor activities. Yoga for children is a logical choice for parents and educators.

© Copyright 2011 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Online Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

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Improving Health for Children with Yoga

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

kids yoga teacher trainingBy Dr. Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500 

Hatha Yoga is an ancient series of physical postures, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques, which help to balance and rejuvenate the entire body-mind system. Practicing Yoga, on a regular basis, can tremendously support children’s health, both physically and emotionally. A regular practice of Yoga, in the range of one to five times a week, has been shown to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility, heighten self-esteem, and lower stress and anxiety levels that can contribute to the development of depression.

Yoga for Children’s Health

Due to the over use of television and computer technology, childhood obesity is at an all-time high in many developed countries around the world. In fact, childhood obesity has become one of the most critical health issues children are facing in the world today. Just getting children “on the mat” and actively participating in a structured exercise program, will help them to lose unwanted pounds, feel healthier, and boost their self-esteem.

Yoga can be adapted to any age range of children and many different levels of ability. In this way, a great Yoga class can be modified and tailored for a group of first-grade students, or a group of high-school age students, and beyond. On a purely physical level, the physical postures (or asanas) of Yoga, help children to develop good coordination skills, enhance somatic capabilities, burn calories, while increasing strength and flexibility.

Yogic Solutions for Lowering Stress in Children Today

In today’s fast-paced world, many children feel a significant amount of stress in school and at home. There is a lot of pressure on children and teenagers to keep pace with the increasing speed of life and to do more and more tasks in less time than generations before them. Slowing down enough to practice Yoga postures, breathing exercises, a few minutes of meditation or relaxation techniques, will help children to feel more grounded and less anxious about the pressures in their lives.

A vigorous Yoga practice will help children to release excess energy and feel exhilarated. A Yoga practice that is fun and challenging will also help to lower the high levels of stress hormones that can compromise their emotional, mental, and physical health. As children’s stress levels decrease, they will be more able to focus on their school work and will gain perspective on issues that are causing them anxiety and stress. Some of these issues may require outside therapeutic support. Other issues may be resolved, without outside support, as a child’s brain chemistry is re-balanced and an overactive nervous system is calmed by a regular practice of Yoga.

Summary

While there are issues regarding the safety of unsupervised Hatha Yoga practice by children, the risks pale in comparison to other physical activities.  It would be wise for parents to expose children to gentle forms of Yoga in a supervised environment.  Seeking out a competent Yoga teacher, who specializes in teaching children, is a must.  Parents, who are serious Yoga practitioners, may find a family practice to be fulfilling; and this is healthy for family bonds.  However, children need to socialize in a less competitive environment.  For this reason, specialized Kids Yoga classes give children a sanctuary from multi-tasking.

© Copyright 2011 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

To see our selection of Online Yoga teacher training courses, please visit the following link.

http://www.aurawellnesscenter.com/store/

FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste!

 

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Yoga For Children

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

yoga teacher trainingBy Michelle Macdonell

Yoga comes from a root word in Sanskrit that literally means “union.”  The union of body, mind, and soul, this implies that any being with a body, mind, and spirit can benefit from this practice. It’s not quite as common to hear of children picking up a yoga practice as it is to hear of yoga’s growing popularity amongst adults, but that is not to say that children do not have just as much (if not more) to gain from doing yoga as adults do. In fact, it has been found that children who are introduced to yoga have a lot to gain from the practice, including the advantage of starting young and continuing throughout the rest of their lives.

This is a new world we live in, on where stress and tension are inevitable and on the rise, and not just limited to adults. I often wonder what kids are so stressed about, what worries could a child possibly have that are so overpowering they cause insecurities, meltdowns, anxiety, and even depression? The reality of the answers to that question are overwhelming enough to cause a sense of fear and worry in anyone, stresses from school, peers, extracurricular activities, and even home life can easily bog down on the pure spirit of a child. The truth is that this world is a stressful place, but we don’t have to let it get to us. Imagine if you could have applied the simple breathing and relaxation techniques of a regular yoga practice all throughout your entire life, I can almost guarantee you would be an almost effortlessly, calm individual. And so why not teach our youth an age old (and drug free), safe way to handle the cards they are dealt in life?

The benefits of yoga for kids are unmatched by any other practice mentally and physically. In young bodies, yoga aides in developing the brain and intellect as well as promoting coordination, balance, strength, and flexibility. Yoga helps build strong bones, improves respiration and circulation, and can even lower cholesterol and blood pressure. And through deep breathing, stretching, and relaxation techniques, yoga can protect the body from the physical damages of stress. Not to mention how excellent it is for over all health and wellness, allowing the young body to form and grow without the added stress of jarred joints and weight bearing exercise. Yoga improves the common slouched posture of kids, and can help with sleep disturbances and headaches as well.

In young minds, yoga shines. A regular practice boosts confidence and self esteem as a child’s body changes and grows, through increased body awareness. Yoga calms the mind and brings a sense of peace to the body and spirit, even in stressful situations. Children who learn these techniques early on will be less prone to anger and anxiety as adults, along with a better ability to fend off stresses associated with peer pressure, body image, school work, and home life. This practice definitely comes in handy in dealing with hormonal changes or in handling difficult emotions. Yoga promotes creativity and imagination (especially in children learning to mimic the poses of animals and things in nature. Ex: trees, cats, etc). Developing a regular yoga practice helps to expand awareness, promotes mental sharpness, and helps to develop an overall sense of calmness in life.

For children yoga is fun, it encourages them to do the things their bodies naturally do, and can help them maintain their flexibility throughout a lifetime. Kids love to do things together and yoga lets them work with each other to get into postures and to build confidence individually and as a group. Also kids love to chant together, they can feel the strong vibration “OM” creates when chanted as a group. It’s empowering.

In teaching yoga to kids it is important to keep their imaginations and attention spans in mind. Children under the age of six years old can comfortably maintain in a class for about 15 minutes, while children ages six and up can withstand up to 25 minutes. For younger children it is most important to let them flex their imaginations, even though they are quite flexible they will most likely not be able to perform the poses exactly, this is not important. for children ages 6 and under we are mainly focused on movement and breath, taking them on a “safari”, for example, where they get to be the animals they come across(in yoga poses), is a fun and effective exercise. As they start to get older you can move into more traditional poses, aiming for them to hold each pose for up to 1 minute. Getting a child of any age to relax (as in corpse pose) for an extended period of time can be pretty difficult, but this practice of meditation and stillness is an important part of their yoga routine.

We are all well aware of the childhood obesity epidemic in this country, it is attacking our youth at a rapid rate. Not only does yoga get kids moving but in a classroom setting children are encouraged to work as a team, helping their partners in certain postures, such as the bridge pose. Where kids can often feel singled out, yoga teaches them that we need to help each other in life. Yoga gives children a non-competitive, non-jugemental environment in which they can get physical exercise as well as learn that they have the power to change their own lives. And childhood obesity isn’t just about overeating, there is a disconnection there between the child’s body and the food that they are putting into it. Yoga can help make this connection, making kids more aware of how the foods they eat affect their bodies and minds, seeing food as nourishment.

Yoga has also been proven effective in children with special needs such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, cerebal palsy, and downs syndrome, to name a few. And it has even been used successfully in children with cancer, helping them to cope with their diagnosis and to better handle scary medical procedures.

In children with ADHD, including yoga into therapy sessions has made marked improvements in organizational skills, relaxation, and an increased tolerance for sitting and performing fine motor tasks, such as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. In one study, a child’s focus originally lasted about 5 to 7 minutes and after just two months of regular yoga practice she was able to partake in a table top activity for at least 15 to 20 minutes.

In another study, a boy with autism who barely spoke or made eye contact not only seemed more engaged and less shy when he heard the words “Hare Om” being chanted, but the breathing and imagery techniques associated with yoga poses helped strongly enhance his ability to relax.

In instances where yoga is included in therapy with children who have special needs, not only are the developmental success rates high but the practice is something that can be maintained for a lifetime. Where as, a lot of specific therapies are discontinued once a particular condition or behavior has been corrected. Yoga is a lifetime of self development, and is something that can be practiced alone.

Teaching yoga to children should be simple, fun, and open. And it’s something that parents and children can do together. Practicing yoga as a family evokes a feeling of closeness. And parents can benefit as well, by enabling them to better deal with the stresses and challenges of parenthood, especially in families with difficult children or children with special needs.

Yoga is a way of bringing the mind, body and spirit together to breathe as one. This is the source of vitality. Now more than ever we need this practice to reconnect us to ourselves, each other, and the earth. Teaching our children this practice will raise them to be mindful adults and could quite possibly turn our whole world around, as they are our future.

© Copyright 2011 – Michelle Macdonell

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Yoga and its Relation to Children’s Health

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

By Denise Sheridan

We live in a very fast paced world today and the working environment has a lot of pressure on adults, which also spills down on to our kids. We are also faced with the highest levels of obesity in our school age children.

Kids are scheduled into Schools; day care; preschools, as well as extra curricular classes. In fact when we look at the life of a child today sometimes their schedule is more hectic then our own. My focus on Yoga for children is the age group of 3-6 yr olds.

It is my firm belief that the techniques of yoga are easily learnt in early age and will remain with children as they grow, just as with learning languages. Learning yoga techniques early prepare the child to lead a more balanced existence and a more gentle presence. I started teaching my daughter yoga from the age of 3 , she can now complete many asanas and currently now at 3 3/4 her favourites are little Buddha; Butterfly; Tree; Warrior, Cat and Dog.

Having opened a preschool in September of this year I wanted to focus on how to expand the experience of yoga which I shared with my daughter and bring this experience to other children. I have children now in my preschool whose parents remark on how much they love yoga; how they will now sit down and read a book ; how they can focus longer on activities.

For me not only from my own experience, but from learning from Yogis such as Wai Lana, Marsha Wenig and others the benefits to children’s health are many fold and here is my summary of these.

Through children learn techniques for self-health, relaxation, and inner fulfillment, they can navigate life’s challenges with a little more ease.

•Yoga Encourages self-esteem and body awareness at an early age;

• Kids take part in a physical activity without feeling competition from the other children.

• Children‘s yoga is linked to music; every day animals and fun – all very relevant to the 3-6 yr old group.

• Children are encouraged to move from a Tree individual position to creating a forest amongst their friends in the group.

• Flexibility is enhanced

• Co-ordination is improved

• They become more aware of their bodies through practicing the asanas.

• They learn how to relax and gain an understanding of meditation.

• They learn techniques which they can take and develop through their continued practice.

• Early practice begins a lifelong journey for children.

• Yoga for children is very different from yoga for adults in many ways you become a mix of teacher, facilitator and fellow child. Animal characters become the traditional asanas. For example when teaching a dog or cat position you find it very hard not to go around barking and wagging your tail with the children!

• For many children yoga is a fun way to move on into music and playing instruments which also develops a coordination and concentration in children allowing them to live less stressful and hyper lives

• Dr. Howard Gardner’s an author and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in his theory of multiple intelligences describes eight intelligences innate in all of us—linguistic, logical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal—and emphasizes that children should be given the opportunity to develop and embody as many of these as possible. Yoga for kids is the perfect medium to allow children develop all of these intelligences through the creativity of imagination; role play; music; story telling visual and inter and intra personal intelligences. I find Wai Lana‘s Yoga for fun book and Song books very good for this as you flow from yoga asanas manifested for the children in the form of animals, then flowing into music and song and games.

• Early Education talks constantly about the importance and role of the preschool teacher in ensuring that the curriculum engages the whole child and for me as a preschool teacher Yoga is a great medium to do this, engaging all senses, physical activity and imagination.

• Yoga is a great springboard for allowing the child to become independent and confident in their ability and lives.

• As Yoga practice is something children learn they can take it home with them, so they can practice at home as well as in

• Sound – sound is a great release for us all and especially for children. Through meditation children can release their voices while sitting in the Lotus/ Baby Buddha pose. It adds an auditory element to the asanas and I was surprised the first time that I introduced the Lotus and Ohm meditation to the children how firstly interested they were, secondly how they concentrated and thirdly how good they were at Ohming!

• A lot of writings on Yoga talk about the importance of air and breathing as babies and young children breathing still comes from their belly and they can really fill their lungs. Learning the importance of belly breathing for kids is one of the greatest gifts yoga can bring. Learning about this at an early age allows the child‘s understanding to develop and grow as their practice intensifies along the way.

• Think of yourself as a facilitator—the term we use in the YogaKids program—rather than a teacher. Guide your children while simultaneously opening your heart and letting them guide you. They’ll no doubt invite you into a boundless world of wonder and exploration. If you choose to join them, the teaching/learning process will be continually reciprocal and provide an opportunity for everyone to create, express themselves, and grow together.

• The practice can be game like for younger children and more challenging for older children,

• Relaxation can be as simple as watching a clock; looking at a candle in the middle of the room, chanting Ohm in a baby Buddha position. Making noise is very good for young children and they get real enjoyment from hearing their own voice amongst the other kids voices – and the control they have over it by getting louder or softer.

• I have also found with younger kids it helps their concentration if they ?teach? their baby dolls, how to do the yoga positions. It allows them to really concentrate on getting the position correct and then improves their own understanding of the position/ asana and how to move into it.

There are many, many benefits as I have outlined in yoga for children. In summary the reason I feel it has huge significance for a child is that it is an exercise / practice which can transition with the child by developing more challenging asana practices as the child moves through their own developmental stages. Each practice can be made more challenging or adapted to be less challenging for other students. It is a life long gift for the child which allows them to develop abilities of control; relaxation; meditation; concentration; agility and flexibility while having fun.

As a teacher it is wonderful to hear the children‘s parents telling me how much they love yoga in the preschool or the children asking me when will we be doing yoga next.

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Yoga for Children

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

By Candida Vassallo

For this essay, I will show how Yoga for Children will and can work in schools and how it can be included as part of the school curriculum, thereby giving our children opportunity for improved health and wellbeing, and a very valuable life tool. As it is an account of an actual Yoga program I designed and implemented, I have found it important to give a brief history of how the idea evolved, before implementation and design. This, I believe is relevant to the topic of Yoga for Children, and fits with several aspects of Yoga philosophy (ie Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga and some Raja Yoga). It is this preliminary thinking and preparation, I believe, which contributes to the (Yogic) essence of the completed program and its delivery.

Yoga for Children is a topic very close to my heart and as such in early 2002 I began work on designing a program for children to be used in schools.

I called this program Heart Matters. This name, to me, is most appropriate for such a thing, as having worked in a school since 1988, I have seen many children troubled and handicapped by physical, mental and emotional problems, and at the same time, saw many teachers troubled and handicapped in those three ways, but for different reasons than the children. This is on top of the usual everyday school and life stresses which trouble children and teachers and indeed all of us. There was (and is) very much a need for children (and indeed for us all) to feel better in order to be and do better. I realized from the often-times horrors that I saw (drug overdoses, attempted suicides, self-harming as in self-cutting etc., as well as extreme behavior issues stemming from mental/emotional stresses to ADHD and other problems) that no amount of rationalization on its own, was going to penetrate the hearts and minds of these children, and so no positive change could occur. My thinking was and is, that unless one feels better (as opposed to feeling bad for whatever reason) one could not be or do better. The mental aspect was not enough to push through the dark clouds of emotional/mental stress, depression and the like, hanging over these children, to make a positive difference to their behavior, their health or their learning.

I felt strongly that I was in a position to offer a way to make this difference, given my background of study with a spiritual teacher – a Yogacharya (Yogacharya Devidasan Giri, affiliation with Gitananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India) (as of present day my study with him has spanned 12 years, mostly weekly and lately fortnightly, without a break except for 4 weeks over Christmas-times); my teaching diploma and also my deep motivation and passion to pass on my knowledge and experience, particularly in an area such as this, the educative system, with which I was so familiar.

So how does one feel better? To me the answer is clear – through the heart. So I set about to design a program that would connect with the heart of both students and teachers, and be practical for both parties as they influence each other in normal everyday school life, so for this program to work, it also needed to be a tandem effort. It would create a kind of unity within the minds and hearts of students and teachers individually and would also unite them as a group. What better way than through Yoga – the ultimate union.

What then, were the key aspects needing to be taught through this Yoga program? As I said earlier, Heart Matters evolved with the main focus being “feeling better”, in order to ‘do’ and ‘be’ better. My belief is that this can be done by teaching children the necessary skills for the enhancement of calm, mental alertness, focus, physical and emotional resilience, correct posture and general wellbeing – skills that are essential not just in the classroom, but throughout life – and that was another of my aims, to equip students with some fundamental life skills – through Yoga. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, the student is still only seen as an academic/mentally based being, and not much teaching if any, goes into the other aspects of the person, as in the emotional and spiritual. Even with the physical, often this is only looked at from a surface view as in providing physical education and sports programs without considering or integrating any other influences to physical wellbeing, as in emotional and spiritual.

From there a lot of thinking time transpired as to how I would actually implement the program, before I had even thought of the aspects of Yoga I would put in the program. I realized that for me to deliver this in classrooms would be a more than full time occupation, without even thinking of the obstacles of the Education Department accepting and employing me for this project. In 2002, as indeed I believe it is still so now, although not as strongly, there was much more thought by authority powers, given to why this sort of inclusion into the school curriculum couldn’t/shouldn’t be, rather than to why it could/should. No one really wanted to touch such a thing because it was different and new (to this part of the world), it would arouse questions by certain religious groups and parent groups (which it did, to me personally) and I believe these authority powers just didn’t have the insights or expanded vision, or courage to give such a project at least some serious consideration. Although I certainly did try to get them on board.

At the time I was working my own health business on a part-time basis and a part of that was teaching relaxation, meditation, stress management and Yoga to staff members of schools (and was also being asked to run the odd one-off 6-week program and single sessions for students). As well I was being asked to do the same for various other workplaces, from a wellbeing and occupational health perspective. So I realized that people generally were interested and open to participating in this sort of thing in this way – as they would not be held accountable in any way – only I, as the private facilitator/presenter would be. So it became clear to me that if I could offer Heart Matters out of school hours, and as part of my personal business, train teachers to present it to their students, which meant that teachers paid me and they could claim the cost and the hours as Professional Learning, that this would be my and the program’s best chance. From this perspective I would not need to get the whole of the Education Department on board, just my local school Principal and the teachers, and from there other schools would come on board – and this proved not to be too difficult, as I had been in the school system for many years, was known and thankfully trusted. So emerged Heart Matters, for which I am very grateful to the people who trusted me.

I set about designing a program of Yoga for teachers to present to students. This program would need to fit into the school curriculum both for content and duration (so as not to take up set curriculum time during the day, as this would make it unworkable for teachers to include in their day). Whilst teachers were permitted and willing to present the program, they still were not given the time for it, within the curriculum – they had to fit it in – so this narrowed the coverage down a bit as not all teachers were willing to make this effort.

The content of Heart Matters would focus on mental, emotional and physical resilience, physical strength and wellbeing.

My teacher alerted me to an excellent text, which I very gratefully used as a reference, entitled Yoga Education for Children, by Swami Satyananda Saraswati (founder of the Bihar School of Yoga). This book is written as “a guideline for teachers of Yoga to children and based on a considerable number of years of experience and takes into account requirements of children of different ages, abilities and disabilities, as well as some of the constraints imposed by the teaching environments”. It is excellent in many ways, not the least of which is that Swami had been a teacher of English in France, and used Yoga extensively in his classroom. So for me to train teachers and to be able to say my references were from a teacher, who understood classroom demands and accountability, made my job so much easier, in terms of credibility. This was a very important aspect, because if the teachers didn’t believe (and feel for themselves) what I was teaching, then they could not effectively teach it to their students. Also, most if not all schools in South Australia, have a Special Education program catering for children with physical and mental disabilities. My school had the largest of these programs in the state, and I was very keen to make Heart Matters available to both the teachers and students of this program, as Swami Satyananda wrote a special section for children with disabilities, and likewise, when I designed Heart Matters, I devoted a special section, a whole term, to Yoga for the disabled.

Yoga for disabled children (and adults) works very well as it connects them to their heart, their inner self, which is not disabled and is most often the place from where these children shine. It becomes something they look forward to and it brings them joy. Also because they can be like all the other children in the class and not seen to be different. This assimilation of course, occurs for children who are not severely physically or mentally disabled. For those who are, it still works as I have said above, except that I would work with them as a group separately from the mainstream.

As I said earlier, my focus was for children to feel better in order to be better, and I knew that Yoga would do this even if it was in a seemingly small way (although I knew there would be nothing small about it). As well, my aim was to visibly engage the whole person, that is body, mind and spirit (which naturally occurs with Yoga practice but perhaps is not so visible to the novice teacher and student). In order to facilitate this, I knew that firstly, at least improved breathing needed to occur, then the physical body needed to be strengthened, and for mental calm and clarity, relaxation in the form guided imagery needed to also occur – the integration of these three aspects would then engage the spirit to some degree at least.

To that end, Heart Matters Yoga program is specifically for teachers to present to students for the purpose of teaching skills to enhance calm, mental alertness, focus, physical and emotional resilience, correct posture, and wellbeing. The three aspects I speak of above (which comprise the whole Heart Matters session) I broke down for the information of teachers, students and parents as follows:

• Yoga poses for physical wellbeing, flexibility, resilience, posture and balance

• Breath awareness for wellbeing, mental alertness, focus, concentration and clarity

• Relaxation – guided imagery – to enhance calm, clarity and wellbeing

These three segments work together to give the student the above skills and allow the reconnection with the Heart – so that the Heart and Mind can work together.

In everyday busy-ness it is easy to lose connection with the Heart and to operate solely from the Mind. There has been a lot of positive feedback from teachers and students about Heart Matters, as the program has resulted in many benefits for all involved.

Heart Matters is presented each day for 15-20 minutes, usually at the start of the day, but not necessarily or exclusively. It comprises the 3 segments above (Yoga Asanas, Pranayama and Guided Imagery/Relaxation), which work beautifully together, with each session fitting into no more than half an hour – ideally it can fit into 20 minutes (10 minutes for each segment) but of course, it also takes a few minutes to organise a class.

There are 4 levels to Heart Matters, one for each term of the year, and each level is sequential and progressive, so it is a program for the whole of the school year. With this, students have enough time to notice and also feel their improvement and skill growing, and teachers have the year to make assessments of their students, themselves and their teaching. Importantly, the aim is also to see these improvements in life outside the classroom, i.e., in the home, the playground, within their social circles etc., and this is re-enforced throughout the practise of the program. So Yoga becomes a living science for students and teachers, which they can live and use forever if they so wish. I also designed an assessment sheet for each term where teachers could map the improvements in their students and overall class, also their own teaching performance.

Within each term there are six separate sessions, one per week, for six weeks. So the same session is done every day for a week, then teachers move on to the next session for the following week, and so it goes. Whilst the school term is usually at least 10 weeks, I made the levels of six weeks duration, so as to make it easier for teachers to fit it in as at the beginning and end of each term, there are usually other extras they need to fit in and also so that Heart Matters could fit into school life and not take on a stress factor.

Heart Matters greatly benefits teachers as well, by the calm and focus it generates by merely presenting the program. This enhances teaching and learning with focused attention, and provides a calmer and therefore more receptive classroom and a calmer and healthier teacher. In feedback I have received over the years, particular benefits are experienced in relation to physical wellness, to study and exams and the program has specifically shown benefits in subjects including English, story writing, maths, art and physical education. Older students have reported improvements in their sleeping, as in getting to sleep and sleeping better

Teachers attend professional learning sessions (from me) for 6 weeks every term (4 terms) for one hour per week, to learn and feel confident with presenting the weekly sessions to their students. The program is progressive and spans for the whole of the school year. Each week builds on the previous week’s sessions and the program can then be presented to subsequent classes the teacher may have, year after year.

Below are some testimonials from teachers

“Students are calmer, more appreciative and aware of others; keen to discuss the sessions”

“More productive overall”

“A great opportunity for relaxation all round and hence provides improved output”

“Sensed a ‘greater calm’, more focus”

“Calmer, smoother transition into a task”

“Is an important part of anyone’s life; creates balance but needs to be practiced”

“Students much quieter, more focused”

Students ask when doing Heart Matters again, don’t like it when I say ‘not today’ “

“Of benefit to the curriculum”

“I have learned valuable skills which can be used as an extra teaching tool”

“Has helped to develop students’ physical wellbeing”

“Helps me to bring my class to order when unruly or excited by an unexpected event”

“I can use parts of it, particularly the breathing, many times during the day to refocus the class and myself”

“The calm atmosphere is almost tangible when the students are doing Heart Matters, particularly during the breathing and relaxation”

“More orderly and calmer thinking”

This last comment related to a particular incident in when a reception child brought the teacher’s attention to the ‘caterpillar’ at the door. It was regarding how children left their shoes before entering the room for Heart Matters. At first they would throw off their shoes and they would all be in a pile. After a while, the shoes were (without any prompting from the teacher) lined up, two by two in order at the door – looking like a ‘caterpillar’. This to me is Living Yoga!

I believe that my account of this program and how Yoga for Children can be implemented is a living example of what is possible for our children and indeed our future through the practice of Yoga. It is also an example of how our established and entrenched western educative system can hold us all back. I think of Paramhansa Yogananda with his Ranchi School in India, and his close disciple Swami Kriyananda with his Ananda Schools in the United States. Both amazingly dynamic and gigantic human beings and incarnated souls, who worked tirelessly for the educative system and its evolution, and I am saddened to say that it seems to me that the people who need to be listening (those with authority and power) seem not to be. However, I passionately believe it will come about, in time….. the inclusion of skills for living, at least in part, with Yoga being accepted and indeed considered necessary, in our educative systems throughout the world.

Om Tat Sat

Tathaastu: So Be It

Candida Vassallo is a Yoga teacher from South Australia.

Candida Vassallo
Isis Holistic LifeCare Development

www.ntpages.com.au/therapist/15944

http://www.massage-therapy-clovelly-park.websyte.com.au/

http://www.oneworldretreats.com/ubud_bali_yoga_retreat_candida.php

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General Benefits of Yoga on Health

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

By Rukhsana Mirza

“Through Yoga, the body attains attractiveness to others, beauty, firmness and unusual physical strength”

-Yoga-Sutra 111:46

Interest in yoga is at an all time high – and with good reason. The benefits of Yoga are very great. Not only do they far surpass those of any system of self-improvement for the body (calisthenics, salon programs, jogging, isometrics, competitive sport) but they also extend to the emotional and mental aspects of the individual. Yoga is concerned with the health and beauty of the organism as a unified whole.

Physiologically each yoga posture has specific structural and functional effect. By systematically placing pressure on the organs, the poses massage and help tone them. Adopting yoga postures, and flowing between them, opens and closes different areas of the body. Blood circulation improves and lungs respond with a more efficient breath. Increased oxygen reaches the tissues, and every cell, tissue, organ and system reaps the benefits. As the stretching, flowing postures massages the lymphatic ducts, disposal of wastes is facilitated and becomes more efficient, the system is detoxified and the immune response enhanced. The body becomes physically stronger and excess tension is worked out of the system.

Many poses act on the endocrine glands by bathing them with fresh blood, which carries oxygen and vital nutrients to enhance overall functioning. Other postures and breathing techniques are believed to regulate the nervous system.

If one practices yoga asanas, one can momentarily boost the sympathetic nervous system (involved in the ‘fight or flight’ response) and therefore practice a safe, controlled way of responding to stress. When these poses are followed with poses that boost the nervous system, the ‘rest and repair’ response is activated and the system is calmed and relaxed. The heartbeat slows, respiration steadies and blood pressure decreases. Levels of stress hormones decreases and healing mechanisms are turned on. In addition, when one becomes fully immersed in the sensation of the body, one takes a mental holiday and becomes less preoccupied with little worries of day-to-day life.

Relaxation techniques are considered deeply healing on many levels. Pranayama, like meditation, also has profound effects. Both assist the mental and emotional response of a person to their health condition, increasing the ability to detach from the disease and to identify, if only momentarily, with a higher level of existence. Yoga practice also tells us that the path is important as the end result – a reminder to savor the journey through life, whatever it brings.

Weight control, slimming, firming, relief of tension and stiffness, improvement in general health, emergence of hidden beauty, emotional stability and a positive mental outlook is experienced when a yoga plan is inducted into one’s lifestyles.

New yogis find how stiff, tight and tense the body may have grown in “key” points of their bodies. The stiffer the body, the greater the need for the gentle stretching movement of Yoga. A stiff, inflexible body cannot be a truly healthy and beautiful one. Because of the gentleness of Yoga and the fact that one never has to strain or jerk or fight to achieve the extreme position, the flexibility and elasticity is achieved in time regardless of age or physical condition.

Yoga attaches great value in terms of health and beauty to a strong and elastic spine. An ancient Yogic adage claims ”You are as young as your spine is flexible.”

The Chest Expansion, Back Stretch, and Cobra exercises are not only loosening techniques but they help to release energy that can be trapped in the spine and joints. The Complete breath utilizes in their entirety and extracts the most life-force possible. Increased prana improves the quality of the blood, complexion and general health. A secondary objective of the Complete Breath is to help make breathing slow and rhythmatic whenever possible. People who are breathing in a rapid and erratic fashion develop nervous bodies and minds and shorten lives. Yogic breathing will result in almost immediate and positive effect on emotions and minds.

In almost all methods of exercise the emphasis is placed on the muscular system, while the endocrine, nervous and circulatory systems are sadly neglected. A major value of Hatha Yoga lies in the fact that it takes into consideration the methodoligical stimulation necessary for organs and glands of the various body systems. For example, the brain and pituitary glands are affected by the Head Stand, which is one of the finest natural ways to restore and maintain alertness by increasing the supply of blood flow to the brain along with being responsible for improvement in hearing and vision as well as for added beauty of the hair and complexion. The Shoulder Stand involves the heart and the thyroid and helps to promote the correct functioning of thyroid by bringing an increased supply of blood into the throat area. The Locust strengthens the reproductive organs and glands and the kidneys are stimulated through the Cobra and Bow. The Abdominal Lift provides a type of natural “massage” for the stomach, colon, intestines, liver, kidneys, gall bladder and pancreas – all with one movement!

Constipation is a serious and frequent problem for many people, particularly for those who must spend a great deal of time in a sitting position. Long periods of inactivity cause peristaltic action to grow sluggish. A good solution to this problem is observing Yogic dietary suggestions and regular practice of the Abdominal Lifts in both The Standing and All-Fours positions. These exercises greatly strengthen and firm the abdominal wall, preventing it from sagging. Good muscle tone in this area helps to maintain the organs and the glands of the viscera in their correct positions. And this eliminates the unsightly and unhealthy result of a “dropped” abdomen.

The priceless techniques of Yoga as spelt out above are a few of many that are worthy of most patient practice since it can be utilized during one’s entire lifetime for positive health benefits.

Now we focus on Yoga for children. One can undoubtedly not question the wisdom behind starting Yoga at an age which builds a strong foundation, which enables growing up fit and strong.

In recent years there has been much scientific research into the effects of yoga on children’s health. Evidence shows that regular Yoga practice can keep children’s health by boosting their immune systems and keeping their muscles, organs and glands functioning at optimum levels. Yoga also helps children to develop strong, flexible bodies, an excellent sense of balance and coordination, and feeling of confidence and grace in their movements.

The reason that regular Yoga practice is so beneficial in an all-round way is that postures and breathing techniques are designed to encourage and maintain the flow of prana – a basic life force energy that flows through all living things. When prana (breath) flows freely, one feels healthy and fit, but when the prana is blocked, one becomes ill.

Yoga also instills good postural habits in children. These days it’s common for school-age kids to carry heavy bags and satchels on a daily basis (often over the same shoulder for years), to spend long hours at a school desk and to sit on chairs that encourage slouching and rounding of the lower back (it’s interesting that in India there has been a huge rise in the number of back problems since people started sitting on chairs instead of the floor). Combined with habits such as walking on the outsides of the feet or standing with all the weight on one leg, it’s hardly surprising that posture related problems, most notably backaches, are among the most widespread afflictions of modern society.

The best way to prevent back problems in later life is to learn good posture at a young age. Practicing Yoga is an excellent way of doing this – it not only develops a core of strength around the spine and keeps the spine supple and well supplied with blood, but it also teaches children to be aware of the way they carry their bodies, to correct bad habits and prevent new ones from forming.

Yoga teaches children how to breathe correctly by inhaling slowly and deeply through the nose and drawing the breath right down into their lungs. This type of breathing creates a calm, focused and receptive state of mind (fast, shallow breaths that only get as far as the upper lungs produce a state of agitation that makes it hard to relax and concentrate). Nose breathing in particular helps to lengthen the breath and calm one down – it also warms and filters the air before it gets into the lungs.

If a child suffers from asthma, yogic breathing techniques are specialy helpful. The child will not only learn an awareness of how to breathe – which will help them to correct destructive breathing patterns- but specific techniques can help them to strengthen their respiratory and immune systems and to cope better in the event of an attack. As the incidence of asthma increases (it is estimated that in Australia one in every eight children has asthma) and controversy grows about the safety of conventional drug treatments, parents are turning more and more to natural methods of managing the condition.

Calming down the nervous system is another critically important role for Yoga in children’s health. We often, unwittingly, subject children to sensory overload from TV, video games and electronic toys, stress from hectic, fast-paced lifestyle, and inadequate nutrition from convenience and processed food. The net result is kids who are chronically over- stimulated and who lack the ability to concentrate for sustained periods of time. Behavioral disorders such as attention deficit (ADD) or attention deficit hyper activity (ADHD) are extreme examples of this.

By working with breath and movement, Yoga can slow down a child’s heart and breathing rate and strengthen the central nervous system. This has a profoundly calming influence on a child’s mental and emotional states. Once children have learned how to be still and quiet, they come to enjoy this feeling and to seek it out for themselves. On a practical level, if a child is prone to tantrums, clumsiness, poor memory and antisocial behavior, regular Yoga practice can gradually help these problems.

We conclude by stating that as we nudge our physical boundaries with yoga postures, we become fully focused on the body, breath and mind. We become absorbed in the present moment. It’s a break from our usual mind status. Like a holiday, it refreshes us. Yoga practice helps us from distress to de-stress, for dis-ease to ease, from passion to compassion. And the greatest beauty of yoga is, it can benefit all ages, including the elderly (chair yoga) no matter how late in life they start.

“Having mastered the body through Yogic teachings so that it becomes a fit habitation for the soul; having the senses, emotions and mind under control, the wise person discards the worn out sheaths of desire, fear and confusion and passes into a state of enlightenment and freedom.”  -Bhagavad Gita

Rukhsana Mirza is currently training to become a Yoga teacher.

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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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Yoga for Children – Refuge and Reform

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

By Jomana Krupinski

It is said that children are natural scientists. If that is true, then they must also be natural Yogis. Yoga, like science, fosters curiosity, awareness, observation, experimentation, self-discipline, and focus. In reality, Yoga is a science in itself. Its study provides a path to self-discovery and unity between body and intuition, between mind and something greater than the mind. As the great Yogi B.K.S. Iyengar once said, “Yoga is for everyone.” But it is this author’s opinion that Yoga is especially for children.

Children in the United States today are more likely to be raised in broken homes, single-parent homes, and extended or blended-family homes more frequently than during any other time in our culture’s history. They are more likely to feel the stresses and rigors of academic life and the many extracurricular activities in which they are involved. Today’s economy brings more parents to the workforce, resulting in more children leading very structured lives in childcare facilities as early as the age of one year old. Not all of this is particularly bad, as it teaches children to be adaptable and social, as well as shows children how to be successful team players in preparation for adulthood.

However, just as adults feel stress in their jobs and often succumb to performance anxiety, children suffer many of the same feelings. Unfortunately, many of them do not know how to handle or articulate these feelings – and they shouldn’t be expected to, as they have probably never been taught. This is where Yoga comes in.

Because Yoga is so adaptable, and because it employs a combination of physical activity, breathing techniques, and relaxation methods, it is tailor-made for children. It teaches connection with nature and the inner self. When they practice Yoga, they imitate the movements and sounds of animals and nature. They exercise, play, and ground themselves. But, as YogaKids founder Marsha Wenig says, the greatest gift of Yoga is its ability to foster cooperation and compassion – instead of opposition.

These statements are not just conjecture – they have recently been supported by a 2003 Gaiam-funded study that showed a 20 percent increase in the number of students who felt good about themselves, a six percent increase in classroom discipline scores, and a “statistically significant” link between regular Yoga practice and better grades. A December 2004 article in Education Weekly explained that students with health issues are not as capable of learning as are their healthy counterparts. Combine that with the fact that nine million American children (fifteen percent of kids and teenagers) are obese, and Yoga becomes not just a necessity for children’s improved health, but could very well be integral to the future success of our society as a whole.

Just as no two adults are the same, nor is their Yoga practice the same, we must remember that this also goes for children. As their caretakers, adults often forget that children are diverse and unique (and oftentimes, a child’s age-mate is not necessarily his or her peer, depending on maturity levels and life experience). By keeping this in mind, Yoga teachers can identify children’s individual needs and consequently work to provide a deeper experience for each child. Most importantly, though, a yoga practice for children should be fun. One of my favorite expressions by acclaimed yoga teacher Sara Ivanhoe is, “If it isn’t fun, do something different.” This is a great rule to apply for children.

In addition, all children can benefit from the teachings and practice of Yoga, and children with special needs are no exception. With today’s rampant increase in diagnoses of children’s disorders, such as autism, ADD/ADHD, and juvenile diabetes, it seems an alarm has been sounded. Something is wrong, and we need to give it our closest attention. But how can Yoga help?

In the case of autism, some children have difficulty with sensory integration – the ability to interpret and organize what stimuli is received from the senses. Yoga can aid these children by helping them learn body awareness and movement awareness. This, in turn, assists in the development of motor skills and will likely help their brains learn to interpret sensory stimuli.

In children with ADD or ADHD, there is often an inability to concentrate or practice self-control. While medication can, in some cases, be beneficial for these children, there is much debate as to the real effectiveness of current prescriptions. It seems that an alternative solution might be to include not only therapy and dietary treatments in their regimen, but also a Yoga practice that encourages learning how to control their symptoms and relieving emotional and physical stress.

No one is certain what has caused the recent prevalence in juvenile diabetes, but some scholars believe that the imbalances in modern civilized society are a contributing factor. What has been elucidated, however, is that Yoga practice actually does benefit children with diabetes. Dr. Swami Karmananda Saraswati claimed that regular Yoga therapy and dietary adjustments helped awaken pancreatic insulin response and bring blood sugar levels under control in children he worked with. With the practice of asanas that stretch and twist the organs, there is an increase in blood supply, which allows for more oxygen and better functioning of all organs. This helps to regulate the endocrine system, control blood pressure, and manage weight – all of which benefit children with diabetes.

Physical health benefits aside, children can gain much from a Yoga practice, including inner peace and a well-adjusted mind – necessary assets in today’s society. Children are taught to compete from an early age, and many of them grow up believing wholeheartedly that achievement is based on winning. With the “hurried child” syndrome that we seem to be seeing so much, our children grow up with very little time to really sit inside their own heads, to really think about what they want from life. Instead, they are often told what they should want from life, and they are told that they need to hone as many skills as possible so that they can bulk up their resumes in order to win competitive scholarships (because hardly anyone can afford college anymore). Of course, this is not all bad, and teaching children to recognize and use their skills is pivotal in their success and happiness in life. However, the message must be crafted very carefully, because children are likely to take lessons from adults in the most literal sense possible.

As Yoga becomes more mainstream and more accepted as a way to gain both spiritual and physical health, it will inevitably become more widely recognized as a beneficial addition to current health protocols for children. Health reform is currently all over the news media, but reform doesn’t just have to apply to the politics of health – it should also apply to our own personal health, using our own intuitive natures to decide what is best for our bodies and for our children. Reform begins with the individual, and in this case, with children who grow up devoted to a regular Yoga practice.

Therefore, one of the greatest things Yoga can offer to children is refuge, both for their physical selves and their emotional selves. In a group environment, yoga provides a place for children to gather, socialize, and relax, all with no pressure and no strings attached. Individually, with a parent or teacher, it provides a place to reflect or open up to an adult in a non-intimidating setting. But most importantly, yoga is always a place where it is okay not to compete – where it is okay for children to think for themselves. Yoga is unconditional acceptance. Eventually, this grows inside them and becomes a place they know they can take with them wherever they go. They learn that they will always have access to Yoga, to the teacher within themselves. There can be no better gift than this knowing – this empowerment that the answers can always be found inside, if they only take the time to look.

References:

Calhoun, Matthew and Yael. Create a Yoga Practice for Kids. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2006.

Gaiam online: http://life.gaiam.com

Saraswati, Swami Karmananda. “Yoga Benefits Juvenile Diabetes.” Yoga Magazine online. http://www.yogamag.net

Wenig, Marsha. “Yoga for Kids.” Yoga Journal online. http://www.yogajournal.com

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Why Yoga for Kids?

Friday, June 4th, 2010

By Thelma Natasuwarna Wuisan

Human bodies need to move and exercise in order to stay fit and healthy. Exercise is important for our bones and muscle to work properly; for our joints to function properly; for our circulation to work effectively; and for our metabolism to function efficiently. Adults and children, all need to be active in order to keep in their best shape.

In this modern society, our children have been drawn in to television programs and computer games that made them less and less active every day. Too much of these things may cause our children to develop poor posture and balance, lack of focus and discipline, lack of social interface, less energetic and easily gain sluggishness and may also develop obesity. Due to the intense competition in the society, some children may take up sports or any physical activity to achieve a winning performance. Rigorous training in competitive activities may also create long-term damage to children’s vulner-able bones. Too much competition could drive the children to reject themselves if they do not work hard enough, win enough, looking good enough, or not having enough. Ba-sically, too much pressure of competitive activities may cause children not to like them-selves, not to accept themselves if they are not up to the “standards”. Then, in a very young age, they would be exposed to stress and depression.

That is a sad reality. We need to understand that our children need to be physically active within their limits and having fun with themselves by exploring possibilities. Yoga offers our children a holistic activity that includes physical postures, breathe exercise, mind focus and emotional management. Yoga is a non-competitive activity where the children are enjoying themselves within their own capabilities.

By having fun in their activities, children grow to accept and love themselves and others. Their positive outlook toward themselves and the world around them become an important foundation to face future’s challenge in life.

The Benefits of Yoga and Have Fun Doing It, Too!

Part of yoga is physical exercise, although, yoga actually offers more than just physical exercise. Children who learn yoga usually have a healthy self-confident, they also grow the ability to focus and concentrate. Yoga allows children to express themselves and fosters their imagination by mimicking animals, objects and nature.

As a physical exercise, yoga increases muscles and bones strength and flexibility. Through yoga postures, children learn to balance their bodies and using breaths as the source of energy and balance.

Breathing exercise is taught in yoga to help children to integrate themselves and become attuned with their bodies. Simple breathing technique such as “Balloon Breath” (from Wai Lana’s Little Yogi) when conducted with concentration and focus on the inhalation and exhalation could help managing children emotional and mental state as it pro-vides some sense of calmness and steadiness.

At first, we could find some children are reluctant to do yoga poses. Some of them could be shy and could limit their physical movement, some others may feel silly to make some strange poses and having questions of why they should do that at all. But in after few sessions, children will immediately get hooked up to yoga because they enjoy them. Children are usually excited with the challenge, and later enjoy themselves when they are able to perform they poses.

Yoga is for all boys and girls in all sizes. It can also be taught for children with physical disabilities (hearing impair, in a wheel chair, etc) and mental problems (ADHD, ADD, Autism) with some special skills from the teacher and may or may not require a spe-cial class setting e.g. private class with no toys or distraction in the classroom. For normal children or for other regular/normal yoga classroom setting, we basically only need to have proper mats, some blocks and straps when necessary. In addition to that, it would be in-teresting to stick on some simple yet colorful sketches of yoga poses on the wall to inspire the children. They tend to be more excited if the teachers are sticking new poses on the wall.

The short-term and long-term benefits of yoga for children are good posture devel-opment, better physical coordination, good connection between physical and mental, somewhat have a better understanding that their physical state will influence their mental state, and vice versa. Yoga builds healthy confident for the children, the children will not be judged while practicing this confident in yoga sessions. Basically, yoga helps building physical strength as well as mental stability.

Yoga induces children’s curiosity and creativity. When children are encouraged to modify the poses within teacher’s guidance, they would feel some sense of acceptance in yoga practice. That will foster their curiosity and creativity, knowing that they have freedom to be who they are. Responsibility is practiced through their effort in performing a pose. They are encouraged to give themselves some challenge as they progress in yoga, but they must be responsible by not forcing too far, causing injuries for themselves and others. Focus, sensitivity and compassion are practiced simultaneously when children are guided to listen to their inner-selves and to behave with respect.

All the benefits that yoga provides to its practitioner are to be experienced inside and outside yoga classroom. In school, in music and art, in other physical activities, and even in relationship with other human beings, yoga has given contentment and confidence for someone to carry him/herself as who he/she is. In my personal experience, there was a young student who used to have problem at school with her friends and teachers, she got into troubles with boys and girls at school. She is athletic and strong, but did not recognize her physical energy when she interacted with others. From time to time, she admitted that she had difficult time avoiding fights. After a few months of yoga practice, there was a rec-ognizable changes emerged in her. She got more centered and had not been into a fight for quite some time. Her yoga asana also changed dramatically and she could maintain a better focus for the whole yoga session. Other students mentioned that they could manage their emotion better and stay calm.

These stories are very encouraging, opening our eyes that yoga could really work for children – not merely for their physical health, but also for them to present themselves while interacting and connecting with others in the society. Eventually, it is for our children to cope with challenge in life and enjoy living, loving themselves and others in respect.

Kids Yoga Teacher – What Does It Take?

- Have sufficient experience in yoga and practice regularly, also have the spirit to continue learning about yoga and its aspects.

- It is important (and required) to have a YT Certificate and also to have understand-ing in basic anatomy.

- Must have love, compassion and patience for the children. Seeing and understand-ing that each child is unique, even the most difficult child has a glowing light in him/herself – awaiting to be radiated.

- Have good teaching ethics and behave accordingly, never harm the children in any way.

- Creative, dynamic, humorous and flexible (not in physical sense, instead having flexibility in facing ever changing situation with children, teachers may not be able to stick to the teaching program of the day).

Challenges in Kids Yoga Classes

- Maintaining their interest: children usually have short-term attention and mostly are only interested to the things that are easy and make them feel comfortable. This is human nature – but in children particularly, they can quickly coming out of the pose and start to ignore teacher’s instruction, they would only do what they like or what they want to do. That could distract other children or sometimes it is “contagious” as other children may follow this behavior. Therefore, engaging with the children should help maintain their interest throughout the practice. The following tips may help:

o Always prepare self with program syllabus. Sometimes children are not in the mood for practice or some of them are tired because of the previous activity, the teacher needs to be flexible and make improvisation here and there to re-late with children’s condition yet keeping the practice going. Ask children to do poses that are more “playful” and restorative if mood and stamina are the issues. Partner yoga such as “Rooftop” (Tara Guber and Leah Khalis) or “Partner Dog” (Yael Calhoun and Matthew Calhoun) or group yoga such as “Group Butterflies” or “Group Flowers” (Thia Luby) usually bring back the fun element and capture children attention. If children have lots of energy and cannot be in order, we should ask them to do challenging poses “Double Dog” (Tara Guber and Leah Khalis), “Knapsack” (Tara Guber and Leah Khalis), or Wheelbarrow (Thia Luby).

- Being discipline and keeping the routine: some children could easily get bored and wanting to do new things every time. Although it is recommended to include some new activities in the sequence every now and then, children must practice all the “old poses” so that they trained to ‘perfect’ them and discovered the benefits. So the challenge for the teacher would be to continuously remind the children the purpose of practice and at the same time to be creative by changing the sequence of the practice to keep it exciting.

- Having tolerant and compassion, being non competitive and non-judgment: children are unique individuals with different characters. It is important for the teacher to fo-cus on yoga practice and not pushing, punishing, or judging the children from where they come from. As much as possible, not to directly call out their names when some pose’s adjustments were required. It it better to ask them all to pay attention to what the teacher said and try to adjust themselves. Otherwise, approach them and discuss it quietly. Putting a child under focus of attention may caused uncom-fortable feeling for him/her.

- Parents support: parents are suggested to continuously encouraging children to yoga (or any practice, for that matter), encourage them to attend yoga class on-time (this includes the arrangement of dropping-off and picking-up routine) and support them during the days they don’t feel like to practice.

The Role of Music, Graphic and Short Story Telling

It is suggested to play music in Kids Yoga classes. A mixed of instrumental New Age music, common children songs and some nature sounds (rain drops, waterfall, bird cirping, etc) could be useful to guide children into different stages i.e. active poses, games in group and relaxation time.

Simple graphic or sketch of yoga poses could guide children to do their own poses. Or, interestingly, graphic could be a teaser for children’s imagination and creativity. In partner yoga, for instance, children may afterward come up with their own interesting ges-ture, sound, interaction etc.

I found short story telling very helpful to engage with children in yoga classes. The story could be about yoga practice, about living and eating healthy, about managing emo-tions such as anger and anxiety. This session, however, needs not to be longer than 10 minutes to capture children’s enthusiasm. They would listen and respond according to the subject. Some of them may tell their own stories about the related subjects. It is good to listen to them and be responsive, that way children are encourage to be confident with themselves, and also developing trust among all yoga students and the teacher. **tnw**

REFERENCES

Luby, Thia. “Children’s Book of Yoga”. New Mexico: Clear Light Publisher, 1998.

Guber, Tara & Kalish, Leah. “Yoga Pretzels”. Cambridge: Barefoot Books, 2008.

Guber, Tara & Kalish, Leah. “Yoga Planet”. Cambridge: Barefoot Books, 2005.

Pupperhart, Helen. “Yoga Exercise for Teens”. Alameda: Hunter House, 2009.

Stewart, Mary & Phillips, Kathy. “Yoga for Children”. London: Webster International, 1992.

Singleton, Mark. “Yoga for You and Your Child”. London: Duncan Baird, 2004.

Calhoun, Yael & Calhoun, Matthew. R. “Creating a Yoga Practice for Kids”. Sunstone Press, 2006.

Lana, Wai. “Wai Lana’s Little Yogi Fun Exercise”. Wai Lana Productions, 2005.

Thelma Natasuwarna Wuisan is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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