Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school pressures, incessant lessons, video games, malls, and competitive sports. We usually dont think of these influences as stressful for our kids, but often they are. The bustling pace of our childrens lives can have a profound effect on their innate joyand usually not for the better.
I have found that yoga can help counter these pressures. When children learn techniques for self-health, relaxation, and inner fulfillment, they can navigate lifes challenges with a little more ease. Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness with a physical activity thats noncompetitive. Fostering cooperation and compassioninstead of oppositionis a great gift to give our children.
Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them. Yoga brings that marvelous inner light that all children have to the surface.
When yogis developed the asanas many thousands of years ago, they still lived close to the natural world and used animals and plants for inspirationthe sting of a scorpion, the grace of a swan, the grounded stature of a tree. When children imitate the movements and sounds of nature, they have a chance to get inside another being and imagine taking on its qualities. When they assume the pose of the lion (Simhasana) for example, they experience not only the power and behavior of the lion, but also their own sense of power: when to be aggressive, when to retreat. The physical movements introduce kids to yogas true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself and ones part in the delicate web of life.
A Childs Way
Yoga with children offers many possibilities to exchange wisdom, share good times, and lay the foundation for a lifelong practice that will continue to deepen. All thats needed is a little flexibility on the adults part because, as I quickly found out when I first started teaching the practice to preschoolers, yoga for children is quite different than yoga for adults.
Six years ago, I had my first experience teaching yoga to kids at a local Montessori school. I looked forward to the opportunity with confidenceafter all, Id been teaching yoga to adults for quite a while, had two young children of my own, and had taught creative writing for several years in various Los Angeles schools. But after two classes with a group of 3 to 6-year-olds, I had to seriously reevaluate my approach. I needed to learn to let go (the very practice I had been preaching for years) of my agenda and my expectations of what yoga is and is not.
When I began to honor the childrens innate intelligence and tune in to how they were instructing me to instruct them, we began to co-create our classes. We used the yoga asanas as a springboard for exploration of many other areasanimal adaptations and behavior, music and playing instruments, storytelling, drawingand our time together became a truly interdisciplinary approach to learning. Together we wove stories with our bodies and minds in a flow that could only happen in childs play.
The kids began to call me Mrs. Yoga, and I called them Yoga Kids. We continued to work and play together until our creations bloomed into a program called YogaKids. The program combines yogic techniques designed especially for children using Dr. Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner, an author and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, describes eight intelligences innate in all of uslinguistic, logical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonaland emphasizes that children should be given the opportunity to develop and embody as many of these as possible.
In keeping with this theory, YogaKids integrates storytelling, games, music, language, and other arts into a complete curriculum that engages the whole child. We employ ecology, anatomy, nutrition, and life lessons that echo yogic principles of interdependence, oneness, and fun. Most of all, our program engages the entire mind, body, and spirit in a way that honors all the ways children learn.
Taking the Practice Home
If youre planning to teach yoga to kids, there are a few general things to know that will enhance your experience. The greatest challenge with children is to hold their attention long enough to teach them the benefits of yoga: stillness, balance, flexibility, focus, peace, grace, connection, health, and well-being. Luckily, most children love to talk, and they love to moveboth of which can happen in yoga. Children will jump at the chance to assume the role of animals, trees, flowers, warriors. Your role is to step back and allow them to bark in the dog pose, hiss in the cobra, and meow in cat stretch. They can also recite the ABCs or 123s as they are holding poses. Sound is a great release for children and adds an auditory dimension to the physical experience of yoga.
Children need to discover the world on their own. Telling them to think harder, do it better, or be a certain way because its good for them is not the optimal way. Instead, provide a loving, responsive, creative environment for them to uncover their own truths. As they perform the various animal and nature asanas, engage their minds to deepen their awareness. When theyre snakes (Bhujangasana), invite them to really imagine that theyre just a long spine with no arms and legs. Could you still run or climb a tree? In Tree Pose (Vrksasana), ask them to imagine being a giant oak, with roots growing out of the bottoms of their feet. Could you stay in the same position for 100 years? If you were to be chopped down, would that be OK? Would it hurt?
When they stretch like a dog, balance like a flamingo, breathe like a bunny, or stand strong and tall like a tree, they are making a connection between the macrocosm of their environment and the microcosm of their bodies. The importance of reverence for all life and the principle of interdependence becomes apparent. Children begin to understand that we are all made of the same stuff. Were just in different forms.
Think of yourself as a facilitator rather than a teacher. Guide your children while simultaneously opening your heart and letting them guide you. Theyll 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.
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The Benefits of Yoga for Kids
How yoga can teach kids to be active, relieve stress, and think in positive ways. Learn the language of teaching yoga to children.
Giving Kids the Gift of Yoga Top 10 Benefits of Yoga for ...
Greetings all, I am cataloging all the benefits of Yoga and would appreciate it if you would vote on the benefits and provide content to support your vote.
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Recent Articles. How to Meet the Needs of Kids in Yoga; Yoga Helps Kids Become Better Athletes; What You Need to Know About Physical Literacy for Kids Yoga
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What Exactly is Yoga? Yoga has been around for thousands of years. Yoga is a practice that started in India, and is now very popular in the United States and around
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The ABCs Yoga for Kids series It probably wont surprise you to hear that Im not the only blogger out there whos caught on to the benefits of kids and yoga.
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References. The Chicago Tribune: Kids Get Health Benefit From Yoga; PBS: Why Yoga and Kids Go Together; Yoga International: Yoga Generates Huge Benefits for Children
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» Benefits of Yoga for Children » Benefits of Yoga in the School Setting; Benefits of Yoga for Children. The following are just some of the recognized benefits of
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References. 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov (accessed August 2009. 2. Nanette Tummers, Teaching Yoga for Life (Champaign, IL: Human
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If theres one thing I wish I wouldnt have given up after I had my daughter almost six years ago its my daily yoga practice. I had been practicing yoga