Yoga with Children

Nurturing the Whole Child

In such a fast-paced society, bombarded with television and over-stimulation, there is a growing need in our children to learn to focus their minds, gradually developing better concentration skills; to readily access their own inner creative world, to acquire the art of relaxing their bodies, and to find out how to be still and peaceful within themselves.

There are an increasing number of adults practising Yoga regularly at home. Trying to balance your children’s needs, and the space and time for your own Yoga practice can be at times a trying affair, so why not include your children in part of your Yoga routine?

Benefits

Yoga is a holistic experience that nurtures the body, mind, emotions and spirit of the child.

The benefits to children (and adults) in practising Yoga are numerous. On a physiological level all muscles and joints of the body are exercised and strengthened, the spine becomes straighter, stronger and more flexible, posture is improved, internal organs are massaged, stretched and toned, and full deep breathing is facilitated. Ultimately this leads to better health and vitality.

On a more subtle level I have found children to be more aware of the power of their minds and of positive thinking. Over time this can help develop a more caring attitude to others.

Yoga can help children

  • Increase their muscle tone and develop muscle co-ordination
  • Develop both body and spatial awareness
  • Balance the functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which can help establish hand dominance
  • Improve balance and concentration
  • The relaxation phase stimulates Alpha brain wave patterns which encourages a feeling of well-being and increases creative levels of brain function
  • Familiarises younger children with concepts of right and left
  • Encompasses the different ways in which children learn: kinaesthetic, auditory or visual
  • Develops greater awareness of how the body functions (particularly the lungs); and the difference between relaxation and activity within the body
  • Gives them methods for releasing pent up emotional and mental states of mind. Introduces the ability to focus the mind and improves concentration
  • Children with special needs benefit from regular practice. This includes asthmatic children, Cerebral Palsy, and children diagnosed with ADD

Child Friendly Yoga

When trying Yoga with your child remember it needs to be presented in a child friendly way. The approach needs to be fun, fairly dynamic, creative and stimulating to the child’s inner fantasy world. You can do this by threading the many beautiful Yoga postures of animals and nature based objects together into different stories. The stories are wonderfully brought to life through the child’s own vivid imagination. For under 7’s appropriate music or songs can be utilised. Eg ‘I’m a Great Big Tiger’, ‘Mr Frog’, ‘Row, Row your Boat’.

With a few young children you can play a variety of Yoga games. These may include the cobra snakes slithering through a dog tunnel, statues, geometric body shapes, or visiting a farm or zoo. Movement and dance also integrate well with Yoga. For older children Alphabet Yoga, partner Yoga and Salute to the Sun are great.

Two valuable Yoga techniques for helping children release anger safely are the Lions pose and the Woodchopper. Both these use an exhaled verbal Haaa! breath. Encourage your child to make as much sound as they can and repeat at least 4 times.

As well as the active Yoga postures that work on strengthening the physical body it is important to keep in mind the holistic nature of Yoga, which nurtures the body, mind, emotions and spirit of the child. For a Yoga session to be balanced it is important to introduce calming and focusing techniques to children and to always rest after a session of Yoga.

It’s good to create an atmosphere for the quiet time: Light a candle, or some incense or play some peaceful ambient music. Start with a breath awareness exercise for a few minutes, which helps focus the children. Diaphragmatic breathing can be introduced in a fun way, such as being a balloon filling up with air, then emptying, or using little paper boats and watching the chest rise and fall like the waves of the ocean. Asthmatic children particularly benefit from cleansing puffing out breaths which empties the lungs fully and lengthens the exhale. Alternate nostril breathing, which I call the Sun and Moon breath, is good for older children.

Directly flowing on from the breath awareness is an ideal time for building meditation skills even though children have a very short attention span. Meditation means to be able to focus so one pointedly on an object, that you ultimately become one with that object. Techniques that help develop concentration and focus can be used with children from 4 years old. The focus may be a candle flame, an attractive picture, or beautiful objects from nature such as a shell, flower or crystal. With younger children it is best to firstly explore the object with all of the senses, and then to see it behind the closed eyes. Challenge older children with optical illusion pictures, candle gazing, breath awareness or just visual imagery with eyes closed.

Three to four minutes is ample for 4 and 5 year olds. Tune into your child and assess their ability to concentrate. Remain centred yourself and do not expect too much to begin with. Sitting still and quiet with eyes closed is something to be learned that many adults cannot do.

The ability to concentrate and focus the mind is directly proportional to the amount of learning that takes place in an individual. Encouraging mental imagery fosters the creative aspects of our minds so when we travel inwards to our ’inner space’ we can experience deep inner peace, joy and understanding.

Relaxation and a guided visualisation is a beautiful way to complete a Yoga session and should last from 5 to 7 minutes. (Assess your child and adjust accordingly.) Eye pillows, (filled with lavender flowers and flax seeds) are essential for children, as they are calming, cut out distractions and encourage a child to go within. Firstly go through the different parts of the body to relax them one at a time. This is then best followed by an imaginative journey or creative visualisation. You may introduce methods for releasing worries such as a cleansing waterfall, a worry tree or a burning volcano. Use this time to encourage visual imagery and help foster an attitude of caring for the diversity of life. It is also an ideal opportunity to acknowledge the power of our thoughts, use positive affirmations, and to help your child build positive self esteem.

You can make up your own visualisations or Maureen Garth has a good series of books for children (Moonbeam and Starbright).

It’s good to practise the poses beforehand so your child becomes familiar with them, then flow it together in the story afterwards. Use your own and your child’s imagination to then make up more Yoga stories you can do together. Please read my section on guidelines beforehand.

BOOK LIST
1 “A Child’s Garden Of  Yoga”: Baba Hari Dass, Sri Rama Publications CA
2  Barbara  Books CA
3 “Starbright”, “Moonbeam” and “Sunshine” Meditations for children. Maureen Garth
4. “Meditating with Children“: Deborah Rozman, University of the Trees CA
5 “Yoga and Meditation for Children”: F. Sawyer & B. Maltby,  Fivefold Path Inc. Virginia
6 “Yoga for the Young”: Swami Shishyananda: Satyananda  Publication, Mangrove Mt. Ashram, NSW

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