If your child is suffering from physical, emotional or behavioral challenges, you may not realize that yoga therapy may be a viable treatment option. From headaches to autism, parents and teachers are learning that yoga can support children and their special needs. Introducing a child to yoga might just provide her with lifelong tools for health.
Significance
Yoga provides many benefits for all children, especially those with special needs. Physically, they can work on their flexibility, strength, coordination and body awareness. This may be beneficial for children who are struggling with specific physical conditions or ailments, including, but not limited to cancer. Chldren can gain a direct and physical understanding of calm and relaxation. While learning yoga, children not only exercise, they play and enhance their relationship with the world. Yoga fosters skills for self-health, relaxation and inner fulfilment that may help children to negotiate the challenges of life with ease. For example, older children who experience headaches can learn how to use yoga as a relaxation technique to address stress, which is often considered an underlying cause of headaches. Taught at an early age, yoga also facilitates self-esteem and body awareness without being competitive.
Identification
According to "The Yoga Journal," children begin to develop and enrich their awareness as they discover yoga postures that are also nature poses. Ask children to imagine what a specific position feels like to them. One of the biggest obstacles to teaching yoga to children is holding their attention while allowing them to experience feelings of stillness, balance, flexibility, focus, connection and well-being. Most children eagerly assume the role of animals, trees, flowers and warriors. As the teacher, let them to play. Allow them to bark in downward-facing-dog-pose, hiss in cobra pose and meow like a cat in the cat stretch pose. This enables them to better understand the concepts behind the poses and to increase their motivation to practice.
Function
While yoga can be taught at home, some children may benefit from a structured class environment. Depending upon the needs of your child, assess whether a yoga therapy program tailored to their needs and conditions is appropriate. Some children may be able to adequately participate in a traditional yoga class for kids. Consult your child's yoga teacher to make him aware of any limitations that your child might possess. Classes for children emphasize the basics of yoga, including the cultivation of compassion. Children learn to integrate breathing exercises while performing poses.
A typical class will include a warm-up. The instructor will ask your child to remove his shoes and to sit cross-legged or lie down. The instructor will encourage your child to to quiet his mind by closing his eyes or using his imagination. Your child will learn how to focus his breathing by inhaling and exhaling deeply through the nose. The class will then proceed to practicing postures. He will learn gentle stretches that prepare his body for postures that involve standing, sitting, twisting, balancing and bending. The instructor will offer gentle reminders to your child that may include encouragement to breathe while performing the poses, to avoid forcing a pose and to stop if he feels pain. The class usually concludes with a reawakening time where children will be asked to wiggle and stretch their bodies.
Features
Parents have been using yoga therapy to treat various ailments and challenges, including mental health issues, disease management and stress reduction. Street Yoga is an example of a successful yoga therapy program. Founded by Mark Lilly, Street Yoga aims to assist disadvantaged youth and their families facing homelessness. Street Yoga utilizes seven yoga poses that most children can master in several weeks, offering relaxation, discipline and a sense of accomplishment. "Yoga gives some measure of order, strength and balance to people living in indescribably dysfunctional worlds. And it does not require any costly equipment," says Lilly. Street Yoga has developed programs with the assistance of social workers who teach mindfulness during traumatic experiences. For example, for a parent who is concerned that she may abuse her children, Street Yoga offers the opportunity to learn tools to enhance calm and control.
Warning
Not all styles of yoga are suitable for children. Children should not perform ashtanga yoga, or power yoga. Ashtanga yoga focuses on strength and flexibility with quick movement and requires superior physical condition. Children should also not practice Bikram yoga, or hot yoga, because it involves performing poses in a room heated to 100 to 100 F.
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