"Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school pressures, incessant lessons, video games, malls and competitive sports," says Marsha Wenig in "Yoga Journal." These pressures create stress in children. On top of that, many children are overweight and in need of more exercise. Yoga is a possible solution to both of these problems, as it promotes stress relief and exercise. To best share yoga with children, become certified in children's yoga.
Benefits
Yoga teaches children how to deal with stressors in their life when they are young. This helps them not only as children, but also when they grow into adults. Yoga boosts self-esteem, teaches a child to be aware of his body, encourages exercise and taking care of yourself and promotes a healthy worldview of love and compassion.
Certification
Find a certification program specific to teaching yoga to children. There are no universal guidelines to teach yoga, and specifically children's yoga. However, if you want to be a Registered Children's Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, the main certifying body of yoga instructors in the United States, you must already be a Registered Yoga Teacher, having learned the poses, meditation and breathing techniques associated with yoga in general. Yoga for children will build on the knowledge base you already possess.
Guidelines
Yoga Alliance requires a children's yoga instructor to complete a total of 95 hours, 87 of them direct contact hours, in a children's yoga program registered with Yoga Alliance. You go through 12 hours learning about childhood developmental stages and relationships with the parents, 20 hours on yoga techniques for those specific developmental stages and 15 hours on teaching skills related to children's yoga. You then complete 10 hours on the anatomy and physiology of the different developmental stages, 12 hours on how yoga philosophy, lifestyle and ethics relate to working with children, 18 hours observing and teaching and eight hours of miscellaneous education, with the subjects depending on the school you attend.
Tips
A yoga class with children is different from one with adults, as children are more difficult to keep calm and under control. Wenig suggests going with the energy, creativity and imagination of the children, such as allowing them to meow in cat poses and pretend to grow roots in tree pose. You might end up including aspects besides yoga in your class, such as music, games and storytelling, to enhance the yoga experience. Wenig recommends acting like a facilitator instead of a teacher, allowing the children to guide you as much as you guide them.
