Kids Yoga

Relaxation, by withdrawing the awareness from the external environment, or pratyahara, reduces the stress of daily living experiences. Techniques of pratyahara such as yoga nidra affect all aspects of the individual, because physical and mental relaxation through withdrawal of the empirical awareness, and concentration, the focusing of attention, or dharana, are important elements of that technique.

Sustained concentration, or dhyana, is important for stilling the turbulent mind and channelling focused mental energy creatively. The practice of yoga creates a balance in the total personality.

Yoga helps children develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination. Yoga has also been shown to help the hyperactive and attention-deficit child. It helps instil calm, confidence and balance. Physically, yoga offers the benefits of increasing flexibility, strength, and coordination. Mentally, yoga is reputed to increase concentration as well as calmness. Other internal benefits include being introduced to and practicing the art of stillness, focus, self-acceptance, peace, and grace. The non-competitive nature of yoga (against others or self) makes it a safe practice, welcoming to all children. A yoga practice can provide new tools for kids when it comes to handling stress.

When the child is about eight years of age, the pineal gland begins to degenerate. This decay corresponds to the beginning of sexual maturation, precipitated by the release of hormones from the pituitary gland. Many children do not cope well during this transitional period, when sexual awareness is developing. The high levels of these disturbing hormones in their blood cause an imbalance between their mental and vital fields. 'Vital' means prana, the bioenergy, and 'mental' means mind. The pranic and mental fields are unable to coordinate with each other and the glands such as the thyroid and adrenals do not work in absolute coordination with each other. Therefore, disruptive behaviour is often evinced at this age, such as anger, resentment or violence, much of which can be directly or indirectly attributed to hormonal imbalance.

Why burden a child with sexual responsibility at such a tender age? If we can find a way to delay the decay of the pineal gland, to maintain a balance between the sympathetic (pingala) and the parasympathetic (ida) nervous systems, then the child can continue to experience childhood without the stress of inappropriate impulses.

Emotional/behavioural aspect

This aspect includes hyperactive behaviour, the phenomenon of relaxation and the culture emotions. In yogic terminology, emotional disturbance is the result of all imbalance of manas shakti (the mental component) and prana shakti (the vital component). Where there is excess mental energy and a lack of prana, the child suffers withdrawal, depression, anxiety or lethargy. He lacks dynamism and cannot transform his mental energy into creative action. Conversely, if the child has excess prana and not enough manas, then he will become very destructive and disruptive. A vast amount of energy with no control spells disaster. It is comparable to a fast moving vehicle without brakes. Such hyperactive children are difficult to live with, and learning is almost impossible for them in this state.

Yoga automatically brings sobriety. Character and sobriety are expressions of inner purity, which cannot be infused solely by speeches. The practices must be performed.

Yoga is the best tool for balanced development for children

The practices of yoga not only help to keep the young body strong and supple but also incorporate mental activities, disciplines that help to develop attention and concentration, and stimulate the creative abilities that are latent within the child. Imagination in children under six is usually expended on toys and fairy tales, but we can also give them real things to imagine, putting them in a more accurate relationship with their environment, making them capable of dealing with this real world. The young child is more intuitive and less conditioned than an adult and is therefore quite open, forthright, creative and, above all, capable of learning. Yoga physiology suggests this is because the pineal gland has not started to degenerate due to calcification and that yoga practices aid in the delay of this degeneration. As the child grows older and enters school, these same yoga practices augment his learning abilities at school, and the regular discipline helps the growing child to channel and direct his emotional energies in a constructive manner.

Programs

3 days or 7 days – 60 minutes each
Summer Yoga Camp for 15 days – 60 minutes