When presented in a child's language, yoga can help
counter the stress experienced by young people living in a hurry-up
world.
By Marsha Wenig
Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school
pressures, incessant lessons, video games, malls, and competitive
sports. We usually don't think of these influences as stressful for our
kids, but often they are. The bustling pace of our children's lives can
have a profound effect on their innate joy—and 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 life's challenges with a little more
ease. Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness
with a physical activity that's noncompetitive. Fostering cooperation
and compassion—instead of opposition—is 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
inspiration—the 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
yoga's true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself and one's
part in the delicate web of life.
A Child's 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 that's needed is a little flexibility on
the adult's 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
confidence—after all, I'd 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 children's 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 areas—animal adaptations and behavior, music and playing
instruments, storytelling, drawing—and 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 child's 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 and video called YogaKids. The program combines yogic
techniques designed especially for children using Dr. Howard Gardner's
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 us—linguistic, logical, visual, musical,
kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal—and
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 you're 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 move—both 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 it's 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 they're snakes (Bhujangasana), invite them
to really imagine that they're 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." We're just in
different forms.
Think of yourself as a facilitator—the term we use in the YogaKids
program—rather than a teacher. Guide your children while simultaneously
opening your heart and letting them guide you. They'll 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.
Marsha Wenig is the creator of the YogaKids video and
educational curriculum. Her YogaKids Facilitator Certification Program
trains teachers to share their yogic wisdom with children. For more
information contact her at (800) 968-0694 or e-mail innerwrk@niia.net.
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