12/12/2018
Be The Best Kids’ Yoga Teacher You Can Be! How Does Yoga Benefit Children?
Understanding how children develop from a physical and emotional perspective can enable children’s yoga teachers to offer more than just another exercise class! Yoga allows a time for children to slow down and get to know themselves; and their minds and bodies.
We already know the holistic benefits that adults receive from regular yoga practice. There is a solid body of scientific evidence which confirms these benefits. Yoga practice attends to the body, mind and spirit or heart through asana (the discipline of posture), pranayama (breath control) and meditation. Just as adults do, children can also feel these benefits through their practice.
As teachers we must ensure that we offer the children a space in which they feel safe, secure and psychologically contained and ‘held’. This requires us to be aware of our own process and presence. We need to model what we are helping our children to learn so that not only will they have tremendous fun in our classes but also develop as ‘whole’ young people.
Yoga is not a competition! ‘Hooray!’ you might say – the children we teach often live in a world shaped and constrained by the expectations of others and academic and social pressures. They live with a constant demand to keep up, to compete with their peers and to be accepted at home and in society. Our classes need to offer an holistic approach to attending to all their developmental needs. We can only do this if we truly understand these needs.
Let’s start by welcoming them – really seeing them, validating them for who they are and attuning to their non-verbal cues. This might be the first time that day that they are really seen! When they are actually seen, they know that they exist and are accepted for who they are and not what they do. They will begin to feel part of a group and develop a sense of belonging. This will offer them the chance to build connections with those around them – and of course with themselves – as they become more aware of their internal and external presence.
On the yoga mat, children can have a secure base on which to develop a strong and healthy body and mind. During the mindful practices in which they focus on their breath and becoming still, they will be releasing the natural calming and soothing chemicals of the brain. They will develop good vagal tone and reduce the level of stress hormones that might be present. When children are calmer and more relaxed, they are able to engage more confidently in the activities offered to them. From a sense of joy, feel-good hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin will be released.
Engaging in exercises that challenge children’s bodies, their balance and their ability to listen uses all their senses and focuses on large and fine motor skills. This sense of individual achievement increases children’s self-confidence and belief in themselves as individuals. ‘Doing’ is a familiar state for most of us and in yoga it is an essential part. At the same time children can learn a less familiar state – that of simply ‘being’. Stilling their inner world allows them to be truly present in the moment and able to let go of any current worries about the past or future. In this stillness, they can be at one with themselves. They can enjoy the deeply peaceful effects of relaxing into savasana, a pose of calming, which helps to bring together all the benefits of their yoga class that day. They can leave the class feeling whole and present.
Kim White, MA – Child Psychotherapist, Kids’ Yoga Teacher