Yoga for Children

Hi
I just started a thread asking for advice about children and yoga and then found this one :)
We have been using Yoga with our 4-7 year olds for the last term with beautiful results. We have also from time to time done meditation with them. We started when one of their close teachers passed away quite suddenly, alot of them were struggling with the emotions of this and alot of their parents wern't able or wern't willing to help with these new emotions...... shocking i know :(
We do about 20 minutes of yoga once a week in the afternoon, they have become very apt at it. They really enjoy the breathing exercises and all are very relaxed........ it's the quietest i've ever known them ;) We have a couple of boys that have ADHD and 3 with autism the results for them have been, well, pretty amazing :) We try to make it child friendly too, giving funny names for some of the stretches. I have never done Yoga myself but the other class teacher has done for a number of years, it's been wonderful to learn alongside such wise beings (the children that is).
Since starting meditation/yoga with them we have noticed how openly the children now speak to us about spirit, we have some real sensitives in the class and although we could sense what these children were going through it is a difficult subject to broach within a school, infact, one we are not allowed to bring up! The children approaching us though is a different story. Their passed teacher is a still a strong energy within the classroom and many of them feel her, they can now speak openly about this without fear of ridicule. This is not a morbid thing but very loving and we have a better classroom for it, behaviour is better and the childrens caring for each other is next to none. I have to add the rest of their school time is like any other childs. I feel we've just been able to keep their spiritual innocence a little longer than the norm nowadays :)

Hi Earthstarr,

Sounds like the children are having an amazing experience with beautiful results.

I'll check out your other thread.

I've taken the plunge to train as a Baby yoga teacher and would like to progress to toddlers and young children long term.

I've just posted a new thread regarding meditation for children as I'm not sure they should practice until age 12. May be of interest to you too.

Larty

Thanks Larty35 :) i'll check it out. I've always done meditation with my own children from a very young age, they all have their own medicine room meditation where they can go when they feel poorly :) I don't think it should be 'shoved down their throats' but in my experience children are very aware and for children with more than their fair of energy it can be very stilling for them.

Originally Posted by Yogagirl

This happens to be my favorite subject right about now.
Let me introduce myself in the Yoga world...
I am a Ananda Yoga Teacher (which means putting meditative techniques into hatha yoga...a lot of pranayama and tunning into yourself and the divine.)
So do you think children are super excited to learn this?
The answer is....NO
Children need to RUN! and be physical! When they are 0-6 or 7 they are in the physical stage of life. So how can they connect through the divine? Being physical!

Right now, I am still young so I can manifest this energy.
So I turn Yoga Asanas to make them child friendly.
Right now I am working on a book about how to teach children yoga.
Each Asana in Ananda Yoga comes with an Affirmation.
So really take that affirmation and providing them to the child in a physical or a 'feel good' way.

And let me tell you! Teaching children yoga...is kinda...addicting

I like to teach really young children
preschool- 3rd grade
But I have had great experiences teaching preschoolers
What I found out is that they LOVE to meditate (we call it 'quiet body time')
and here is a story I will share with you.

I have one beautiful little girl in my class and her Grandfather was dying.
Her Father told me that she sat next to her Grandfather for 15 minutes to pray and meditate...she is 4 years old.
After she was finished he passed away.

Children have so much to teach us!
I have learned how to be a child again and it is such a beautiful feeling.

Have any of you taught yoga to children?
Please share! (I am a newbie still )

Blessings!

Beautiful post. My answer is Not yet but I plan to. I have small children and I know they will benefit from it.

Children have so much to teach us!
I have learned how to be a child again and it is such a beautiful feeling.

This is so very true and yes it sure is!

Being around so many children is always a special feeling and i think you are doing a good jo****o i want to congratulate you for this.

I came to the yoga forum looking for threads on kundalini but saw this one & thought I'd pop in & mention that a friend of mine actually teaches yoga teachers how to teach yoga to children....and she's amazing at it! Writes her own music & guided imagery for meditations/relaxations, has a Swami friend of ours do parts of the training (at least some of the time). She travels nationwide doing this.

I get nothing from mentioning this to you other than hoping I've shared some useful info & feeling good about that :) Google Kidding Around Yoga if you are curious... Namaste....