Immobility, weight gain, indifference and laziness or hyperactivity, lack of concentration, nervousness, boredom and an ever-increasing wave of mental and physical disorders have made their appearance majestically in our children. Calmness and relaxation is something that parents have not realized that it is much more necessary for their child than for themselves, as it is a more sensitive receptor to any external disharmony. Nervous children, with voices or closure to themselves, are not the exception today, but rather the rule.
Yoga can greatly help the child to calm down, concentrate and gain confidence. He ceases to be vulnerable and uncertain about his abilities, self-disciplines and faces the problems presented to him more easily.
Yoga is not just about breathing, movement, exercise and meditation.
It is a way of life… It is a way of accepting and managing our body and ourselves. Internal and external.
In order to achieve the coveted peace and relaxation that we all desire, we must release all that trapped and usually negative energy that accumulates within us due to the stressful daily life we experience.
Yoga is a dynamic technique that helps the child move his body in such a way that he feels beautiful.
Exercises the spine, which at a young age is vulnerable to scoliosis, lordosis and kyphosis.
Helps children with asthma, as it dilates the breath and stimulates the chest muscles.
It makes the body more resilient and increases flexibility, thus reducing the risk of accidents (fractures, sprains, fractures).
It is ideal for childhood obesity because it balances the function of the glands and digestion.
Helps to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, stimulating and stimulating the nervous system and improving concentration, with special simple meditation exercises.
It helps a lot in dealing with stress by learning to breathe properly again as when they are born and to face without crazy tensions the demanding rhythms of their daily life.
It coordinates breathing with movement and calms his nervous system.
It helps a lot in concentration. Many people think that the child can not concentrate. This is wrong. The child concentrates, but not for long. Through yoga he learns to direct his thinking to a specific thing and so, almost unconsciously, he slowly learns to concentrate.
Boosts self-confidence.
Yoga is not a competitive activity, like sports that require you to surpass yourself and especially the other. Yoga wants to release the body and its energy with gentle techniques that learn self-discipline without suppressing records. For children, this is extremely good, as it teaches them to dominate their body without being compared to others. This success makes them feel self-esteem, respect for themselves and others.
What is a child yoga class like?
It’s basically fun. The children represent the dog, the cat, the eagle, the dove, the crow and a host of other animals and birds. They roar like cows, they meow like cats, they fly like birds. They laugh and sweat without being pressured. The exercises can be accompanied by songs and some dances that increase the children’s interest in what they are doing. Along with yoga postures, children do simple breathing exercises. Exhalations and inhalations may be accompanied by sounds that calm and relax children. Breathing exercises increase the range of breath and stimulate the alveoli of the lungs. In concentration exercises children concentrate on things, toys, body parts or situations defined by the teacher and through the short silence they are slowly trained to concentrate, to be silent and to listen.
Being a mother of 2 teens, a yoga educator and a teacher, there are countless benefits that yoga could count that yoga can offer our children. But I will be unimaginably happy to see it in the classroom…
Irene Damanaki
Yoga Educator
