Yoga for kids and Sensory Intergration

Our family does yoga every day. If you visit us before breakfast, you'll find our family sprawled out on the floor in various contorted positions. We've found that it helps both the children and adults alike to feel more balanced and happy and ready to face a new day!

The little boy loves to do the dinosaur and bridge poses, and the little girl likes to do the flower and swan. Sometimes, they even have short-distance telephone conersations with each other!

Sensory Integration


Sensory integration is the ability to take in, organize, and process the information (smells, sights, sounds, touch, taste) and stimuli around us.

Many behavioural problems (hyperactivity, attention deficit, withdrawal, irritability, etc) are related to the child's ability to integrate the stimuli around them.

There are a few ways we can integrate, nourish and engage our physical bodies and base senses:

1. Proprioceptive - large movements, physically challenging activities, hopping, pushing, pulling
2. Vestibular - balance / spinning
3. Tactile - boundaries and connections
4. Crossing midlines - moving the body from left to right, up and down, front and back

In our modern world, we don't get to stimulate these senses much. We don't have to haul water, work on the  fields, or chop wood, so we have to pay some attention to engaging our bodies. More so for children, who still are learning what their bodies can or can't do. Yoga helps children nourish their bodies and integrate their senses.

In a nutshell, we found that our children listen better, behave better, are happier, less reactive, and less irritable after they have done yoga! The same goes for adults!





Other Benefits of Yoga for children

The benefits for children include greater flexibility, stamina, strength, coordination, self-confidence, focus and concentration.

Our little girl has been doing yoga for over a year now. When we first started, she couldn't do the wheel pose. So we spent some time working on:

1. Physical and Mental Preparation - "Be in position,  calm yourself, breathe slowly."
2. Focus - "Close your eyes and visualise yourself in that position."
3. Concentration - "Breathe deeply, count to three, and then push!"

She can now hold the wheel pose and count to 40!

Yoga and Ballet

Some yoga positions are similar to ballet exercises. I did ballet for 5 years when I was 7 years old, and when I took up yoga at the age of 20, I managed to pick up yoga quite easily because some of the poses were the same, like the wheel, the shoulder stand, the plough, and the swan.

Yoga and Pregancy

During my first pregnancy, I did pre-natal yoga once a week. It was basically Yoga Lite, modified to accommodate a growing bump. For the second pregnancy, I did half an hour of yoga every morning. The Shoulder Stand really helped my swollen feet. But I couldn't do the Wheel pose, though! Needless to say, my second pregnancy was much easier, I was physically fitter and more agile, and I frightened quite a lot of people by running after my active toddler, carrying her and squatting down to pick things up from the floor - even up to the day I was due!

The ABCs of Yoga for Kids: 56 Learning Cards
By Teresa Anne Power

Our children love these. They look at the pictures on each card and imitate the poses on their own! There's even a poem behind each card that describes how to get the pose right. It also helps if the parents have some experience in yoga so they can help the children to focus their attention on the right areas.
 
The yoga cards are available from:

• opentrolley.com.sg
• www.fishpond.com.sg
• www.bookdepository.com