focus

Scientific Studies that Support Kids Yoga

Treefun — Yoga poses like The Tree improve steadiness.

These 3 Studies Show how Yoga Improves Stress Management, Spatial Memory, and Body Control in Children

by Alex Bonari, guest blogger
www.collegescholarships.org

Yoga for children can seem unnecessary. After all, they’re young, so aren’t they already limber? They shouldn’t have any problems with stretching, their lives aren’t as stressful as those of adults, and it would probably be difficult to get children interested in a yoga routine.

As it turns out, scientific research has proven that logic wrong. No matter how healthy a child’s body may be, it can always benefit from yoga practice. Children’s lives are also becoming more stressful and they seem to welcome the novelty and relaxation that accompany yoga instruction. The following three articles discuss the results of scientific research that has documented the positive effects of yoga on children.

Enhances Stress Management and Relaxation (click here to link to study)

In this study, 48 fifth-graders who showed abnormal test anxiety were divided into a control group of 27 and an experimental group of 21. The experimental group received 60 minutes of yoga instruction on 15 different occasions, while the control group received none. The subjects were evaluated before the study, immediately after the yogic training, and 3 months after the conclusion of the study.

The students who received yoga instruction had an increased emotional balance in the long term and showed reductions in fear, feelings of helplessness, and aggression. This study also observed that students who received yoga instruction transferred what they had learned to situations outside of school to improve their well-being and to control negative feelings.

Improves Spatial Memory

This study compared before-and-after verbal and spatial test results for three groups of children: those attending a fine arts camp, those attending a yoga camp, and a control group.

The only group that showed any difference between its before-and-after test results was the yoga group, which demonstrated a 43% rate of improvement in the spatial category. This suggests that yoga practice, which included physical postures, yoga breathing, meditation, and guided relaxation in the study, improved the performance of children’s right-hemisphere brain activity.

Increases Static Motor Performance (click here to link to study)

In this study, children from ages 9 to 13 were divided into two groups. One group received yogic training (physical postures, voluntary regulation of breathing, maintenance of silence, visual focusing exercises, and games to improve the attention span and memory) while the other did not. Over a ten-day period, the children in each group were tested morning and night to observe their steadiness.

The yoga group showed a 17% increase in steadiness at the end of the period, while the control group showed no improvement. The study concludes that yogic instruction improves children’s ability to control their minds and bodies.

Guest Blogger Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She often can be found blogging about general education issues as well as information on college scholarships. In her spare time she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Kids Yoga Teacher Training

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Spatial Memory

This study compared before-and-after verbal and spatial test results for three groups of children: those attending a fine arts camp, those attending a yoga camp, and a control group. The only group that showed any difference between its before-and-after test results was the yoga group, which demonstrated a 43% rate of improvement in the spatial category. This suggests that yoga practice, which included physical postures, yoga breathing, meditation, and guided relaxation in the study, improved the performance of children’s right-hemisphere brain activity.

Spend Time with Your Kids Amidst the Chaos

Last week in New York city, I saw something that taught me a lesson about how I spend my time and who I spend it with. It happened at Solstice in Times Square, yoga classes right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the busiest place in the city. And when I spotted the young boy in the picture above, relaxing so peacefully, it helped me understand:

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

No, not the Big Apple. This proverb usually refers to how kids become like their parents. We know parents need to actively spend time with kids to nurture positive habits, knowing their kids are always learning from them. Maybe it’s introducing something like yoga at home, in a studio, or even in Time Square. We want to start kids off with the best we can give them.

Lets take this old proverb further:

It Takes an Orchard!

We also know there are many people who influence a child. The school teachers, daycare teachers, relatives, and friends who become part of their lives. And its a good thing for everyone that parents don’t have to do it alone. We’re the orchard for our little apples to grow in.

The Big Picture in Time Square

Up close, in the first picture we see a child resting. In this picture we see exactly where all this is happening. This event showed me that we have power over our circumstances. On our own it’s difficult to lie down and relax amidst the chaos, sometimes completely impossible.

When we surround ourselves with like-minded people – suddenly it becomes easier to focus on peace amidst the same chaos. Add a Teacher to guide us and the next thing you know, you can do what you want in the middle of Time Square.

If You Can Focus There, You Can Focus Anywhere
If a child knows by experience that he can focus in Time Square, he now knows he can do it anywhere.

I didn’t expect to go to Time Square and learn a lesson in relaxation. In fact we avoided Time Square whenever possible. But on Summer Solstice with the crowds, the yogis, and a young boy, I got a new perspective on what it means to spend time in the company of those who share our values. Values are known to be true from experience and these values become the foundation of our lives.

Who do you like your kids to be around?

Classroom Management: Do you ask kids questions like these?

Seeing Eye to Eye with Kids in Your Class

When teachers or parents start getting frustrated with children they often resort to asking questions to get back control of the situation. The problem is when these questions aren’t really questions but are criticisms disguised as questions.

Questions like these don’t help with classroom management and don’t help the child correct their behavior either.

For example:

A pre-school teacher assisting in yoga class who pulls an overactive 3 year old out of the room, stands over her asking: “Are you a baby? Do you want to go to the baby room? Why are you acting like a baby?”
A parent overheard in the grocery store saying (loudly) to a little 3 or 4 year old girl: “If I’m right beside you, why are you yelling?”

If these children answered it would probably go something like:

“I guess I am a baby because you’re talking to me like I’m a big loser and an idiot.”
“I’m yelling because that’s what you do when you want my attention.”

These types of questions just don’t work. I’ve NEVER heard a child give what I suppose is the desired answer:

“No I’m not a baby, so I will stop my goofing around and start acting like a three year old.”
“Mommy, you’ve pointed out my error so well, I better use a softer voice.”

In my experience, children never actually answer these types questions. They just stand there frozen, not sure what to do or say, feeling bad about themselves. In terms of classroom management, it may stop the behavior for a while, but in the long term it doesn’t provide the leadership required to help children become the leaders of the future. It lowers their self esteem by making them feel incompetent.

Instead of Questions, Be a Role Model…

A great teacher doesn’t let unwanted behavior go unnoticed either. We don’t serve children if they can’t sit still or aren’t aware of how loud they are talking. Instead try some other approaches. Like:

the teacher assisting can calmly walk over to an overactive three year old and sit beside them and with one or two words, remind them of what everyone is doing (“cobra pose, everyone is doing cobra pose”), and modeling the behavior they want,
A tired mom in the grocery can drop down, look her daughter in the eye and say, “Please speak softer” in the same tone she wants her daughter to use.

kids yoga camp picture of Aruna and Charlotte — Aruna and Charlotte (selfie) at Kids Yoga Camp

Both Yoga and Classroom Management require Sadhana, a consistent practice that helps us succeed at our goal. Sadhana is done with devotion, not with criticism or questioning. Consistency brings us to the state we desire through practice, reflection on our actions, and observation of what we are doing and how it is working.

Teachers and parents are role models for children in ALL we do. These children will become the role models of the future. We need to commit to consciously creating the kind of class we want the same way a true yogi commit to their Sadhana.

This week bring awareness to your use of questions. Are they real questions waiting for real answers or criticisms disguised as questions. If you are not sure, what answer are you looking for when you ask? If you want the child to answer with a specific response, it’s probably not a real question.

If you realize it’s a criticism, and you don’t know what else to do, start by simply stating your frustration, “You’re moving around too much.” or “You’re too loud.” It’s an honest starting place and a move away from those other questions.

Then re-direct with a precise description of what you. And do it like the yogis – with consistency, with love, and make it like a mantra – short, sweet, and elevating!

Please feel free to share your classroom management stories and how you re-direct children. It will help all of us to get new ideas and tools.

Aruna Kathy Humphrys
www.YoungYogaMasters.com

P.S. Thanks to everyone who entered the Eoin Finn DVD Giveaway for Pure and Simple Yoga. The random winner is Betherann – who blogs over at ww.kitchencourage.com. Congratulations.

5 Benefits of Kids Yoga

Yoga is Playful and Helps Kids

Yoga is Playful and Helps Kids in So Many Ways

Guest Post by Susan White

(Note from Aruna: This week I’ve been attending to some family matters as well as my yoga classes and Teacher Training so I hope you enjoy this guest post, which may be especially useful for those marketing their kids yoga classes. I’ll be back next week with some new stories and games.)

This post is written by Susan White, who writes on the topic of Radiologist Technician Schools . She welcomes your comments at her email id: [email protected] .

We all know that yoga has benefits beyond the physical alone and that if you’re a yoga enthusiast, you’re likely to be in the fittest of both physical and mental health. But how many of us think of the benefits that this ancient eastern art holds for kids? When it comes to health and fitness for children, we focus on a sport and outdoor play rather than think of exercising at the gym or following a workout routine. But another form of exercise that offers them various advantages is yoga, a fact that is not as well known as it should be. Yoga helps children by:

Enhancing concentration: When your child gets used to the asanas or postures of yoga, they automatically improve their concentration skills. Ancient sages used yoga as a form of meditation, and their powers of concentration are legendary. Your child learns how to sit still in one place and focus on what’s important as opposed to letting their mind wander and be distracted easily. This helps them in their lessons and at school, boosts their attention span and improves their grades.
Increasing flexibility and balance: Yoga helps improve flexibility and balance and tones their muscles too. It makes them stronger and less likely to suffer sprains and fractures through accidental falls.
Improving general well-being: Kids who practice yoga regularly feel good about themselves and are healthier and happier than those who don’t. They feel both mentally and physically rejuvenated after a yoga session and this improves their mental and physical health.
Boosting confidence: When your child is able to display great agility and flexibility, it does wonders for their confidence. Their improved performance at school also helps boost their popularity and their self assurance. They become more poised and start to believe in their abilities. This feeling provides them with the adrenaline they need to achieve success in all their endeavors.
Relaxing their minds: Even kids are subject to a great deal of stress these days because of their workload at school and the high expectations that their parents have for them. They are pushed to be achievers at every single point of their lives, and when they fail, they take it to heart and become depressed. Yoga helps them relax and de-stress when they feel upset or depressed. It soothes their frayed minds and helps them get back to a normal mental state.

Children are more flexible and agile than adults, so the earlier you get kids started on to yoga, the more benefits they gain.

Find Out More About Kids Yoga through Teacher Training

Become a Kids Yoga Teacher

Did you know Young Yoga Masters offers kids yoga teacher training? As a Registered Children’s Yoga School with Yoga Alliance, you can take weekend trainings or one of the summer certifications (that’s the whole training in 10 days). Find out more here.

X Marks the Spot

I chant this in yoga class to:

– Get kids attention
– Help kids stay focused when holding a pose
– Have fun!

If the class is getting loud, I start to say the poem with one child who is sitting quietly. I draw it on the child’s back (and head – for the egg). Pretty soon all the children will be asking for a turn.

I don’t answer them until I am finished the poem, and then I tell them I will be choosing other kids who are quietly doing the next yoga pose.

Make sure each child gets a turn by the end of the class. Although, if a child isn’t quiet they may have to wait till the next time I come in to try again, but this rarely happens.

The poem goes like this:X marks the spot
With a dot, dot, dot
With a dit, dit, dit
With a Question Mark (?)Crack an egg on your head
(tap their head softly)
Let the yolk run down
(run your fingers down their hair)

Feel the breeze on your back (blow softly on their neck or back)
Let the chills go up
Let the chills go down………….

Got Ya (give them a little hug)

They will love this poem so much you won’t be able to stop doing it because they will ask for it again and again.

Now, is this yoga?
I doubt it was ever done in the Himalayas, but sometimes when everyone wants to keep saying the poem, we will all act it out using yoga poses.

Can you think of any yoga poses for it?