I am often asked about yoga being used with children and how yoga can be therapeutic. Most people recognize the physical fitness benefits of yoga. However, I am asked how yoga can help children develop social & emotional skills and how it can be therapeutic for adults. As a psychologist and yoga instructor, my emphasis in teaching yoga is therapeutic. After all, you can go to the YMCA and take a yoga class for fitness, why come to a psychologist?. My interests lie in using yoga for more than fitness. Studies have shown that yoga promotes relaxation and decreases anxiety symptoms better than traditional relaxation techniques, and helps to reduce the risk of relapse in depression. Yoga has also been successfully used as a therapeutic tool in treating children with special developmental needs. Yoga is a fun and creative way for children to learn essential relaxation skills for life.

How? The answer lies in how yoga is taught and used. It can be exercise or it can be a powerful, holistic healing method.

Yoga has existed for more than 5,000 years in India, where it was created. People are most familiar with the “asanas” or yoga poses. However, this is only a part of the entirety of yoga. There are actually eight parts or “limbs of yoga.” The eight limbs of yoga are pranayama or breathing exercises, cleansing practices, music and sound therapy, asanas, pratyahara, or withdrawing from the senses in order to focus inward, deep relaxation/meditation, and yama and niyama, or ethical practices. (This list of the eight limbs is “Americanized” and may differ somewhat from teacher to teacher or from one yoga style to another. The original, ancient eight limbs of yoga can be found in translations of the Yoga Sutras for those interested students).

Pranayama is the practice of breathing. This sounds so simplistic that it is deceptive. There have been many studies that show that correct breathing techniques not only produce relaxation, but also specifically decreases heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and decreases perception of pain. Yoga classes usually begin with or include pranayama, which starts from simple breathing exercises to quite advanced ones that take a great deal of practice to master. Cleansing practices include breathing exercises to eliminate phlegm and mucus to make our breath more productive, eye exercises to strengthen the eye and facial muscles, and abdominal exercises to improve digestion. Music and sound therapy includes use of mantra or chanting, and rhythm and melody to relax and help get our bodies into a coordinated rhythm.

The asanas are not mere poses. On a superficial level, they stretch, tone and strengthen the muscles of the body. This is important as the body requires flexibility and strength for health. However, the asanas are also “psycho-physical” as they help to unite mind and body into a integrated whole through deep concentration and breath work during asanas. Through passive and active poses and variations of each of those poses, nerves, organs and glands are also stimulated and toned.

Pratyahara, deep relaxation and meditation are tools that we can relax, quiet and focus our minds. Most of us are unaware of the amount of internal “noise” in our own heads. It is important to learn to quiet that noise and allow those thoughts to pass through our mind without attention to them or judgment being made about them. The next level of this work is to reach that point in which we can truly reflect inward and know our authentic selves. The ethical principles, often referred to as “living yoga,” refers to the private practice of developing moral and ethical standards of nonviolence, mindfulness and tolerance and living those principles in day to day life

From a psychological perspective, the benefits of the eight limbs of yoga are significant, and include (but certainly are not limited to) increased attention, focus and concentration, improved stress, anxiety, depression and anger management , becoming more alert and relaxed, improved sleep, increased emotional stability, self-esteem & confidence, increased self-control and self-awareness, increased body awareness, and improved motor coordination, muscle tone and balance.

“And you can teach this to my kid?” Yes! Just like a foreign language or computer skills, children are quick studies and learning these skills can become quite natural. We assume that our children will learn the life skills they need naturally and without specific instruction as they grow. But unfortunately, while our society is technologically advanced, we tend not to be very skilled in the areas of social and emotional life skills and self-care. In the case of special needs children, even when excellent role models are present, these children require extra instruction and practice in social and emotional life skills.

Children’s classes start simply and build on acquired skills. So, a children’s class may include short and simple guided imagery activity rather than meditation, but the goal is still to work toward meditation. Children practice the poses and skills they learn through games and cooperative activities. Adult classes also start with building blocks. Further, no matter what the age of the client, yoga is designed for the individual. Everyone’s starting point is unique and everyone is successful just by participating. Improvement is measured not by comparison to another or how fast one learns an asana or technique, but rather the quality of the work and the improvement from each person’s individual starting point. Another benefit of yoga is that is doesn’t require any expensive equipment—you can go home and continue your practice through the week between classes.

Namaste!
~Jolynn