While yoga does have numerous benefits for kids, it’s also something they enjoy. Since most of her students have small attention spans to match their small sizes, it is important to rehearse repetitive movements they can easily memorize. Adding other multi-sensory elements makes it more fun for the little ones too.
This article appeared in a previous issue of Sudbury Living.
When the young yogis arrive at class, they settle in with some quiet chit-chat and colouring. Gisele Arlt, the owner and instructor at Foundation Yoga for Kids, says this helps “balance” them before they begin stretching and breathing exercises.
Class officially begins with the Sa Ta Na Ma. When it comes on, the yogis turn their attention to Arlt and mimic her actions, waving and swaying from side to side and tapping their fingers against their thumbs.
The kids in her classes range from toddlers to 12 years old. Introducing youngsters to yoga can help prepare them for the stresses they’ll face by giving them relaxation techniques and a way to calm themselves, says Arlt.
Unlike other activities kids can get involved in, yoga allows them to grow and develop at their own rate, in a “noncompetitive and nonjudgmental” environment.
That’s why Lindsay Tate signed her daughter, Maraina Savage, up for classes.
Maraini, 4, has already participated in a number of Arlt’s six-week sessions. The classes are a great way to spend more time with her daughter and bond while exercising, says mom. Yoga also rid the child of night terrors that regularly woke her from her sleep.
“No matter what I did, nothing would calm her,” Tate says. “We started doing some of the chants (learned in class). I’d do them with her in the middle of the night, and she’d fall back asleep.”
After about three weeks, the night terrors disappeared completely and never returned.
Other parents have equally positive stories. Arlt says parents have told her their kids seem to enjoy practising the exercises they learn when they get home, and even like singing the songs and chanting the chants.
As a former development service worker, Arlt had been doing yoga with her mentally challenged clients for years. When multiple sclerosis threatened her daughter, she began doing it with her too. Although the prognosis was daunting, it turned out her daughter did not have MS. Instead, she was diagnosed with bone myelitis. The stretching and breathing techniques they practised together enabled her to recover from paralysis that had taken over the left side of her body.
“The restorative stuff I was doing with my clients really helped her out a lot,” says Arlt, who then began to develop a yogi program for children.
While yoga does have numerous benefits for kids, it’s also something they enjoy. Since most of her students have small attention spans to match their small sizes, it is important to rehearse repetitive movements they can easily memorize. Adding other multi-sensory elements makes it more fun for the little ones too.
“They love the movement with the song,” she says.
Along with teaching in her home studio, Arlt has offered classes at educational centres and hopes to eventually get involved with schools.
For more information about Foundation Yoga for Kids, contact Arlt at 705.522.8467 or [email protected] or visit www.foundationyogaforkids.com.
Benefits
Yoga can help improve strength and flexibility.
Yoga can increase concentration, focus, and attention.
Yoga can help to release stress .
