Engaging The Heart, Mind and Body Of Young Ones Through Yoga

Yoga For Kids

We’ve all heard of the benefits of Yoga for adults, for people with back problems, high blood pressure, respiratory problems, cancer patients in recovery and moms to be, but did you know that children who are thought yoga at a young age reap a host of benefits too?

Just like for adults, Yoga helps kids find balance in their lives, enabling them to cope with situations better. It’s a great tool for channeling  kids energy and teaches them to be more relaxed and calm. Yoga for kids promotes the philosophy that active bodies support healthy, active minds. It also develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination early on which they will carry with them through life. Plus, one of best influences that yoga has on children is it teaches them to handle stress and conflicts as well as to deal with emotions in a positive manner.

Yoga has also been shown to help children with ADD/ADHD, hyperactivity, anxiety and other behavior disorders. Yoga poses that instill calm, confidence and balance help them channel their impulses that crave a stimulus. Yoga is thought to kids through visualization of the poses, like for example in the mountain pose with their feet firmly on the ground and heads raised to the sky, they imagine themselves strong as a mountain or in the tree pose imaging themselves tall, trying to reach the sky with their branches. This helps kids build focus, release physical and emotional energy and improve physical fitness. Relaxation is another aspect of yoga beneficial for children to relieve stress. How much stress can a child have to relieve you may ask? But, believe it or not quite a bit. Many kids go through their parents separation or divorce, the pressure of school work, competition and even just fitting in socially can cause quite a bit of stress. Yoga breathing exercises help them stay centered and calmer through these difficult situations and times.

Yoga sessions for children include lot of storytelling and mental imagery to develop the imagination. Social emotional games played during yoga classes help as counseling tools to develop trust, compassion, communication, teamwork and leadership skills. As yoga teaches us through it’s practices to activate the present by coming to a stillness, kids tend to open up a lot more when they achieve this stillness. It is then the best time for them to open up their hearts and cultivate their own compassion and sensitivity to emotions, for us parents it is to learn about the inherent goodness in our children, to cultivate, nurture, protect and develop that goodness.

For this and more, Yoga is a great way for engaging the heart, mind and body of young ones!

*Photo credits: Photos by Axel Bührmann, Scott Ableman on flickr

The Health Benefits of Yoga

Lead a Healthier Lifestyle by Practicing Yoga Daily

Everyone knows physical benefits of regularly practicing yoga, the increase in flexibility, improvement in muscle tone and strength as well as overall better posture. But, this 5,000 year old practice  is more than just a trendy workout as it has been called. Its millions of followers are enjoying a host of health benefits. The balance Yoga brings the mind, body and spirit through body poses, controlled breathing and more importantly meditation is associated with a number of health benefits which are medically and scientifically recognized the world over.

Here’s a look at some of the Health Benefits associated with Yoga:

Circulation
Through the practice of yoga poses along with breathing exercises, Yoga improves blood circulation. By improving circulation, nutrients and oxygen are better transported throughout your body resulting in healthier organs, skin and brain.

Respiratory System
Like the circulatory system, a lower respiratory rate indicates that the lungs are working more efficiently. Yoga helps decrease the respiratory rate through a combination of controlled breathing exercises and better fitness. By learning how to control breathing during exercise, it maximizes the absorption of oxygen-rich air for your body which in turn helps reduce respiratory related health problems like asthma, bronchitis and clear the nasal passage and sinuses.

Relieves Stress
Stress is an increasing health issue nowadays. Stress causes your muscles to tense, the heart beat faster, a change in breathing patterns and the secretion of more hormones that increasing blood sugar levels as well as raising blood pressure. The concentration required during yoga practice tends to focus your attention on the matter at hand, thereby reducing the emphasis you may have been putting on the stress in your life. Consistent yoga practice decreases blood pressure through better circulation and oxygenation of the body.

Heart Disease
Several trials have found that yoga can lower blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rates and help slow the progression of atherosclerosis—all risk factors for heart disease. A combination of lowering heart rate and improving oxygenation to the body, both these benefits of yoga help in reducing the risk of heart diseases.

Cancer
Research has shown that patients fighting or recovering from cancer who do yoga benefit from a number of advantages. The results of a study in which women with metastatic breast cancer, attended eight weekly yoga sessions and the doctors found that the women had much less pain and felt more energetic and relaxed than others who hadn’t done any yoga. Cancer patients who practice yoga are said to gain strength, raise red blood cells, experience less nausea during chemotherapy and have a better overall well-being.

Back Pain and Arthritis
Yoga involves doing yoga poses in a slow, deliberate manner. It helps reduce spinal compression and improves the overall body alignment which reduce back pain. However, if the poses are incorrectly practiced it can make back pain worse. During a pose gentle pressure exerted on the joints which is an excellent form of exercise to relieve arthritis symptoms. Yoga physically helps loosen all the bodies muscles and therapeutic to the joints.

Menopause
Studies have shown that women who took yoga classes which use props to support the postures, reported a 30 percent decrease in hot flashes, one of the side effects of menopause. Women who took Yoga classes for longer plus reported less physical and sexual discomfort as well as reduced stress and anxiety.

Apart from these health benefits that yoga has shown to help, there are other emotional perks to be gained from a consistent yoga practice as yoga aims at achieving a balance between ones body and mind. Yoga elevates overall mood and well being of a person and is said to help battle depression and anxiety. It is also said to improve concentration, memory and through meditation techniques makes a person more calm and composed with a positive outlook on life.

*Photo credits: Photos by Mahesh Khanna, pikimota, Andreas D., Dave77459 on flickr

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