A CHILD’S PEACE

“When I breathe out it makes the bad things go away.” As a veteran yoga instructor, I should not have been surprised when one of my 6^th grade yoga students expressed this at the conclusion a breathing exercise. Yet I was. I still remember the feel of the smile that crept across my face as I looked into the eyes of this reputedly tough sixth grader at the Fitzsimons Middle school in North Philadelphia. In my eyes, she was strong and grounded, not tough. I don’t doubt that she acts tough during the school day, but the beauty and hope lie in the truth that when guided through yoga, her toughness is channeled into the more positive attributes of strength and self-confidence.

 Children can’t breathe away their feelings and fears, but they can, as my young friend at Fitzsimons reminded me, learn how to use their body, breath and mind together, not just for physical benefit, but to help identify and accept their feelings. This can provide them with the opportunity to experience a greater awareness and appreciation of who they are and to communicate with themselves and others through kindness and compassion.

Adults who practice yoga may tell you their mind and body feel restored or renewed after yoga class. A yoga teacher, through specific postures and breathing exercises, helps guide students to a calm and peaceful place inside of themselves. Once attention has been focused inward, the student is better equipped to understand and respond to the true nature of what he or she is experiencing, both physically and emotionally. Practicing yoga on a regular basis keeps us in touch with the deeper and curative part of ourselves that can sometimes get buried by the daily pressures of life.

Our society is beginning to place more importance on the profound mind-body connection to wellness.  We are recognizing that many physical symptoms can be signs of stress. These are the little voices of our body telling us that something needs to change. Adults have the ability to take action to dissipate or prevent these unwelcome cues of malady. A lunch hour walk, a yoga class, or a talk with a trusted friend can be the perfect vehicle for channeling thoughts and feelings out of our bodies that could otherwise morph into deeper emotional and physical unrest.

Unlike, adults, children may not know that they need a stress break or have the control over their very busy schedules to take one. In order to create a space for children to have a yoga based stress break, schools and parents across the nation are now incorporating yoga into the school day or into the after school hours. The recent surge in the popularity of yoga for children, is in part, due to the realization that yoga is not so much an “activity,” as it is a healthy and holistic approach to taking care of our entire being.

The benefits that flow to children who participate in a consistent yoga program are myriad. In yoga class our youth gain strength and improve flexibility. Students learn to express themselves without winning or losing, being right or wrong or preparing or performing. During class they are encouraged to move their bodies, while exercising their lungs and even their voices.  At the conclusion of a class, each student can be provided with the opportunity to express their yoga experience through dialogue, art or “yoga journaling”.  This is a favored part of each class as each student looks forward to sharing and being heard.

A youth based yoga program can employ yoga based games and age appropriate meditations to teach important life lessons such as how to feel strong on the inside, how to experience balance in and out of the yoga room, how to focus attention, and how to promote self awareness and self expression. These are important fundamentals that make up who our children are and should be an integral part of any educational program.

For younger students, yoga is a playful and enjoyable way to identify and release feelings, while also improving physical coordination and introducing the concept of focus. I have seen seven year olds excitedly use their bodies and voices to make rainstorms and rainbows and then sit with peaceful patience as they focus their gaze and attention on their spinning hands which act as a dryer for their wet clothes. I have observed 4 year olds practice sitali, a cooling breath, in order to help them when feeling angry or out of control. I have heard stories from parents that their 4 year olds have taught them sitali and requested that they, the parent try it when feeling angry. That these very young children are able to take their yoga lessons off of the mat and into the real world speaks volumes to the tools that yoga can provide.

 For older students, yoga provides a form of non-competitive exercise which has the benefit of expanding self awareness, inspiring self-discipline, understanding balance, and building core strength so that our adolescents develop self confidence and are better equipped to face peer and academic pressures.

In a school setting, yoga provides an on site, non-competitive mechanism for teaching children how to focus their attention and find quiet amidst chaos.  At the conclusion of teaching a six - week inner city after school yoga program, one 6^th grade girl, waited for me after class and walked with me out of the school building as she had done each week. When we said our good byes on the corner she told me that she was going to miss her weekly yoga practice. She shared that she had learned to turn to her yoga breathing when feeling angry.  I was struck by her next acknowledgement. She quietly said, “I wish that we could have yoga in our classroom so that it would be quiet, and I could learn something.” It was then that I realized that the disposition of the students in my after school yoga class room was a world apart from how some of the same students behaved and communicated in their school class room.

Yoga can be transformative for our youth, even in the most difficult settings. It can allow us to stop telling our children to pay attention. Instead, through yoga, we can show children how to pay attention by providing them with specific tools that enable them to focus their attention, while at the same time creating a much needed safe forum to physically and emotionally release their energy.

Gail Silver, Esq., CYT, is a former Child Advocate Attorney and the founder and director of Yoga Child, a Philadelphia Yoga Center that provides yoga instruction to both children and adults. She is the writer of the award winning yoga & meditation CD for children, “A Peaceful Place Inside” and the creator of the Nationally recognized and Award winning Yoga Child Curriculum.