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Katlyn Crowe
Mr.Mills
English IV Honors
10 October 2016
Yoga For Kids?

Yoga can be a very controversial topic due to different religious beliefs people
have with not allowing prayer in public vicinities . Many yoga instructors do not use the
Sanskrit (religious and classical literary language of India, Indic language) names for
poses while teaching children, they prefer to use more generic or made up names (e .g.
cat-cow, downward facing dog, tree pose, starfish, etc) . Renaming the Sanskrit names
to animals or plants will make yoga more entertaining for children and keep them
engaged. Many yoga teachers will make up stories for children to make it fun . Using
these generic names can open up the minds of parents and makes yoga less
controversial because prayer and worshiping are not involved . Gentle yoga is the best
for children because it can make athletic children more flexible, it can help children with
the attention deficit hyperactive disorder develop concentration techniques for school
work, homework, and paying attention all around, it can help children who may feel low
in their personal spirits gain confidence and a high self-esteem, and all around become
more aware of the mind, body, and spirit, which is the true purpose of yoga .
Children who come from athletic families will most likely start to play sports at a
young age to follow in their parents or brother and sisters footsteps . Any child can
choose to be a soccer player, football player, a cheerleader, ballet dancer, swimmer,
and much more, all requiring lots of strenuous muscle use . Not getting the proper

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amount of nutrients, vitamins, and water to keep their muscles, bones, and joints strong
and healthy they will start to experience cramps and that requires the child to stretch it
out. Yoga is the perfect go to when relieving muscle cramps . Yoga is nothing but
stretching and holding those certain stretches to prepare your body for activities . Yoga
promotes physical strength because kids learn to use all of their muscles in a new way.
(Tilak). Every yoga pose is different while using a different muscle or muscles each
time. Stretching almost every muscle will prevent future muscle strains, pulls, tears, and
cramps. As people get older their joints become more sensitive and sore, so yoga
strengthens them to avoid the joint pain that could happen in the future . Athletic children
need to be taught the correct ways to stretch their muscles too . Improper stretching will
cause the child to be in pain while he or she is participating in the game, practice or
even after the game or practice. Muscles need to be stretched before any practice,
race, game, or competition, any athletic coach will suggest that too . Doing yoga also will
help the child become more aware of using his or her muscles and how to properly use
them in the sport he or she is participating in . After practice children need to stretch too
so muscle cramps are avoided in the future.
In the twenty-first century, Americans like to rely heavily on medications to solve
any medical, physical, and mental problems. Attention deficit hyperactive disorder was
labeled as a mental disorder in the late 1960s by the APA (American Psychiatric
Association and since then scientists have created many medications to treat the
mental disorder. British pediatrician Sir George Still stated the attention deficit

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hyperactive disorder as, ... an abnormal defect of moral control in children . He noticed
that these particular children could not control themselves like a child who can control
themselves would. Nobody ever considers teaching the children to calm themselves,
they just stick a pill down their throat that will magically cure everything . Shakta Khalsa
is a yoga instructor who has been focusing on teaching these children who have been
diagnosed with the attention deficit hyperactive disorder . Khalsa has seen the changes
of diagnosis over the last two decades and since then Khalsa founded Radiant Child
Yoga to train other yoga instructors to teach the children with attention deficit
hyperactive disorder. Khalsa has first hand witnessed the improvements that yoga does
to a child with attention deficit hyperactive disorder . ... two randomized controlled trials
have found evidence that yoga is a potential alternative attention deficit hyperactive
disorder treatment (Thompson Jr.). Medication does not solve every problem, but
neither does yoga, but it can help bring the child into normality like the way children who
can control themselves are. The main part of yoga is breathing and when taking deep
and strong breaths the children exert any negative or frustrated tension that might have
been building up over the day or past few days . Children are learning how to regulate
their feelings and one, rather difficult, feeling is anger and frustration . These two
feelings take time to control and let out. Children need to be guided on how to safely let
out their anger. Not releasing anger in a safe and healthy manner will follow the child
into adulthood and the child may get into serious trouble .

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While teaching children between the ages of five to twelve for fourteen years now
Daphne Grayson has worked with children in her classes who have the attention deficit
hyperactive disorder. Daphne Grayson said, ... it helps to know if a child has attention
deficit hyperactive disorder in order to help the child succeed and learn in a way that
benefits them. Some children who are learning to write their name, for example, may
find it easier than ones who have attention deficit hyperactive disorder . Teachers need
to know if a child has any kind of learning disability in order to teach them to their full
potential. As children get older they may notice it more that they are not learning what
they are supposed to be learning due to the attention deficit hyperactive disorder .
These children who want to learn will persevere and try their very best .
Yoga instructors and school teachers will agree on one thing and that is praising
a child when they do something good or correctly. Daphne Graysons positive
comments or phrases include, I knew you could do it!, I am proud of you! and You
are valuable to me. Daphne makes sure she tells each of her students every day she
loves them and she believes in them . All of these positive comments can improve the
student's attitude on the difficult work assigned to them . A childs mindset will go from a
set mindset to a growth mindset. In order to succeed in life and yoga, humans need a
growth mindset to keep pushing forward. Life isnt always easy and there will be
difficulties that will feel like it is the end of the world, but with a positive or growth
mindset tasks will be accomplished. Even when doing yoga children need to be praised
when they master a difficult pose because it will give them the same euphoric feeling

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and will try to do they same with another pose. Children who can overcome difficult
poses and get them mastered will challenge themselves, not only in yoga but in school
perhaps or in the workforce when they get into adulthood .
Children get assigned loads of homework every night and it can become
overwhelming without a teacher around to help, and there are many times the parent
does not know the material the child is learning in school since the criteria have
changed over many years. Children get frustrated easily and tend to want to give up
and even feel stupid. Children do not want to take the hard way if they dont have a
positive or growth mindset so they give up without even thinking of how to get through
the task that was assigned to them. All children need to do is practice deep breathing
techniques which are the foundation of yoga and a yoga instructor can teach them .
Yoga has actually been proven to help bring children back into a calmer, concentrated,
and clearer state of mind to try again on the difficult task that is in front of them . The
children trained in yoga showed greater improvement in areas of attention and
hyperactivity as well as homework compliance. (Balasubramaniam, MD). Yoga has
been studied at the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan and the doctors there
have recorded the largely noticeable improvements in children who have homework to
do in the evening. They have also noticed that parents can apply yoga techniques for
de-escalating negative behavioral issues in their children .
The act of practicing poses encourages children to clear their mind and focus on
the effort. (Tilak). Children are told to do their best on every assignment given to them,
many take it very seriously and they tend to stress out if they can not complete the

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assignment given to them. Just taking a moment to breathe will calm the child . ... a
dedicated and intentional yoga practice that includes breathing techniques, behavioral
guidelines, and physical postures can be incredibly valuable for them . (De Collibus).
Coming into self-awareness can help the child produce clearer thoughts and get their
difficult work done efficiently and correctly without wanting to give up .
One thing to do to help the children improve their fine motor skills and
concentration is finger yoga. Some yoga teachers and even occupational therapists use
finger yoga and other specialized techniques to help children with gross and fine motor
coordination. (Tilak). There are four different types of basic finger yoga: Chin mudra
which helps with concentration, Chinmaya Mudra helps with the flow of energy
throughout the body, Adi Mudra helps relax the nervous system when people are feeling
overwhelmed or stressed, and Brahma Mudra improves inner focus if people get
sidetracked doing a task. These simple finger positions will help calm the nervous
system, lower stress, and bring the full concentration to use and awaken the fingers to
do what the original purpose was and if that was to write a name for the first time it will
improve the concentration.
Many children who are living in a neglected home or does not have the moral
support he or she should have will have low self-esteem and low confidence . Children
will believe they can not achieve and will not even try if they have a low self-esteem or
no confidence. You want to focus on the positive. (Khalsa). Keeping children positive
about themselves and life, in general, will improve their desire to succeed . Keeping
children engaged and active improves their grades and overall mental attitude about

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life. Daphne Grayson said, If a child seems to like school, has a positive attitude and/or
is self-motivated they are more likely to do homework than a child that doesnt like
school and is hard to get motivated. Yoga instructors and school teachers could
collaborate and together the yoga instructor could teach the child how to focus on
oneself, tasks, and how to handle the stress from teachers and parents, while the
teacher helps the child with school work and making good grades .
When a child masters a pose, it gives him confidence and self-esteem . (Tilak).
The act of doing yoga takes time and practice and it can become frustrating to the point
of wanting to give up, but once a child can balance in the pose he or she has been
practicing it will give him or her the feeling of accomplishment and he or she will strive
for that feeling in other aspects too (e.g. in school, with homework, sports, relationships,
etc). Yoga teaches them to persevere, be patient, and work toward their goals . (Tilak).
Children need a push of motivation sometimes to keep them working hard to what they
need to achieve. Even in yoga goals are set. Goals are motivational for children to
reach for especially throughout life. Goals require patience and time, yoga trains people
to the be patient and wait and work hard towards what they want . Without patience,
humans will become too eager for what they want and the satisfying feeling of getting
what they wanted or worked hard for will vanish .
As children get older they start to become more personal within themselves .
They grow and they change, they try to change into the person they think they want to
be. Sometimes the person theyre trying to be is not who they truly are or who they are

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meant to be so they change again, it is a lifetime process that will never end . If children
can start doing yoga at a young age and carry it on into their adulthood then they will
find their inner mind, body, and spirit and connect with them . Getting connected to the
inner mind, body, and spirit will lead to many benefits in the long run such as better
sleeping patterns, better eating habits, a more positive outlook on life and relationships,
the ability to control and release energy and anger in healthy ways. If somebody picks
up the habit of doing yoga it will turn into a hobby then a lifestyle .
Yoga can and will benefit children if they are dedicated to improving their
flexibility, attention span, and breathing techniques . Children are the only ones who are
the judge if doing yoga regularly has made them feel better, teachers are the ones to
notice if the grades and attitudes are improved . As parents we want our children to act
and behave with mindfulness and with compassion, to be brave, to know love and
happiness, and to find inner peace. (De Collibus). Parents who have children that are
athletic, who have the attention deficit hyperactive disorder, low on self-motivation, selfesteem, and confidence, or need better focusing skills, or need to come in touch with
their inner mind, body, and spirit need to sign their child up for the next yoga class they
see.