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YogaU classes for schools offer valuable enrichment to the existing health and physical education curriculum, meeting school phys-ed standards
Yoga for Children teaches children through creativity, self expression and exercise, positive ways to release the pressures, that can affect natural and healthy development.
My aim is to create a fun learning experience enabling children to experience the benefits of yoga from an early age.
In these changing times yoga techniques help children of all ages cope well with lifes' difficult situations. Yoga sessions allow children to have fun expressing their individuality thus developing their often latent potential. Yoga sessions also enhance social skills, by working together, children will develop the maturity to accept and respect one another. During the sessions, I will often convey the message of yoga through stories and games.
In an example, the typical 2 to 6 year old group would be play-based, after singing, stretching, rowing a boat to the yoga zoo to meet the animals, we then play the spaghetti game. This game focuses on the different states that we often find our selves in, ranging from stiff and rigid to soft and floppy. This exercise can help change the perception of the children making them more responsive to relaxation techniques.
In the sessions with the older children, I will introduce breathing techniques that will be invaluable to them when faced with the stress of exams.
If you spend time to browse our site, you will find some interesting and exciting facts about Yoga for children and the growing interest from teachers in primary and nursery schools in booking a yoga session for their pupils.
A study in 2000 at the University of Sydney in Australia found that regular yoga practice may be linked to improved impulse control in boys diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Results showed a 35% improvement in Post yoga testing.
Yoga for Children may seem a new concept, in actual fact the RYE Institute in France has been promoting Yoga within education since the 1970s.Schools often turn to yoga classes because of the growing scientific evidence showing the positive impact they have on student health. Rye's website offers more information on the beginings of Yoga in Schools http://rye.free.fr/. Read the research article published by Swami Yogabhakti Saraswati (Micheline Flak) in support of Yoga in Education.
In 2003, researchers at California State University, Los Angeles interviewed students at the Accelerated School. The South Central Los Angeles charter program, which received Time magazine’s award for Best Elementary School, includes yoga as a central part of its curriculum. The study showed that the exercises helped improve student behavior, physical health and grade point average.
"Yoga makes me more relaxed,” said Elsa Sermeno, 9, who has been practicing yoga at the Accelerated School for two years. “Sometimes when I enter the room mad, I come out happy."
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