Guest post by Kami Evans

When my daughter Hannah was diagnosed with hemiparesis, which is a mild case of cerebral palsy, I wondered: What can I do to help her? How active should she be? And how can I not be overprotective of Hannah, especially when she goes off to school?

The answer seemed to be involving my daughter in as many activities as I could. As a result, Hannah was signed up for swimming, gym and music classes all by her first birthday. My daughter also had eight hours of physical and occupational therapy each week.

The brain is so plastic. And how active I remained with Hannah’s treatment before she turned 24 months would impact how successful her recovery would be. I was on a mission.

Then I found yoga. When a class with a few participants got cancelled, I hired the instructor to lead the lessons out of my home. At 15 months, Hannah started to crawl by incorporating the rocking table and downward dog poses in her movements. At 20 months, Hannah progressed to trying poses such as mountain, squats and elevator. Every day Hannah would get the movements more and more.

I saw such a difference in my daughter’s development that we asked the instructor to come over three times per week. Meanwhile, Hannah continued to take her usual classes and have her weekly eight hours of therapy sessions. But the yoga instruction was unique in that it was playful and enjoyable for Hannah, prompting her to consider her time with the instructor as a playdate.

When the instructor chose to pursue other interests, it encouraged me to become certified. I first took a teacher training course at a Manhattan studio for children’s yoga, followed by training and certification working with children with special needs.

The best part of the training? Not only did I learn more about Hannah’s yoga practice and how it enabled her to become increasingly aware of her body and personal space, but I was able to share this with other families, as well. Inspired by this journey, I opened a yoga studio for children on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. This led me to share the benefits of yoga for children in more than five locations throughout New York City.

Four Exercises to Develop Body & Mind

Cross the mid-line. Crossing the mid-line enhances brain development. An example of this is to sit with your child, having him or her rub one’s hands together. Once the child’s hands get warm, have the child cross hands and touch opposite shoulders. This allows the child to cross the mid-line and make new neurological pathways for further brain development. Motivate your child to do this over and over again in novel ways, such as by crossing over to touch one’s knees, toes and ears.

Use the eyes. As your child grows, he or she looks at things in new ways. Once the child begins to look at books and track words, the child’s depth perception develops. While this occurs, it is crucial for your child to build the muscles behind the eyes. One method of doing this is by moving a toy the child likes in different directions, asking the child to follow the toy with his or her eyes. Another method is snapping your fingers up and down and then right to left, while your child trails the movements. Either way, have your child watch the object move at least ten times in each direction. This helps build the little muscles supporting the child’s eyes and lessens the chances for glasses.

Do core poses. As all of a person’s limbs are extensions from the core of the body, it’s essential to develop the core. Building a strong core enables a child to balance oneself both physically and mentally. Poses that support the core are the dolphin pose and boat pose. Do these and other poses with your children, allowing you each to build your strength and bond.

Sing a song. While singing to a child can help the young yogini accomplish a difficult pose, it can be especially encouraging for children who are late talkers. If for any reason you find your child not communicating, find a book that you know the child enjoys and sing each word in the story. Take the time to sing the words one by one and change your tone, emphasizing that a new word is being sung. Soon your child will be doing poses in utter relaxation, not even realizing a stronger core will result and likely a better grasp of language.

Kami Evans, the founder and an instructor at Elahi Yoga, became a certified children’s yoga instructor through Karma Kids Yoga and a certified yoga instructor for kids with special needs through Every Kids Yoga, which are both located in Manhattan. Working with her daughter and seeing remarkable improvements through yoga exercise has inspired Evans to continue with the practice and help other children to gain self-confidence and have fun through yoga. Visit www.elahiyoga.com or call (800)584-7940 to learn more about Elahi Yoga. 

This children’s breathing exercise helps to develop breath/body awareness, increase concentration and improve coordination as kids move their body in time with the inhalation and exhalation.

Air Walk

Hello this is Donna from Yogainmyschool and I’m here today to show you how to do the breathing exercise Air Walk.

First thing you need to do is lay on the ground. Next bring your hands above your head.

Now, what you’ll do is raise your right hand and your left leg as you inhale. Exhale, lower them to the ground.

Inhale, raise your left arm and right leg. Exhale, down they go. Inhaling and exhaling with your own rhythm of your breath. Reaching the leg high in the air, bringing it up to the hand. You’ve got to use some core muscles to do this.

This exercise regulates the breath, helps children to learn how to work with the breath and move with the breath. It also helps to balance the brain as it joins the right and left hemispheres by crossing the body. You can continue to do this for a few moments. And then when you’re done you can simply bring your hands back to your back to your side and rest in corpse pose.

For more information about yoga for kids please visit Yogainmyschool.com. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Stuffed Animals Assist with Children’s Breathing Exercise

Ever wonder how to get your preschooler to slow down for five minutes and take a deep breath?

Swimming Stuffies shows you how using a stuffed animal as a prop can promote deep, calm, relaxed belly breathing. This technique uses a favourite stuffed animal, placed on the belly.

The goal is to have the child use their belly breathing to lift the stuffed animal on an inhale and lower it on an exhale. This action makes the stuffy appear to swim in the waves of the breath. This technique is extremely effective with pre-school and special needs children and is included in the book Once Upon a Pose.

Swimming Stuffies: Pranayama for Kids

This is Greer demonstrating swimming stuffies, a lovely tool for teaching children how to inhale and exhale with belly breathing.

So she is laying in corpse pose and we’ve placed a stuffed cow on her tummy. As she takes a deep inhale the cow will rise. As she exhales the down descends. She slows her breath and allows the cow to ride the waves, to swim in the ocean of breath. Its very calming and relaxing, and a wonderful tool to use to teach children how to belly breathe.

Enjoy swimming stuffies with your kids today. Namaste.

Be sure to check out the other great kids yoga videos on YogaInMySchoolTVon YouTube and let me know what you think.

Pranayama or Yogic Breathing is highly beneficial to the body and mind. It helps to clear the mind, improve circulation, invigorate the body and increase concentration. Air Walk is a simple exercise which helps balance the two sides of the brain allowing the right and left hemispheres to communicate with one another which enhances learning and thinking. It will also improve coordination and body awareness, tone the core muscles and teach how to coordinate movement with the breath.

Air Walk

Lie on your back. Keep your right leg straight and lift it up. At the same time lift the left arm. Breathe in as you lift. Exhale as your arm and leg return to the ground. Inhale again, this time lifting the left left and right arm simultaneously. Exhale down. Keep going. Stretch straight toward the sky as you lift the limbs. Exhale and bring the arm and leg down extending them throughout the movement.

If this is difficult, remember you are in charge and tell your brain what you want it to do. Keep trying, working at coordinating your breath and your body.

Teens these days are very diet conscious. However, many have adopted destructive habits such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking or using laxatives (see How Yoga Helps Teens Battle Eating Disorders). Parents and teachers need to make sure they are teaching their teens how to have a positive relationship with food and body image. Here are 20 dirty diet tricks that will help teens maintain, or achieve, good health in a positive way. 

1. don’t eat while standing – you don’t wear off more calories by standing (common myth) and your brain doesn’t register the food you are ingesting (mindless snacking a big no-no); sit down and enjoy a meal/snack instead of nibbling
2. don’t eat more than a palm’s worth of anything – portion control is important and your hand is always available to measure by
3. munch while you grocery shop – if you forgot to eat before shopping, snag a bag of baby carrots & munch while filling the basket – ring up the empty bag
4. do traffic light isometrics - while waiting at a red light tone buttocks & abs by clenching until light turns green, you’ll learn quickly which red lights in town are the longest
5. enjoy gorgeous nails – give yourself a manicure when food cravings hit – hands are pretty and out of trouble
6. go monochrome - use colour to your advantage by dressing from top to bottom in one unbroken vertical line=instantly taller and thinner, this really works well with sophistocated dark colours (navy, gray, black, chocolate)
7. don’t eat and…(read, watch TV, work, study) – being mindful about what you put in your mouth makes it more satisfying, tune into what you put in your mouth and enjoy every morsel to its fullest
8. sign up for a fund-raising walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon – enlist sponsors and get moving, you’ll be motivated, be helping others and have a deadline which is good for body & soul
9. make a date – set a standing time to workout with a friend, you can chat, gossip, people watch, and get fit at the same time (see Diet vs Exercise – How to Win the Fight Against Childhood Obesity)
10. want chocolate – eat a sour pickle –  the aftertaste will erase your craving for sweets
11. slow down – put your knife and fork down between bites to slow yourself down & give your brain time to signal “I’m full” which usually takes 20 minutes (see Don’t Rush Your Kids Mindful Eating Key to Maintaining Healthy Weight)
12. live the 80/20 rule – eating healthily 80% of the time allows for small indulgences the remaining 20%, also don’t beat yourself up when you do indulge (we all do) just count it as your 20 percent and return to eating healthy
13. keep it small- never order anything involving the words “deluxe,” “supersize” or “jumbo” – order small sizes of everything especially at a fast food outlets and the coffee shop
14. start a healthy cooking club – exchange recipes & ideas with like minded friends and celebrate success together, you’ll be developing skills and habits you’ll use throughout your life and will have a great cache of healthy eating recipes for when you move out
15. love soup – enjoy a steaming bowl of broth based soup before your meal – it’ll fill you up and quench your hunger
16. employ mind games – cut your sandwich into quarters or use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate to fool yourself into thinking you are eating more - mind games work, use them
17. always buy thin crust pizza – deep dish is trouble and will go straight to your thighs – ugh!
18. drink water – you’ll stay hydrated and feel fuller as well as avoid the unneeded sugar in sodas or the caffiene in coffee & colas
19. smuggle healthy snacks into the movie theatre – you’ve got a big bag, use it for good
20. always bring a guilt free option to get togethers- a fruit or veggie platter are always hits, or if you want to indulge, raid your stash of healthy recipes from #14 and whip up a divine low fat, low sugar option of your fav dessert

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Last week I was thrilled to be interviewed by a Reader’s Digest writer researching an article on yoga in schools. She was commenting on how little information there was regarding the benefits to kids about doing yoga in schools.

Then over the weekend the PranaMama sent me this great article from Active.comwhich tells of the link between brain function and activity. Charles Hillman, one of the researchers, commented “The fit kids processed information more quickly and performed faster and more accurately than their sedentary peers. Exercise can really affect cognition, just as it affects muscles.” In fact,

According to neuroscientists, exercise increases blood flow in the brain, encourages activity between the neurons, and even promotes new neurons to grow in the hippocampus, which plays a major role in memory and learning.

“Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function,” says Harvard psychologist John Ratey, M.D., and author of the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

So yes, yoga really will make you smarter and now science is proving it.

This is great news for teachers. Suddenly the DPA Requirement isn’t just about healthy bodies and habits (though those goals are valid in their own right). Its also about how to maximize children’s learning potential. 

So crack out the yoga games, get your downdog on, do a few washing machines at your desk, or be majestic as a mountain and know that you are feeding your brain. You’ll feel better, be healthier, and best of all be smarter.

And as a Mom I’m relieved to know that my children are brilliant!