Our children live in a busy world of busy parents, school pressures, video games, malls, and competitive sports. We usually don't think of these
influences as stressful for our kids, but often they are. The bustling pace of our children's lives can have a fundamental effect on their natural joy—and
usually not for the better.
Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness with a physical activity that's noncompetitive. Encouraging cooperation
and compassion—instead of opposition—is a great gift to give our children.
Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility,
strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect
more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them.
When yogis developed the asanas many thousands of years
ago, they still lived close to the natural world and used animals and plants for inspiration—the grace of a swan, the grounded stature of a tree. When children imitate the
movements and sounds of nature, they have a chance to get inside another being and imagine taking on its qualities. When they assume the pose of the lion (Simhasana) for example,
they experience not only the power and behavior of the lion, but also their own sense of power: when to be aggressive, when to retreat. The physical movements introduce kids to yoga's
true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself.