Childplay Yoga Awakens the Playful Child Within

Childplay Yoga Awakens the Playful Child Within

Those of us who practice yoga understand that this spiritual science has the power to balance and align us with our true nature. A yoga practice for a highly strung, over-stressed student will hopefully help this student to calm down, relax and settle his or her energy. A yoga practice for a lethargic or depressed student will hopefully stimulate and energize this student. In this way we come to understand how a yoga practice will have a very beneficial effect on each practitioner.

In this same way, when we think of yoga for children, we have to keep in mind that nature of the child. By nature, children learn everything through play, and so yoga for children is an opportunity for them to “play” at yoga. A yoga practice for a child need not resemble an adult yoga practice and most probably will not. Although we think of yoga for children as a mini version of an adult yoga class, in which we take the children through a story using the different postures, there is really so much more we can offer children in the name of yoga.

Having worked with children and yoga for many years, I have found all sorts of creative ways to nurture a child’s growth. Children are built to move, play and challenge themselves, and so a children’s yoga class can offer the child plenty of opportunity to jump, hop, roll, slide, dance and enjoy every which way the body and move. A children’s yoga class can also be a place for a child to learn coordination and balance exercises, to practice short meditations that are tailored to their attention span, to listen to stories that inspire values and to play games that encourage self-expression, memory, small and large motor control and help balance the brain hemispheres. A children’s yoga class can also offer children a place to talk about their feelings and /or get those feelings out in positive and creative ways.

Figuring out what to do with children may be the most challenging job of parents, teachers and others who spend time with them. After decades of working with children – trying out this and that – I have put together a program of training called Childplay Yoga, which offers any teacher, parent or yoga instructor etc. literally hundreds of ideas of what to do in a classroom setting to create fun and creative yoga based classes for children. Anything that did not work did not make it into the program! The Childplay Yoga tools work for children of all ages and can be modified for both the youngest child as well as the adolescent. Adults who take this course tend to find it a form of therapy for themselves, in which they reconnect with their own inner child. Many of them even admit to using the games and techniques that they learn with their adult yoga students!

Here are a few ideas of things you can do with children in the name of ‘yoga’. To help children work on their balance, have them begin standing next to a wall and placing one hand on the wall for support. Teach them to focus their eyes on one point on the floor to help keep their balance. Lead them through different postures that require balance and have them come away from the wall little by little until they are not longer using the wall for balance.

Since children are “playing” at yoga we can invite them to try some short and simple meditation techniques. Have the children sit down and encourage them to close their eyes. You might mention that we open the eyes to get to know the world around us and we shut them to get to know our inner selves. Tell them that you will be ringing a bell and having them listen to the sound until it has completely gone away. Try this a few times but only as long as you can see that it keeps their attention and interest.

Remember that less is more with children and it is better to do something for less time then invite boredom.

Children love to play games and there are many games that aid the child in developing different skills. To work on memory, for example, we present them with a tray that holds many different little objects. We ask the children to take a few moments to try to remember what objects are on the tray. We then blindfold one of the children, take away one of the objects and then give him or her the opportunity to figure out what is missing from the tray. (For each of the other children who have had more time to memorize the objects, you can make it more challenging taking away more objects at a time.)

To inspire the children to higher values, why not use the medium of stories that you either make up or read to them from books that are well written and sensitive? You might use this activity as part of their relaxation time and turn down the lights and use a flashlight to read the story.

What we have also found is that it is never too late to have a happy childhood! For adults who love to play, immersing yourself in a weekend of children’s yoga is a wonderful opportunity to balance your responsible adult nature with your inner child. This is an opportunity to “play” and have no doubt that you will have nothing but fun, fun, fun as you awaken the child within! I have so many ideas of activities to share with children so don’t hesitate to join me in a fun filled weekend of Childplay Yoga!

Lovingly, Gurudass Kaur