October 9, 2003
Children use yoga to get in touch with their bodies and nature
By Heather Simonsen - Special to The Tribune
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Students in the yoga class stand in a circle around grape-, grass- and sky-colored mats. As the instructor tells a story, the students move into a common yoga position called “downward dog.” They get on all fours with their legs straight and heads facing the ground.
But here’s where the similarities to an ordinary yoga class end. For one, the students are 3 years old. And they bark and yelp with glee and wag their little toddler tails as they hold the “downward dog.”
“A lot of yoga poses are based on things in nature: trees and animals,” says Debbie Dickinson, 32, of Salt Lake City, a certified Yoga Kids facilitator at the Fairmont Aquatics Center. “It’s easy to bring any story into the classroom. We’ll read through the story and identify a character with a pose. With the pig, they oink, and we adapt another yoga pose. They squat and quack to imitate a duck.”
Yoga Kids (www.yogakids.com) is an international program for children based on the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Harvard educator Howard Gardner. The program takes traditional yoga poses and turns them into positions that are beneficial and fun for kids.
For example, the teacher may ask the kids to crinkle their noses like bunnies and breathe in and out as a quick pick-me-up and a way to restore energy. Another pose teaches them deep diaphragm breathing by lying on their backs and placing a rubber ducky on their stomachs, slowly inhaling and exhaling and making the little toy “swim.”
Yoga practice for children is gaining popularity. Besides teaching yoga to children at the Fairmont Aquatics Center, Dickinson leads classes at her son Liam’s school, Emerson Elementary in Salt Lake City. She is hoping to promote yoga classes as a regular part of the public school system’s curriculum. Yoga classes for kids are offered at many yoga studios and at the Jewish Community Center and BodyTech, both in Salt Lake City, and The Canyons Resort in Park City.
Dickinson says children who practice yoga gain many physical and mental benefits. “It builds stronger limbs and a healthy body, it creates a good habit of motion and exercise,” she says. “Yoga teaches them to use their bodies to express creativity. It increases focus and attention span. It teaches what it means to pay attention.”
She also says yoga can build self-esteem in children because those who might not perform well on the soccer field, for example, might do very well in a yoga studio. Kids are encouraged to work at their own level and speed, and competition is discouraged.
Kim Utley, 30, of Salt Lake City, says her 3-year-old daughter, Aidan, has grown to depend on -- and even ask for -- her yoga class. “About two weeks ago she woke up half asleep, her eyes half closed, her hair mussed up and she said, ‘Mom, I need yoga.’ ” Utley says Yoga Kids has taught Aidan relaxation skills and breathing techniques that can be helpful in recovering from the occasional tantrum. “My husband and I like this because it’s something she can use the rest of her life. It’s lifelong skills.”
Miguel Rodriguez, 37, teaches yoga to adults and children ages 6 and up at the Jewish Community Center, BodyTech and The Canyons Resort. He says his increasingly young clientele includes kids who are involved in athletics.
“For my swimmers, it helps them focus on the task ahead. They know how many breaths they need per kick,” says Rodriguez. “For other kids, it helps them learn to focus on schoolwork and studying. It helps them approach any task with greater ease and purpose.”
He says the individualized poses can help each child improve physically through stretching and strength training. “Yoga helps by loosening and strengthening their muscles,” says Rodriguez. “And also, making them aware of their limitations. Some poses are more strenuous; they test your strength -- you focus on that area of the body and develop balance. Yoga teaches you to be relaxed in a physical pose, and you can use that anywhere in life, like sitting in traffic.”
Rodriguez says yoga has an added benefit of helping parents and kids communicate better. He says his students want to share what they have learned with their parents.
The Yoga Kids classes at Fairmont for 3- to 6-year-olds cost $100 for a 12-week course. The class lasts for a half-hour each week. For ages 6 through 12, it costs $125 for a one-hour class each week.
There also are many yoga videos for children, including “Yoga Kids, An Easy Fun-Filled Adventure” (Gaiam, $10), or books, such as Yoga Kids, Educating the Whole Child Through Yoga, by Marsha Wenig (Stewart, Tabori & Chang New York, $17.95).
At the end of class, Dickinson moves the children into the savasana pose, which is Sanskrit for ”corpse pose.” (For the kids, they call it ”peace and quiet pose.”)
”To get them to that relaxation pose, I ask them to act like a noodle before it’s cooked -- really stiff. Then we talk about adding hot water and becoming relaxed like a cooked noodle. They all know what a cooked noodle looks like. It’s amazing how long they’ll lie there sometimes.”
Then all the little children stand in a circle with their teacher. This is the time of the session that Dickinson enjoys most, when she can look in their eyes and appreciate the wonder of each one of them. ”We sing the ’Namaste Song,’ which is Sanskrit for ’the light in me sees the light in you.’ ” The song goes like this: ”I am you and you are me. I am a part of all I see. Namaste, namaste. I am the light and the light is me. I shine bright for all I see.”