back to YogaKids news

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

From dogs to caterpillars

Sarah Palermo
Sentinel Staff

All of a sudden, the room was full of caterpillars - laughing caterpillars that crawled toward one another at the center of a circle, while grown women watched from the edges of the room, a few laughing themselves.

The giggling crawlers were really a group of toddlers helping Marsha Wenig, the founder of YogaKids International, demonstrate the program to adults hoping to take yoga to kids back home.

YogaKids, an internationally recognized program, was born of Wenig's desire to share yoga with her own children.

"I didn't start practicing yoga until I was 30," Wenig said. "When I had children, I watched them and I thought, 'Wouldn't it have been great to get these tools when I was growing up?

She began incorporating yoga into her creative writing curriculum with the California Poets in the Schools program in Los Angeles in 1986.

After a move to Indiana, she began teaching yoga to her daughter's Montessori pre-school class in 1991, and YogaKids was born.

After building her curriculum in her own community, she produced the YogaKids DVD in 1997, which brought fame and renown to the program and Wenig.

Mary B. Frost said the adults came to Keene from all areas of New England, a few from other parts of the country and one from as far as Bangkok to study with Wenig, who was called a "yoga luminary" by The Washington Post in 2001. Frost, of Marlborough, organized the recent event at the E.F. Lane Hotel.

Wenig's schedule does not let her demonstrate at these events often, Frost said. In fact, this was the first time this year she was involved in a session, and she is scheduled to teach at only one more, outside Chicago.

Some of her students will move on to a year-long program to become certified YogaKids facilitators, while others will take what they learn straight into their classrooms or homes.

All of her Keene students learned YogaKids is not much like the disciplined practice many adults consider yoga.

For one thing, these downward-facing dogs are encouraged to bark to their heart's content.

Wenig "shows you that you've got to have the kids have fun. It's a totally different yoga than what you or I would do," said Kathy A. McCoy, who works with special-education students in Connecticut, while watching Wenig wiggle on the ground with the kids.

"Let them play!" Wenig said is the central point of YogaKids.

Until the kids start asking for specific instructions, YogaKids isn't about holding the poses perfectly, she said; rather, it's more about building self-esteem. "It's about teaching for the heart," Wenig said.

YogaKids uses the theory that different people learn using different senses. Some kids learn best by hearing, while others learn best by doing, for example, according to Frost, a certified YogaKids facilitator and trainer.

The class is often structured around a book or lesson, she said.

Before Frost started organizing events like this, she taught the YogaKids curriculum in schools, private homes and the YMCA.

"We would make a story about the poses, like say 'Let's go for a walk in the woods,' " she said.

"We could even design class around what a class was studying, and reinforce what they were doing anyway."

For many of the 21 women learning the YogaKids curriculum in Keene, lessons from yoga are just as important as lessons from books.

"This is great for self-esteem building, and for developing ways of coping with stress, especially," said Kim A. Morse of Westford, Vt.

Jennifer L. Schutzius of Surry, whose two daughters Hannah C. and Molly J. Schutzius took part in the demonstration, also sees physical benefits for her kids.

"I wanted them to learn yoga when they were young so they learned how important it is to stretch and take care of your body," she said. "It helps center them, too. Kids don't relax at all."

McCoy, who plans to add the YogaKids curriculum to her work with special-needs students in Connecticut, agrees.

"There's so much anxiety kids are going through today. A lot of behavior issues stem from that," McCoy said while Wenig led the kids through the poses.

"Yoga can equip kids with the skills they need for life. It can empower them."

As McCoy finished speaking, Wenig started a call-and-repeat exercise with the kids while they moved into a position known as Warrior 2.

Standing firm on the ground with their legs apart and their arms stretching out to the sides, the kids repeated a mantra after Wenig.

"I am strong. I can do anything I set my heart and mind to."

© 2007