It’s not the peaceful meditation and quiet calm usually associated with yoga.
Paige, camp director of a kids and teenage yoga camp, said yoga for kids is a different experience.
“Adults don’t have a problem sitting still and being quiet,” she said.
The 16 students who attended her yoga camp this week at Gainesville Unity Church range in age from 5- to 13-years-old. Paige will hold a kids camp Aug. 2-6 and a teen camp Aug. 9-13 at Om Yoga Studio in Alachua.
In addition to the two 30-minute yoga sessions each day, Paige does arts and crafts, sings songs and teaches her students about Indian culture.
The students also eat a vegetarian lunch everyday.
Paige said other than the obvious benefit, which is getting children more active, doing yoga helps children learn to follow instructions, connect with their bodies and, most importantly, find their breath.
“We have kids so wired that by the end of the day they just want to relax and catch their breath,” she said.
Paige said by the end of each week-long camp she can see a significant difference in students’ behavior.
“The first day they’re the most rambunctious,” she said. “On the last day they focus so much quicker, they don’t need to be the center of attention and they’re more responsive with directions.”
Paige, who has been in childcare throughout her whole life, said she has been teaching yoga to children for about 10 years.
“It has to be engaging and interactive,” she said. “It has to be really fun.”
Ganesh Schwin, 6, said his favorite yoga pose is the bow pose.
“I’m like a hunter shooting an arrow,” he said. “I like to shoot stuff.”
During her teenage yoga classes, Paige said she talks more in depth about the different postures and what each posture does for the body. She also talks to them about their chakras, or energy centers, in the body.
Jasmine Lantinen, 11, said she started doing yoga when she was 7 years old after watching her grandma do yoga every morning. Since she’s started learning yoga she said she’s taught her dad a few poses.
“It helps people become less stressed out,” she said.
Ananga Bauer is a certified yoga teacher and co-owner of Whole Beings Wellness Children’s Yoga studio.
Bauer and her husband started Whole Beings Wellness in southern New Jersey five years ago and moved it to Gainesville about a year ago.
“Children aren’t introduced (to yoga) because they want to lose weight or be fit,” she said. “They do it because they want to have fun. That’s their goal in life.”
Bauer said since kids live in the moment, their yoga practice has to be that way.
“I ask them to notice their breath,” she said. “You have to put yourself in their shoes.”
Bauer said she has her classes imitate different things in nature, like flowers or dinosaurs, and has them create a food dish every class by playing it out with their bodies and yoga poses.
“I tell all my classes that we are perfect,” she said. “They are learning to love their bodies.”
<a href="http://www.ocala.com/article/20100729/ARTICLES/100729717/1001/news01?Title=Yoga-for-young-mindstag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.ocala.com/article/20100729/ARTICLES/100729717/1001/news01?Title=Yoga-for-young-mindsThu, 29 Jul 2010 17:44:03 GMT 00:00″>Jenessa Paige, camp director of a kids and teenage yoga camp, said yoga for kids is a different experience.
Image : flickr.com
