YOGA IMPROVES PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH

Kids are increasingly unhealthy, suffering from poor diets, polluted environments, and lack of physical activity, and yoga provides the tools to maintain lifelong wellness.  Yoga is a multi-dimensional and holistic approach to meeting the interrelated physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs of youth.  In additional to providing wonderful exercise, which so many children need as childhood obesity becomes more and more common, yoga has been linked to the I mprovement of asthma, diabetes, ADD/ADHD, insomnia, anxiety, stress-related illnesses, and many other health problems.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IS STRONGLY LINKED TO HEALTH

Numerous studies have shown that students’ health strongly impacts their ability to succeed in school.  Asthma, diabetes, and general illness account not only for missed school days, but also contribute to anxiety and difficulty concentrating.  Education research has repeatedly demonstrated that in order to improve achievement, education must be addressed in a multifacted way, which takes account of children's physical and psychological development as well as their cognitive, language, social and ethical development.  Yoga, frequently translated as the union of the body and the mind, presents itself as a natural tool in the effort to address child welfare in the learning environment.  While many different activities and sports can help children improve their physical wellness, because yoga emphasizes the integration of the physical and the mental, the internal and the external, it has a unique ability to positively contribute to multiple challenges when incorporated into an educational setting.

YOGA DEVELOPS FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION

Yoga helps students develop the focus and concentration skills that will enhance learning, and increases students’ ability to work independently and productively despite the wide variety of environmental and personal distractions that surround them.  Yoga has successfully been used to help manage the symptoms of ADHD, as well as a variety of other learning and sensory integration disorders.  Yoga also gives students a framework for processing and handling their emotions, helping to diffuse anger and stress and improve behavior.

YOGA IS A NON-COMPETITIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Most physical activities that children participate in today are competition based.  Yoga presents an entirely different model whereby students participate in an activity that is cooperation based, and rooted in the idea that practicing and improving yourself are what indicate success.  This model allows all students to develop their sense of personal efficacy and awareness of their potential, regardless of how they compare to their peers, as well as fostering a sense of community without the need for an enemy.

STUDENTS HAVE DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES

In addition to addressing the physical, mental and emotional wellness of students (all of which contribute to their readiness to learn) Little Flower Yoga classes also address the reality that students learn in many different ways.  In yoga, learning takes place in a dynamic, supportive, encouraging environment where students are not hampered by the pressures of testing or the fear of failure.  We incorporate academic skills with engaging and fun activities, music, movement and storytelling that allow students to learn in a holistic way that is accessible to all learning styles.

KIDS ARE STRESSED!

Competitive schools, tons of activities, constant testing, problems at home, problems in the world…  Children are just as susceptible as adults to feeling pressured and overwhelmed.  Yoga is well known for being one of the few things that can effectively reduce stress, which in addition to making a person feel miserable also leads to a long list of illnesses.  By offering yoga to children, we are providing them with a tool that they can use for the rest of their lives.