According to an entry in Wikipedia, “Best practices are generally-accepted, informally-standardized techniques, methods or processes that have proven themselves over time to accomplish given tasks. Often based upon common sense, these practices are commonly used where no specific formal methodology is in place or the existing methodology does not sufficiently address the issue.”

The “existing methodology” – allopathic medicine, hasn’t been able to fully address the ill health so many children face today. The conditions are subjective. Five different professionals may likely give five different diagnoses. Doctors treat bodies. Yoga addresses body, mind, spirit AND lifestyle.

Children need fresh air and unstructured playtime. They need wholesome diets with very little if any processed food and refined sugar. They need stability and routine, unconditional love and compassionate communication. They need to develop personal discipline and established routines for self care. Very few professionals within our “existing methodology” have the time or training to consult on foundational issues affecting the whole family’s health including the home environment, communication among its members, dietary choices, routine/schedule and personal health practices such as exercise, relaxation and time for quiet and stillness. Yoga is the science of right living and expertly addresses all of these areas, giving us a “specific formal methodology” to attain total health and wellness.

The good news about Yoga is that it is low cost ($20 for a mat), you don’t need to make an appointment, the whole family can practice together and it is naturally engaging. You feel good right away. And while you are practicing, it’s helping you to develop the will and discipline needed to continue to practice and to continue receiving the benefits. It’s like money in the bank. Every day you deposit about 15-20 minutes of your time and you reap untold wealth in terms of long-term mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health. It is certainly “generally-accepted.” According to a study commissioned by Yoga Journal published in 2008, 15.8 million people are practicing Yoga in the United States. And Yoga has “proven” itself “over time” – thousands of years of time.

What is the “given task” that Yoga accomplishes? It helps develop awareness. Yes, the physical postures can help us feel fit, more flexible and relaxed but the aim of Yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind. It’s like stilling a lake to see a clear reflection. We see ourselves more clearly. Then, we can make more informed choices that can have a positive influence on our health and our experience of the world. When we see the world as it truly is, we live a life of ease and contentment, we are fully present and able to respond to others with compassion and we become more engaged citizens. All of this comes about from a consistent practice of Yoga including focused breathing, balanced exercise and sitting in stillness.

It is both an exciting and scary time (as a felt sense in the body it is often hard to distinguish the two). We are in the midst of a paradigm shift. Our familiar way of operating in the world isn’t working. And a new way of being has yet to fully establish itself in our society. But it is surely underway. We are fortunate to have access to this ancient science from the East to support us on our journey. As Swami Vishnu Devananda, one of the founders of Yoga in America, is famous for saying:

“Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness, Yoga shows the way.”
 

A group of girls, ages 12-15, were sitting tall with their eyes gently closed, first fingers and thumbs gently pressed together. The instruction was simple: Watch the breath. As the breath comes in, note “so”. As the breath goes out, note “hum”. Mark each in breath with the sound “so” and each out breath with the sound “hum” silently to yourself. The mind will wander off many times. As soon as you notice, gently but firmly bring it back to the breath and this mantra. “So hum” is the sound of the breath and also means “I am”.

They have been given these instructions many times. Each week, we take 2 to 5 minutes to practice meditating at the end of class. We were only about a minute into it this week when one girl let out a belch and said, “Ooh, excuse me.” I was on the verge of hitting the eject button. My strategy is to chant “Om” at the first sign of any distraction so this sound brings them out of their meditation rather than some distraction from a classmate. This classmate may find it highly rewarding to be responsible for disrupting class and may do it again the next time the group is trying to meditate.

I paused for just a second; waiting for the ripple of giggles that typically follows this kind of thing. But the girls were silent. Whatever reaction the other girls had, they were able to contain it, note the distraction and come back to the breath. Even the girl who belched was able to maintain her composure, which in past classes has not been the case.

Giggles are a common reaction to much of what we do in Yoga class with teens. It’s an emotional release for them, a way to handle their discomfort. The girls in this class showed a capacity to be with what is and to keep their minds steady.

Nowhere is it listed in the ancient texts that “not dissolving into fits of giggles when belching during meditation” is a sign of progress, but in this situation it surely is.

We all have many reasons for working with children. I must admit, one reason for me is a change in schedule over the summer. Nature is changing all around us season to season. To do the exact same thing over and over month after month and throughout the years is not living in sync with nature. So, summer comes and we play outside. Then the weather cools down and we get back to more structure in our routine.

The fall session started yesterday at a local Yoga studio where I teach. Seeing both familiar and new students rushing in for class swelled my heart with delight. Children can be so exuberant – and honest. I find it an honor to share this practice with them. It certainly takes more energy than it does to teach adults but I wouldn’t trade it for the joy, silliness and spontaneity that come with teaching kids.

The 4 - 6 year old students played the Name Game - saying their name and an animal they like so we could turn that animal into a Yoga pose. We then danced around to the “Breathe” song by Wah! on her Child’s Play CD. They loved spelling out the alphabet with their bodies and then going on a magic carpet ride as a guided visualization to relax. One new student fell into his mom’s arms after class pleading with her to bring him again next week.

The older kids, ages 7-10, wanted to get right into challenging poses on the first day. After creating a spider web to crawl through, we did Crow (Kakasana) and big toe balance pose. We practiced both Hero III (Virabhadrasana) and Standing Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) with the lifted leg heel against the wall. The main point in this class was to “engage”. We talked about stamping the lifted heel into the wall to make the muscles hug the bone and make the whole pose easier. “Ah”, said one student after a few attempts at this. “So this is what it means to engage.” It’s an important point to introduce right at the beginning.

One returning student requested a version of freeze dance based on the gunas – the three qualities of nature. We danced around to music and then when it stopped, I called out one of three qualities – creation, maintenance or destruction. Each child created a Yoga pose, froze in place, or fell to the ground destroyed – depending on which quality was called out. I think they like the surprise of not knowing which one will be called and, of course, falling to the ground.

For the guided visualization (based on an exercise in one of my favorite books, Spinning Inward by Maureen Murdock), they met with their “ally” or guide in a forest and sat down with this wise person, animal or mythical being to learn more about themselves and ask any question they may have. Time was running a bit short so the relaxation period was only about 5 minutes. One girl rolled up after and said, “That was too short.” I usually give them 10 minutes or more of the hour-long class and her comment confirmed that this much time is both needed and appreciated.

My intention for this session of classes is to help the children develop an inner resource – a place within themselves where they always feel safe, peaceful and at ease, to introduce archetypes and how to recognize them in their own lives and others, to expand emotional intelligence and broaden language around emotions and feelings AND to have fun. I’ll continue to post about these classes as this fall session unfolds.

I just came across one of my favorite TED talks again and was reminded of some interesting and important ideas about education and creativity. In this talk, Ken Robinson promotes movement as a key way to learn and he suggests that intelligence develops best through integrating subjects rather than separating them out from each other, as we typically do in public education.

He contends "Creativity is as important in education as literacy" and makes an intriguing case for reconsidering the way we currently diagnose children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.

We need not look far to see signs of decay through out our educational system. 30-50% of the students who go through public schools do not graduate. We are in serious need of a major overhaul of the way in which we education our children and Ken is one more articulate voice on the subject. It’s also a great stand up routine- he is a real comedian!

On a bright morning in the shadows of legendary skyscrapers, I met a group of kids at Olive Beach in downtown Chicago to share a practice with them during their summer camp. We spread our towels by the shore of shimmering Lake Michigan. It felt good to snuggle down into the soft sand as we took our seat to start.

The theme for the class was “Pirates on a Treasure Hunt.” Many familiar standing poses become pirates and the children got to name them – Scary Harry and Red Beard were some of the characters. We buried our feet into the sand, connecting to the earth for stability and support.

We also did a rock n’ roll partner pose (pirates have to help each other on a big pirate boat out at sea). It goes like this: One partner rocks on his spine and then pushes his feet into the sand while reaching out. His partner is standing at his feet and reaches to grab his hands and helps him pop up to standing. One boy I partnered with repeatedly scooped up some sand with his feet and let the sand sprinkle all over his face as he rolled back. I suggested he try it on his towel, but he seemed to enjoy his sand shower.

The kids enjoyed gripping the sand with their hands to balance in Crow pose (Kakasana). One girl knew the pose well and said it was easier in the sand than when she practiced on the floor at home.

Although the towels kept getting bunched up and covered in sand, and the kids were jumping and rolling around in it between poses, it added a rich sensory element only nature could provide.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, started a movement to get kids into nature and out from in front of electronic screens. He coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” posing the notion that a lack of connection to the natural world contributes to behavioral problems in children.

Wind, bugs, sand, sun and uneven ground can all be a distraction when practicing Yoga outside, but contending with these is well worth the benefit of having our body in direct contact with the earth.

During practice, the children were at once calm and engaged. The clear blue sky, the water nearby and the visceral sensation of sand at their feet surely supported their ability to explore this morning’s Yoga practice.

When it was time to relax, I guided them through the “Beach Meditation.” They didn’t need to imagine feeling their bodies sinking into the warm, soft sand – it was actually happening.

After wishing peace for ourselves and each other with the Sanskrit word “Shanti” and honoring each other with “Namasté”, the children jumped up, waved goodbye and ran to the water, rinsing off all that sand and benefiting from another soothing sensory experience.

An article titled, Drugs Found Ineffective for Veterans’ Stress, published last week in the New York Times reports that medications widely prescribed for PTSD, such as Risperdal, Seroquel, Geodon and Abilify are ineffective.

Typically prescribed to patients with schizophrenia, children are being prescribed these same antipsychotic drugs for diagnosed conditions such as autism and depression associated with bi-polar disorder.

These medications come with an FDA alert. Not only are they found ineffective in treating adults for PSTD, they are potentially very dangerous – and remain unstudied in children.

In promoting Abilify, the website psychcentral.com states: “The FDA approval for Abilify as an adjunct treatment combined with lithium or valproate was made despite the lack of research that specifically examined Abilify’s safety and efficacy in children.”

Certain medications can be helpful in the short term when used as a last resort for children with mental imbalances. However, there is a whole list of strategies to engage beforehand which are both more safe and effective.

A good place to start researching these strategies is Dr. Scott M. Shannon’s book titled, Please Don’t Label My Child – Break the Doctor-Diagnosis-Drug Cycle and Discover Safe, Effective Choices for Your Child’s Emotional Health.

At some point in each one of our trainings, we have the "good job" talk. It's an important and sometimes a difficult talk. We've all grown up in a culture where praise and rewards are deeply ingrained. Gold stars, trophies, raises and "likes" rule our world.  But what does "good job" really mean to a child?  And how does it impact his life as an adult.

Making sure our children are happy and winning at life is stressful for both parents and children. It may even be harmful. This thoughtful article and video by Lori Gottlieb explores the ramifications of parents who do "too much" for their children.

I found this cool website with a quote from me - probably a Yoga Chicago article:

Super-Quote of the Day, Thursday May 19, 2011:
Taylor Wells, M.A., M.Ed., R.Y.T.

“It seems simple. Children are suffering from a lack of connection to their own bodies, their environment and the food they eat. Yoga facilitates connection. It’s easy, low cost, accessible and anyone can do it.”  ~ Mira Binzen
 

I like the one they have for today:  "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."  E. E. Cummings

http://www.super-mom.com/super-quote-of-the-day-thursday-may-19-2011

It's always encouraging to see research coming out on the benefits of Yoga.  The non-profit organization, Street Yoga, has put together a great research page on their website.

Check it out:  http://streetyoga.org/resources/research

We are delighted to have Dianna Oles joining us for a course in Sanskrit during our Sundari summer intensive.   She has studied and taught Sanskrit for many years.  With her guidance we will learn to pronounce simple Sanskrit words Yoga teachers use and will be led through many beautiful chants from India we use in class and in our home practice.

Children love to say the Sanskrit names of poses and are interested in the philosophy and history of Yoga.  So now we have an expert who can help us make sure we are saying it right!