Guest Blogger Aruna Kathy Humphrys writes the blog Teaching Kids Yoga. She trains teachers and parents in kids’ yoga with her groundbreaking course based on Yoga and the Ancient Secrets of Success.

Try these 5 Yoga tools to connect with kids and enhance their health and happiness.

Foster a Good Night’s Sleep:  Table Pose
Without rest, kids won’t be at their best. Certain Yoga poses, like table pose, can relieve restlessness. Do table together or use a timer to encourage kids to hold the pose. It’s a great way to fall into a blissful state.  One eight-year-old boy I know did table pose beside his bed. He held it for over 10 minutes, sweating and shaking, and then got into bed and slept peacefully for eight hours. 

You Are What You Eat: A Healthy Diet

For thousands of years, yogis have made the connection between what we eat and how we feel, and used it to their advantage.  They divide food into three categories:

• Foods that make us hyper (caffeine/sugar),
• Foods that make us sluggish (processed/fried foods),
• Foods that make us alert and calm (fruits, veggies, whole grains)

Choosing the right foods can help learning. Nourish kids through the school day with grapes, carrot sticks, cheese on whole grain bread, rice and bean salad, veggie wrap, or a fruit yogurt smoothie in a thermos for lunch and snacks.

Improve Attention, Focus, and Concentration:  Tree Pose
This pose builds mental muscles! Pick a point in front of you to focus on while you stand on one leg. It’s not physically challenging, it’s mentally demanding. Again, pull out your watch and time the kids. Chart their progress to see the times improve.

Loosen up the Spine and Shoulders: Standing Twists
After sitting all day and then carrying a backpack around, this simple twist can get the circulation moving again. Swing from side to side, as one hand goes back the other touches your chest. It’s great for the hips, joints, and the nervous system.

5. Relax with Yoga Breathing

Full breathing goes a long way when you’re walking the long hallway to a new classroom. Practice five full, relaxed breaths at home so kids remember how to clear their minds before a test or when dealing with a difficult situation.

These five tools may enhance kids’ health and happiness and I’m happy to report they work just as well for adults, too.

Happy back to school!

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Five Yoga Tools for Healthy, Happy School Kids

In a study by Gaiam and California State University, researchers showed that kids who did yoga received better grades and had less disciplinary action taken against them in class.

Marsha Wenig, creator of the Gaiam YogaKids DVD program and the president of YogaKids International credits these results to the physical aspect of yoga since children learn best when they learn through movement. The postures of yoga help develop hand-eye coordination and motor skills at the same time as they produce the mind-stilling moments that have helped to give yoga the reputation of being a wondrous stress-reducer.

Perhaps one of the most important benefits of yoga is that it boosts confidence. For kids who are focusing hard on their schoolwork, yoga teaches them that with effort and perseverance, they can succeed. This particular study reflects similar yoga research which has proven yoga’s benefits in improving body image with young women and lessening the likelihood of having an eating disorder.

As school-based yoga programs like Bent On Learning are becoming more popular in classrooms,  all across the country educators, parents and kids are witnessing and benefitting from the enormous benefits of  this 5,000-year-old tradition.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Better Grades for Kids Who Do Yoga

Gwyneth Paltrow at the Bent on Learning charity event.

It is not just adults who are down-dogging these days, it is also kids. And kid’s yoga is proving to be a huge hit for these young yogis.

Bent on Learning is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance physical, emotional and cognitive abilities in New York City-based school children through yoga. With support from yoga devotee Gwyneth Paltrow and Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation, Bent on Learning is bringing yoga into select New York City public schools and also offering workshops to teachers to incorporate simple yoga techniques and mindfulness training into their teaching.

With the support of some of New York City’s most accomplished and passionate yoga instructors, Bent on Learning is holding weekly classes at select NYC schools. Each class teaches yoga postures, or asanas, breath work and meditation. The program is also aligned with New York state and national physical education standards.

The organization first started as a volunteer effort in 2001, just after 9/11 in order to help children heal and manage post-traumatic stress. During the past eight years, the program has grown rapidly. It now reaches more than 1,000 students across 10 different NYC schools each week.

While this 5,000 year-old Indian tradition has been met with open arms by Westerners, most yoga classes in the country are geared to adults. But programs like Bent on Learning teach kids how to incorporate the benefits of this ancient mind-body-spirit practice into their young and very hectic lives.

A Bent on Learning class at Lyons Community School.

Kid’s yoga not only encourages physical activity, which most Western kids don’t get enough of, but yoga’s non-competitive nature doesn’t leave kids striving to be faster or better than their classmates. In fact, it does just the opposite. Yoga engenders a sense of self-acceptance and cooperation. One important study showed that young women who did yoga displayed less symptoms associated with eating and body image disorders and they also exhibited greater appreciation for their own bodies. Given the societal pressures that young kids face to look and dress a certain way, yoga can help curb the blade of the external forces and encourage the child’s confidence and self-esteem.

Bent on Learning is also using yoga to help children stay more focused, whether it’s concentrating on their math homework, reading a book or eating dinner with their family. Yoga fosters the ability for us to be in the moment, which for many kids (and adults) can be a challenge, but over time, as the child learns how to stay in tune to their immediate surroundings, they can develop focused mental and cognitive function that will have positive effects in all aspects of their lives from school to family to their relationships.

Hopefully, over the next few years, we’ll see additional programs like Bent on Learning reaching out beyond New York so that children all over the country can receive the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of this old, but very applicable, practice.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Gywneth Paltrow and Bent On Learning Teach Kids Yoga