See our 2011 Spring Break schedule for kid and youth Yoga! HERE
Kid and Youth Yoga classes now at the Ashram!
We have added to our schedule yoga for children ages 3-12 years old. Designed to target the needs of our young yogis, the two separate types of classes, Kid Yoga, ages 3-7, and Youth Yoga, ages 8-12, are scheduled during times when we offer adult classes, so you can attend your own class while your child is attending theirs!
The Ashram is unique in its approach to yoga programs for children; we make sure our teacher to child ratio is appropriate for the needs of the individual groups and we focus on exposing children to the basic principles of yoga techniques to prepare them for a more disciplined day to day life, as well as a long term future in yoga.
Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness with a physical activity that is noncompetitive. Fostering cooperation and compassion—instead of opposition—is a great gift to give our children.
Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them. Yoga brings that marvelous inner light that all children have to the surface.
When yogis developed the asanas many thousands of years ago, they still lived close to the natural world and used animals and plants for inspiration—the sting of a scorpion, the grace of a swan, the grounded stature of a tree. When children imitate the movements and sounds of nature, they have a chance to get inside another being and imagine taking on its qualities. When they assume the pose of the lion (Simhasana) for example, they experience not only the power and behavior of the lion, but also their own sense of power: when to be aggressive, when to retreat. The physical movements introduce kids to yoga’s true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself and one's part in the delicate web of life.