Symposium on Yoga Education in Schools by Bihar School of Yoga - Aug 2009

Yoga & Child

Child is God; We gradually contaminate them to become stunted adults with complexes & phobias.

Yoga is a great activity & opportunity for children to explore themselves and about life.

The conditionings of environment a child is born and lives in; can nurture or suffocate the genius in the child. When a child receives inputs of yoga in the tender years then the formation of the individuals self identity is correct.

Yoga for the child is a great nourishment. It has a complete understanding of the body, mind, the power that supports both. It goes further & has a deep insight into the subtler layers of existense.
Yoga looks at the whole existence in five progressively subtler layers. They are called in Yoga as "PANCHA KOSA".

Asana practices directly influnce the physical & vital layers of ones personality and indirectly influence the mental personality (Mano Maya Kosa).

Pranayama directly influences the vital personality (Prana Maya Kosa) & indirectly influences mano maya kosa.

Pratyahara direcly influences the mano maya kosa.

In Kathopanishad our body is compared to a chariot, we can take a car for a modern chariot. If a car has a very attractive & stylish body, painted spotlessly & decorated lavishly. How would it look like. Great! woudn't it?

But; let's say there is no engine or let's say there is no steering. What use will it be of? It is meaningless to have a handsome or cute looking appearance without any presence of mind or intelligence or vice versa.

"Contemporary methods of education allow parents to give all the necessary comforts of life to their children, but what they get in return is, at best a, degree holder and egoist, a beautiful polished but undisciplined animal"

-Swami Vibhooti Saraswati

There is a rush of insecurity amongst parents that their children should be successful in life. It is completely justified to feel like that, but due to a specific expectation from the child, there is a lot of tension and pressure created in the child's personality.

Instead of helping the child to look at within & know themselves, to discover their potentials, parents and our society thrusts forcefully certain type of knowledge and certain type of attitude, which can be totally opposite to the nature of the child.

Yoga works like a mirror. What will you do when you see your image in the mirror. In the first place you will look at your reflection & enjoy the beauty; wont you? Then you will see your appearance and if anything needs adjustment or correction, you will simply do the needful correction. It is as simple as that.

Yoga allows a child to know the strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, beliefs, patterns, the body, everything about themselves. It gives them very handy & powerful tools for self transformation.

In my opinion, a system of education which does not provide an opportunity for self understanding and self transformation is incomplete.

Yoga is such a great tradition, Satyananda Yoga Centre upholds this great tradition and will be more than willing to take all possible efforts to reach out to the children.

In this blog we can see a lot about Yoga for children. You are welcome to ask any questions relating to this topic and we will try to give you our response as early as possible in the form of an article.

Hari Om Tat Sat