Yoga is growing in popularity worldwide as a complementary therapy for children with special needs and autism, with the increase in the number of schools and parents participating in programs that are emerging Around the world, in addition to the benefits that are usually associated with yoga, autistic children also experience a reduction in pain, aggression, anxiety., obsessive behaviors and stimulation activities. Apart from that the children are also having more success making new friends and regulating emotions .
Yoga for children with special needs
Yoga is growing in popularity as a complementary therapy for children with special needs and autism and Louise Goldberg, the famous author of the book entitled Yoga Therapy for Children with Autism and Special Needs ”, also He has first-hand experience in witnessing the enormous benefits of children in the experience of the autistic spectrum when practicing yoga . In 1981, Goldberg and a classmate were invited to teach a demonstration class for teachers in a residential hospital for children with emotional and severe behavior disorders .
He said they were both fairly new yoga teachers, but seeing the children many of whom were extremely anxious, separated from the rest or angry, was a revelation . They were surprised at how yoga was effective with these children and how much they enjoyed it.
Children who have autism often have very different sensory experiences from other people and these responses often cause their bodies to become trapped in a fight or freeze mode that divert blood from the digestive organs to skeletal muscles. This causes interrupted digestion, increased heart rate and shallow breathing and all this causes anxiety.
Goldberg explains that he had a student, a young child who was very anxious if the school bus was late. His mother took him to school every day and one day he saw him lying in the backseat of the car and she asked him if he was sick, to which he replied no, that he was relaxed. The mother said she had never seen him so calm and it was all because of the shavasana, since practicing shavasana, he was able to self-regulate and calm his emotions .
Yoga helps children suffering from autism
Autism educators often emphasize the importance of visualization practices, so Goldberg designed the Stop and Relax program, which uses more than 50 reference cards to help children visualize the pose they are supposed to take already. Through this visualization, they are able to successfully imitate and model physical actions and postures that they could not previously have.
The specialist explains that some of the children do not speak, they have no language, but they can look at a visual card and respond . Some children also have difficulty participating, even if they can achieve fluid prayers and can perform motor planning . However, they don't have the kind of motor planning skills like going from point A to point B to point C, but seeing the visual signal somehow triggers something in their brain and they can reproduce it.
When Goldberg began teaching specialized yoga classes, he received some resistance from parents and schools, as some people were not comfortable with the word " yoga ."
This program can be applied to all children of all ages, because it is another form of movement that involves exercise, attention and breathing. Goldberg named it healing healing and took yoga poses and applied them to the challenges that children have in school as in everyday life, this is a program that can be practiced with children of all ages because it is a form of movement
The idea is that when we are teaching yoga, we should not use Sanskrit names, that is, we do not call it the posture of prayer, we call it the pose of the tree, like viparita shalabhasana, which is the pose of Superman. Goldberg believes that children benefit from the practice of yoga in school classes . He says with a smile that ten years ago, when he was teaching in a school, he had the opportunity to enter all the classes that had a child with autism and taught the whole group to enjoy the benefits of yoga.
Children need breaks every 15 minutes
If this time is exceeded, no learning occurs, which leads to the frustration of the children and the person who imparts the therapy .
Goldberg agrees and believes that yoga provides the perfect antidote, just by keeping a pose for a minute, while sitting or standing by the desk and learning can continue without teachers having to discipline children for rest of the lesson
TRANSLATION: Lurdes Sarmiento
