A Study on the Importance of Yoga for Children’s

Examining the Potential Benefits of Yoga in Improving Children's Physical and Mental Well-being

by Mr. Vichitra Kumar*,

- Published in International Journal of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, E-ISSN: 2231-3745

Volume 11, Issue No. 2, Apr 2017, Pages 119 - 124 (6)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

Yoga is most important for everyone’s life as it helps in balancing the relationship between body and mind. Yoga is also essential for children, physical health’s are shown to improve. It is form of exercise that through daily practice allows acquiring physical mental discipline. The usage of yoga for children to relax the mind improve safety well-being is becoming highly of concern. Despite limited yet rising research promoting the importance of yoga in youth, special yoga services are being created for youth inside classrooms. This rising awareness of yoga's possible benefits to children.

KEYWORD

yoga, children, importance, physical health, mental discipline, relaxation, well-being, youth, research, classrooms

INTRODUCTION

In ancient times, meditation originated in India through the yogis. The term yoga originates from the Sanskrit language & has two meanings, one being unity &the other being training. Practicing yoga informs us about the philosophy of body & mind by uniting or linking body & mind together. It is a religious ritual used for early morning reflection to align body & mind, as well as stays close to nature. It was earlier followed by religious people such as Hindu, Buddha, & Jain. It's awesome type of exercise that makes life better by body & mind control. Yoga is forever a method of leading a balanced existence. This is like a drug that slowly eliminates different diseases by regularizing the operation of body organs. Yoga is simply a method of synchronized body part motions & breath control. Through binding both to nature it enhances the strength of the inner & outer body & mind. It is not only a physical activity as it allows a human being capable of gaining influence of mental , emotional and spiritual emotions. It can be exercised during youth, adolescent, adult or old age by the citizens at any age. It only needs safe, slow, & mediated body movements with regulated respiration. An international level festival (titled International Yoga Day or World Yoga Day) has also been announced to observe it annually in order to make global people aware of the yoga & its benefits. Children may safely practice meditation and simple breathing exercises as long as the breath is never held. These techniques can greatly help children learn to relax, concentrate and reduce impulsiveness.

ORIGIN OF YOGA

Yoga developed in Ancient India thousands of years ago, well before the advent of the first form of worship or belief. Shiva is considered to be the first Yogi or Adiyogi,& first priest. Thousands of years ago, Adiyogi expressed his teachings with legendary 7 sages on the banks of Lake Kantisarovar in the Himalayas, as it was challenging to bring all of his insight and experience into one individual. The sages brought this strong yogic philosophy to many areas of the globe, including India, Middle East , North Africa, and South America. India is fortunate to have sought its greatest manifestation in the yogic system. The fossil remnants of the civilization of Indus-Saraswati are evidence of Yoga 's existence in ancient India. This influence finds a reference of western folk rituals. That is included in the religion of the Indus valley, the practices of Buddhism and Jain. Yoga was performed under the direct supervision of a Guru according to the studies & its moral significance was granted tremendous importance. During the Vedic period Sun was given a high priority & that is how Suryanamaskar was later conceived. Maharishi Patanjali however is recognized as Modern Yoga 's father. He did not develop Yoga, since it already existed in various ways. He had it integrated into the program. He noticed that knowing it in some practical way was becoming pretty difficult In the training of Asana or Yoga positions the function of breath is very significant. Breath is a vital force and based on our behavior our body's oxygen intake varies. When we workout so we use more air, &breathing gets quicker & if we rest our breathing becomes slow and intense. Throughout yoga, when indulging throughout slow motions and also performing full Asana, the emphasis is focused on air. At practice Yoga facilitates quick and calm inhalation & exhalation.

Relevance of yoga for children:

Self-confidence is an essential life skill for children to develop, and parents can be a main source of this. A low self image can lead to many emotional issues in adulthood, including depression and anxiety. It can be prevented with input from certain really compassionate role figures, as well as the constructive experiences enforced by such connections. The role models vary from parents & students to doctors & trainers. The one of a yoga teacher is another excellent source of constructive feedback that parents must take into account. Combine ancient powerful poses with a friendly, impartial party 's advice & your kid suddenly has a counselor to whom he or she may refer. There are massive benefits to participating your child in a children's yoga class, & more explicitly, a Hatha Yoga class. Hatha Yoga is expert in four key areas which are breathing, relaxation, meditation, and posture. Each individual topic is easily understood, but that does not mean there is no challenge involved. Yoga seems to contradict the nature of a child, but when performed in a group atmosphere and seen as a beneficial life tool, children excel in yoga. Look at the idea of math, for example. Some children consider this field of study daunting, often thinking "How can I use these methods in my life? "It is exhausting and stressful for children & teens to study subjects that they believe will not bring meaning to their lives (math is a vital resource for understanding and widening their minds, but most young people will not see its importance in its future), but yoga should never believe like this. Your child should instantly appreciate the advantages & remain ready to know constantly about this exercise. There is no competition in yoga, so children are not competing with one another which can also subconsciously harm the ego. In the first set of yoga lessons, your child will learn self-acceptance and patience in order to practice and grow at yoga. He or she will try hard at things, only to impress his/ herself. It is also understood (and discussed) that people are good at different skills. Certain children find it easy to meditate and relax people of all ages, and consciously praise all of their students equally. This unifies the students and class as a whole. The early childhood years are exciting and transformative. It is inspiring and magical to observe children as they are immersed in learning and development. These years, however, are also often challenging and confusing. Children want a healthy, caring, & relaxing atmosphere to accomplish this time period's developmental tasks & mature into well-prepared corresponding life stages. The idea was never stronger that we need energy, protection & order for our children & societies to have the sustenance for healthy growth. To small children, social-emotional interaction, trustworthy interactions, & sufficient form of material exercise, recreation, & discovery are important. Parents may note how yoga helps their children but the children themselves are the best judges. Kids who have learned yoga advise their instructors & parents that they will concentrate more through the day, reflect on their duties more & devote greater attention to their jobs — have all finer endorsements. The purpose of this study is also to help to nourish the soul which reflects in their mental and physical activities in their mental and physical activities and to build the character we want to see in the next decade as per Indian context. We found a state of urgency to start to nourish their souls with some mental activities like contemplation, meditation etc, in other words, inside-out approach rather than outside-in approach. We can conclude this study as the inside out approach meditation, contemplation, introspection have a significant improvement in persistence, self discipline to attain objectives of life, self discipline to control the senses and maintaining a stoic life. Moreover, they learned the value of sharing. Persistency in these practices will bring the collective development of psychological wellbeing of the roots and future of this society concerned.

Ideas for implementing Yoga into your daily routine

• The strategy should be enjoyable, very dynamic, imaginative & appealing to the creativity of the child • You could do this by utilizing songs & threading through various stories the many nice Yoga postures of animals & artifacts dependent on nature

• Playing to Meditation. Which may involve slithering cobra snakes thru a dog pipe, sculptures, abstract body forms, trips to a farm or aquarium, alphabet yoga or buddy yoga • Activities or dances often suit well with Yoga • Diaphragmatic respiration could be implemented in a fun way, including a bubble overflowing with air & then emptying, or seeing the chest rise & fall like ocean waves • In general, asthmatic children profit from cleaning breath which fully empties the lungs & lengthens the exhalation. Alternating ourtril movement with older children has a great soothing impact • Premeditative strategies which help to improve concentration and concentrate may be extended to children aged 4. The focus may be on a candle flame, an attractive picture, or beautiful natural objects including a shell, floral or crystal. It is great to explore the object with all senses first with children &then see it from behind the closed eyes.

Effects of Yoga on Children Minds & Bodies

Effective yoga practice has a significant influence on youth. Young minds & bodies are sculpted by yoga at an early age, providing opportunities that will strengthen and support children to be healthy, imaginative and confident people with a strong sense of who they are about the universe. It fosters self esteem, focus & knowledge of the body & opportunity to navigate the way through challenges of life smoothly. Mentally, yoga strengthens balance, has a positive impact on brain growth, and gives greater attention on the brain. Children become constantly over-stimulated, bombarded with tension and the desire to accomplish it in an environment inundated with knowledge. Yoga is an incredible life resource that shows people somatic methods of relieving tension and getting their body back into shape. With early study finding that young adults are the most anxious age group in the United States, discovering simple &fun strategies to combat stress at a young age is a great way of preventing subsequent breakdowns & anxiety or depressive disorders. Yoga creates energy, confidence & stamina so a healthy body can absorb food well, relax easier so endure stress. Yoga practice can help children control behavior, and is a great boost to mental health & concentration problems. 2. Improves concentration 3. Heightens self-esteem 4. Teaches present awareness of the moment 5. Grows a calm, comfortable state of mind & body 6. Provides stress-management strategies 7. Brings creativity among sophisticated imaginations 8. Encourages good relationships with colleagues & with community 9. Improves body sensitivity 10. Learns on control and accountability

Yoga is a great tool for children with unknown benefits that many respects will have a profound effect on their life & their potential.

POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES TO CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS PRACTICING YOGA

"Yoga's uniqueness is that its rewards are accessible to students in any school-age group," Henningsen said. She describes how yoga could be a comprehensive approach to stress, something that is required in today's children's frequently tension-filled lives. Yoga can help foster motivation, cultivate internal control locus, improve sleep, & relevant healthy & balanced living. Yoga can also begin to transfer self-awareness towards children's own signs & feelings, while counteracting negative social & cultural pressures, such as the increasing media pressure to be online & always accessible. Given that yoga frequently results in increased attention & concentration, higher academic success frequently follows daily practice. Yoga was shown to help children with issues of concentration, and to support the development of executive functions. There have also been reports from a number of studies that yoga may support special needs children. Via recovery methods yoga has been shown to have neurological benefits for children. There is also evidence from clinical studies that yoga enhances academic performance & emotional balance. Yoga’s mental effects are linked to slowing the heart rate, which suggests brain activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Likewise, calming may be driven by meditation, as it decreases psychological behaviors. The sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is frequently engaged as children who are exposed to sensory overload, close to adults. But if the parasympathetic system is growth & lifelong learning. As also stated, it is advised that yoga foster mental health & enhance resilience & self-regulation. It has been studied in areas like life-span growth, human connection, elderly people, cognition, as well as in the medical & psychological fields. We think what is really required is a series of guidelines about how to incorporate yoga into the lives of children & young adults, focused on a global viewpoint on child growth & sociology of the childhood. Yoga is also marketed as a common positive exercise, with the goal of promoting harmony & human growth through theory and action. Nevertheless, yoga pedagogy ought to be context-oriented & adapted to practitioners' unique audiences. Besides that, we believe that yoga teaching requires to be serious & multi-disciplinary, yet premised on children's needs & everyday lives, with a playful & fun strategy.

Figure 1 some probable consequences in children yoga practice.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Chandra Nanthakumar et. al. (2018) The number of children in Malaysia who suffer from stress & anxiety is on the rise. Evidence indicates which in many other nations, mind – body treatments such as cognitive exercise, meditation, & yoga is used to alleviate and/or manage the psychological effects of stress & anxiety. A systematic review looks at the yoga intervention as a form of meditative activity to help school kids relieve stress & anxiety. Articles were retrieved or use a mix of PubMed / MEDLINE, and PsycINFO repositories. The analysis covered not just peer reviewed publications but also those published in English. All the reviewed studies had included some form of exercise in meditative activity. The training involved asanas (postures), pranayama (expansion of life-force), dharana (concentration), & dhyana (meditation) that are the multiple forms to yoga. A total of eight articles identified & met the among other issues. Despite the difficulty in most, when not all of the research analyzed, yoga appears to be an effective modality in terms of variability & sample size to help children deal with stress and anxiety. It seems that if schools in Malaysia are able to incorporate yoga as part of the curriculum in physical education this will certainly benefit the students. Farah M Shroff et. al. (2017) The need for successful methods to population mental health promotion is essential as mental health issues are escalating globally & current allopathic treatment schemes are insufficient to bring people to the state of mental wellbeing (citation). Effective stress relief has the potential to promote health & prevent illness. Yoga is growing in popularity globally as an approachable, appropriate & cost-effective exercise for mind & body. People turn to mental health enhancement yoga along with preferences for: self-treatment as opposed to medical practice; regarded greater efficacy than medication; fewer side effects; lack of medication response. Yoga offers few adverse effects, which is cost-effective relative to pharmacological which psychotherapy therapies. The added advantage to Yoga is that it boosts physical health & builds self-confidence. We address the rationale for yoga as a method of mental health enhancement, illness prevention & depression recovery in this brief report. Michelle Mochan et al. (2017) Yoga has been found to provide multiple effects for children and to enhance safety and well-being. Yoga may be used to enhance all students ' academic success, and is especially useful as an support tool for special needs students. Given the advantages yoga can offer to young children, obstacles remain that prohibit teachers from incorporating yoga in their classroom. Nevertheless, the concerns about having met the curriculum, lack of space & maintaining students' learning could be overcome by integrating yoga into the curriculum, being creative with available space, utilizing gender-appropriate teaching methods (like games) & limiting the length of the session to better suit the students ' abilities. Most of the work on the impact of teaching yoga to young children, though, is utilizing methodologies which are unsuitable for that specific age category. The goal of this thesis is to relate to the analysis by the application of a more successful methodology. The research is often of specific benefit to teachers as it explores ways to introduce yoga into the classroom &incorporate it with the program, thereby growing the time adequate teaching. Sunil Kumar Yadav et al. (2015) Daily Life Yoga is a practice program composed of eight stages of physical, emotional, social, & spiritual health growth. Once the body becomes physically stable, the mind becomes calm, concentrated, &tension becomes

well, with others & your world on a much deeper level, which contributes to your mental wellbeing. The Sanskrit term "Yoga" implies "to merge, to integrate." Exercises in yoga have a holistic effect & balance body, mind, consciousness & soul. Physical wellness, emotional wellbeing, social wellbeing, moral wellness, self-knowledge or knowledge of the Divine inside us are the key aims of "Yoga in Everyday Life" Such aims are accomplished by compassion & assistance to those human creatures, reverence for creation, preservation of nature and climate, healthy state of mind, complete vegetarian diet, pure thinking and optimistic attitude, physical, emotional & spiritual activities, openness of all countries, cultures & faiths. Yogic methods are considered to enhance one's efficiency overall. Pranayama is an significant aspect of Meditation, but little known. Before recently, like several other ancient Indian practices, this practice and science of yogic meditation was almost entirely unfamiliar to the common man. Pranayama methods serve to purify the nadis through these three key sources for electricity. Luxmi Sharma et. al. (2015) Yoga has been performed for about five thousand years. Over time numerous yoga schools & organisations have arisen. At first it can be daunting to locate a yoga form that would align for you. When you are a professional athlete, it is better to adapt your yoga routine to your workout schedule as some muscle groups may be formed from a single activity thus missing others. Over time this cycle induces muscle & joint imbalances, contributing to unnecessary injury. Yoga makes the muscles, tendons & ligaments work through a wide range of motion, promoting flexibility and core strength & major advantage for athletes in their preferred sport. Heidi Resiert, a tri-athlete from San Diego, said, "I am grateful that I discovered yoga and applied it to my weekly fitness schedule. Not only do I feel stronger, but I also feel more confident that I should continue to be free of injury. "a further important aspect in yoga is breathing work (pranayama). Breathing attention during yoga could be regarded one of the most significant features for athletes. Learning to stay focused & centered through unpleasant poses by focusing on even inhalations & exhalations establishes the athlete. Galantino et. al. (2008) They also conducted a comprehensive analysis of the literature on the impact of yoga on quality of life & indicators of functional performance in the pediatric community. They also reviewed various datasets that included case-control that experimental tests, observational & randomized clinical trials that analyzed yoga as an activity technique for children. They surveyed various sources which provided case – control which experimental tests, retrospective and randomized clinical trials that investigated yoga as a children's – body. According to the Guide to Physical Therapist Care, we discuss the findings by three behavioral styles, which include guidelines for the use of yoga in clinical practice. Summary of Conclusions & Recommendations for Clinical Practice: The data suggests yoga's therapeutic effects for the pediatric community that may help children during the recovery phase, but broader research studies, with detailed quality of life tests, are required to offer conclusive evidence.

CONCLUSION

Yoga is a form of body part relaxation motions & breath regulation. Through binding us to nature it strengthens the power of the inner & outer body & mind. This is not just a physical activity because it allows a human being capable of having influence of intellectual, emotional & spiritual emotions. It can be exercised during youth, adolescent, adult or old age by the citizens at either age. This only needs safe, slow, & operated body movements with regulated respiration. Yoga aims to bring about positive shift in mindset in general. These become simpler to adopt if learned early in life, which will bring about a positive improvement in society. Being able to channel motivation in a constructive way rather than by cynicism would not only enable the student to succeed but will also make them a safer & happier individual? Children identified advantages (better sleep habits, fewer anxieties) & school (more focusable, fewer conflict).

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Corresponding Author Mr. Vichitra Kumar*

Assistant Professor Physical Education, Government Post Graduate College, Bisalpur, Pilibhit – Area off Special Interest, Athletics (100,200, Long Jump) Cricket, Yoga