Kids Yoga Classes

Yoga for kids has never been more important. Our offspring are playing Angry Birds in the pram on their way to a play date… Whilst their slightly older siblings are snapchatting what they had for breakfast that morning on their own mobile phones. We are bringing up a generation of children to be online all the time. But do they know how and when to switch-off? In some cases it appears they don’t, with research suggesting that our children are more stressed out than any previous generation. This could be down to our competition centric society or a lack of time given to kids to relax and just be children.

If your children are suffering from anxiety, insomnia or general apathy regarding their school or personal life, yoga can provide them with the tools they need to bring about positive changes and look at life from a new more balanced perspective. Classes can be simplified and used to conjunction with meditation for all age groups.

Are you qualified to work with children?

Yes absolutely!  All of our teaching team have completed nationally recognised yoga qualifications, which include in their syllabuses the study of physiology. This means that whether being taught in person or online, your students and their parents can be sure that they are in safe hands.  Further more, all of our team have also completed standard DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks, previously known as CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks.

Do kids need to meditate in order to be mindful?

Experience tells us that some people listen more intently than others, or appreciate the simple things in life more readily. However, just because you think you know how to do something, it does not mean you stop learning. The best sportsmen in the world prepare before their competitions, world renowned actors turn up for rehearsals even though they know how to memorise their lines. Indeed if you truly do believe that you are living mindfully, you would see the value in taking time out to meditate.

If kids meditate, do they need to separately practice mindfulness?

In our experience , if the former occurs with an open heart, the latter will quite naturally follow. Indeed not behaving mindfully when you are away from “the mat”, can be likened to cooking a tasty meal, but not eating it. You’ve spent all that time preparing, but you’re missing the main event… And to some of us, thats just what life is, the main event, and it will happen to you, regardless of whether you appreciate or hide from it…

Where does yoga come from?  What is its history?

The origins of what we now call yoga cannot be pinned down absolutely, but It is generally accepted that the first people to formally practice meditation a core part of what yoga is, lived on the Indian subcontinent over 7,000 years ago.

Many people point to the view that meditation – which forms a huge part of Yoga – is a tantric practice originally followed by devotees of Shiva. Indeed the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, from the 15th century, states that it was developed by a tantric sage with the same name. Other written sources, such as the Shiva Samhita, claim the same thing. That is why in India, Shiva is called the King of Yoga. He is believed to have lived on the subcontinent during the first Vedic Aryan invasion of India over 7,000 years ago.

Subsequently meditation became integrated within wider Hindu society and overtime also became part of Buddhism, itself a development of that societies practices. Approximately 600BC, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) reached “enlightenment” by meditating under a Bodhi Tree. The major break between Buddhism and Hinduism occurred, as Buddha’s followers did not believe meditation to be a means of getting closer to a higher being – a God, but rather as a means of realising one’s interconnectedness with all things.

More or less in parallel with the development of Buddhism, Daoism (also known as Taoism due historic issues in translation) was on the rise in China. Daoism, is a philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasises living in harmony with the Dao. Dao is a word signifying the “way” or “key”. Dao is the intuitive knowing of “life” that cannot be grasped whole-heartedly as just a concept, but has to be known through actual living experience of one’s everyday being.

Unsurprisingly, when followers of Buddhism and Daoism met, they had quite a lot in common, and started to adopt each others practices. Culminating in Zen Buddhism. Zen emphasises rigorous self-control, meditation-practice, insight into Buddha-nature, and the personal expression of this insight in daily life, especially for the benefit of others. It de-emphasises knowledge of texts, and favours direct understanding through Zazen – the nature of existence.

In more recent times people like Tirumalai Krishnamacharya studied the 196 Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and brought them to life for the modern world.  The 8 components or limbs of yoga Patanjali identified were later incorporated into Ashtanga Yoga by  Pattabhi Jois, a student of Krishnamacharya.  Ashtanga is one flavour of yoga among many, the classes tend to follow prescribed sequences that increase in difficulty as you move through the classes.  Yoga Wellbeing does not teach Ashtanga yoga specifically.  We put together specific classes that suite the requirements of each client.