In the American Heritage College Dictionary Yoga is defined as: "1. a Hindu discipline aimed at training consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility. 2. A system of exercises practiced as part of this discipline to promote control of the body and mind. Yoga- Union, joining."

While we are not here to promote any type of religion, we have found through our experience that children are able to relax, and meditate, bringing to the awareness of their bodies, feelings and their health.

The best gift we can give our children is the gift of yoga-The union of body and mind. In India and other parts of Asia, yoga is practiced as soon as a child is able to walk or understand. While in the western countries this connection between body and mind is lost.

As western technology develops, we are able to see more and more the cultural influences on physical fitness. In Asia there is a whole generation of people 100 years and older leading active and healthy lives. While in the western culture, and mostly in the United States , we see an increase of disease, obesity and various learning and attention disorders. It is thought and studied, but not yet scientifically proven that ancient medicine and physical and mental exercises as well as nutrition have a great role in the life expectancy in these parts of the world.

Children are born as natural yogis, they are flexible, breathe in natural breathing patterns, they are usually fed the healthiest food in the first months of their lives. But as they grow they are subject to various tensions, which influence our breathing patterns as well as our muscle tension, innutritious food, TV and computers, which promote passive watching and more. By the age of three we start to naturally loose our flexibility and we do so faster because of the hours spent when we start to sit at tables at preschool.

Many parents are concerned with the cognitive development of their children and spend time teaching them academic subjects. This of course is wonderful but we mustn't forget that their bodies are just as important as their minds and with out the free flow of energy and flexibility our cognitive development is limited as well.

There are three basic things we need for a successful children's yoga adventure, (which are also very helpful for a beginning adult!). We call them ICE so we can use our imagination and remember them easily: Imagination, Concentration and Energy. Each one helps promote the next and finally bring, through the adventures of yoga, its benefits.

Imagination is a must. We all have it although it is sometimes suppressed. We can develop our imagination at any stage in life. Because children have it naturally it is easy to explain it to them and its something we really need to maintain and develop. Imagination will make the yoga class dynamic and fun. And through imaginative imagery we will be able to better concentrate until we learn to do so on our own. Imagination will also develop various types of creativity throughout life. A yoga instructor will help children imagine through story telling music and of course yoga poses.

Concentration comes fairly easy through imagination of stories, various objects and characters through the yoga poses. As concentration improves so do the meditation, relaxation and other exercises as well as the physical ability of the children.
Children will learn to concentrate on their various body parts and through that to actually feel their own energy. We found that children who have been doing yoga for a relative short period of time have shown to have great improvements in their concentration abilities at school as well as other activities.

Energy is hard to explain in western society. Our body is flowing with positive and negative energy. When we don't exercise enough or eat nutritious foods energy starts to accumulate causing blockages and turning into stagnant energy. These blockages are the cause of many diseases and a heavy physical feeling. The best way to understand this is to think about a road way. The roadways are our meridian channels and the cars are the flowing energy. As cars flow through the roadway everything is fine, but when the road needs to be fixed or there are too many cars on the road at one time there is a traffic jam. All the cars accumulate into one spot and traffic can't flow freely.
Energy blockages can be "fixed" at any time through the correct exercises. One our energy is flowing freely; all of our body's systems are able to work correctly.