Cobra pose in nature
In the last several years, I have personally found a love for yoga. Yoga has helped me practice mindfulness through movement and it has given me a special space on the mat. Stepping on the mat has become a meaningful and safe space for me to decompress and separate myself from work. Based on personal experiences and evidence-based knowledge, I’ve learnt that everyone can benefit from yoga practice. Since entering the OT program and learning about the importance of movement and mindfulness, teaching yoga to others has become a strong interest of mine.
As we prepared for the campers to arrive at Larchwood Nature OT camp, we were fortunate to receive training in Kids Yoga for All Abilities, led by a teacher from Appleseed Yoga. Evidence suggests that yoga for children have both physical and mental benefits.
Physically: yoga can help improve balance, strength, endurance, aerobic capacity.
Mentally: yoga has the ability to improve focus, memory, self-esteem, academic performance, class behaviour and reduction of anxiety and stress. The interesting part of kids yoga is that it meets the child where they are at and trusts the child to take the lead.
Example of a Yoga card used at camp!
At Larchwood Nature OT camp, yoga is incorporated into our daily activities and provides numerous benefits. Our yoga sessions focus on 4 main components: Connection, poses, fun and games and relaxation. Over the last three weeks, we’ve seen the impact of yoga on the kiddos abilities to focus, practice mindfulness, work on creativity, gross motor movement and emotional regulation. We incorporate yoga in many fun and meaningful ways to engage our campers. Activities include: yoga dance freeze, yoga stories, yoga movement books and yoga go fish! We saw first hand the benefits of yoga for the kiddos- providing them a space to release their tension, let out their energy, practice their breathing, improve their strength and balance while playing with their friends! Movement breaks help the kiddos focus and regulate for activities afterwards. Including this in our day helped the children engage meaningfully and practice mindful movement. These mental and physical skills are transferable to school, home and overall health and wellbeing.
Learning to incorporate yoga into our daily lives has the ability to bring these skills into other activities and situations beyond our mats. I hope to continue to incorporate yoga into my practice and teach components of yoga to people of all abilities.