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Kids Yoga: Dealing with Anger Management

By Paul Jerard

How can Yoga help children deal with anger issues? What solutions can Kids Yoga offer to parents and emotional children? Let’s take a look at some solutions that your local Yoga teacher will have to offer in a Kids Yoga class.

Children learn, at a very young age, that anger and tantrums can help them get their way.

Parents naturally want to give a child the best of everything, but what was “cute” at two years of age, may no longer be acceptable behavior for a child who is five years of age.

The foundation of a child’s personality is created in the first seven years. Parents are looking for constructive activities for children, but where do they start? Kids Yoga offers children a chance to develop strength, flexibility, endurance, and to enjoy the companionship of other children, without a competitive mind-set that can cause aggression.

Controlling aggression, by attending Yoga classes for kids, carries over into the competitive aspects of life. We know that our children are going to face athletic and academic competition. Children are naturally competitive, and they want to win every time. This is a basic component of human nature, but we also know that our children will not always win every contest.

Yoga is the perfect outlet for children. For those who consider Yoga a “feminine activity,” consider this: The National Football League teams have Yoga teachers train their players, and they teach “Yoga.” Why? Have you ever noticed that football players are faster, bigger, more flexible, and more coordinated than they used to be? I can remember when a guy, over 300 pounds of body weight, was slow. It’s all about the cross-training and professional teams in all sports, incorporate Yoga to avoid injuring their multi-million dollar athletes.

In the West, it is often forgotten that Indian males practiced Yoga for thousands of years. Many were from the Kshatriya caste. This was the Indian warrior caste and the people who turned back Alexander the Great. The Indians are a deeply spiritual people, but they have a proud history of military prowess. Do not forget about the Gurkas.

Lastly, most of the Asian martial arts can trace their ancestry back to the Shaolin temple. The Shaolin monks credited an Indian sage by the name of Bodhidharma for passing on his knowledge of health maintenance. We do not know the exact specifics of what Bodhidharma taught, but you can be guaranteed a good part of it was Yoga. It is said Bodhidharma was from royalty, a Brahman at birth, studied under Buddha, and became a member of the Kshatriya caste.

History has many “twists and turns,” but the fact is - Yoga can make the weak strong and flexible. Kids Yoga enhances athletic performance, and it takes fortitude to be consistent in Yoga practice.

Yoga for children is an activity with many rewards, including anger management.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. http://www.riyoga.com He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995.

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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 8:16 PM