1 – Awareness of Breath and Self

When kids become aware of their breath, they can then begin to understand how breathing impacts their body, noticeably the respiratory, cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems.

Breath is a great coping technique for kids with special needs. Kids can be taught how to manage breath, moving it through their bodies in such a way to self-calm and balance emotions, invigorate their body and movement, or cleanse the mind-body complex. They discover that breathing is a tool and something they can control.

2 – Development of Motor Skills and Coordination

Yoga tones muscles, and improves stability and balance. Along with these benefits comes body awareness and enhanced coordination. Standing poses, such as Mountain and Warrior II, improve muscle tone, stability and balance. The flowing postures of Sun Salutations practiced slowly and with breathing, stretch and strengthen all of the body’s major muscle groups while also helping kids increase focus and coordination.

3 – Improved Confidence, Self-esteem and Social Connections

Kids with special needs can refine their social skills and grow confidence in their interactions upon learning self-regulation, self-calming, and improving their motor skills and coordination.

Ideally, you will want to schedule your child’s yoga practice during the same day and time. Consistency helps. Use the same mat layout, same opening and closing, the same vinyasa sequence, and perhaps the same music, as this can help your child focus and feel in control.

They will develop a greater sense of their physical self in relation to others, as well as within the space they practice. Eventually, they transfer this awareness to the world outside and not just during yoga.

4 – Sensory Integration

Kids with autism and kids who have been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder might benefit from yoga’s gentle environment.

The dim lights, soft music, smooth mats, and the quiet instruction of the teacher often is a staple in the yoga class. The comforting and low-stimulation environment is calming and allows for nervous energy to be released in a controlled way during the asana practice.

Yoga encompasses movement, breath work, visualization, storytelling and music. This combination activates the emotional part of the brain, encouraging the kids to be aware of what their senses tell them and to focus in class.

5 – Yoga Helps the Parent

The parent can connect with and support their child with special needs through your own consistent yoga practice. You will find that as a parent, too, receive numerous benefits from yoga practice, particularly the awareness of your sensory system in relation to stress and how to use breathing as a coping mechanism.

Yoga can take place anywhere — all that is needed is a mat and uninterrupted time.

Yoga develops motor skills.

Kids with autism frequently experience delayed motor development, which can be improved as yoga tones muscles, enhances balance and stability, and develops body awareness and coordination. As motor skills develop, children have a greater sense of their physical self in space and in relation to others, and can improve their gait and stability.

Yoga improves confidence and social skills.

Poor coordination often yields low self-esteem as kids may be singled out or teased for not moving or behaving like other children, or not excelling in sports and outdoor activities. By learning self-control and self-calming techniques through yoga, they are likely to grow confidence in interacting with other children and refine their social skills. Learning to work together in a yoga class and playing with partner poses can also increase confidence within group settings.

Yoga provides sensory integration.

Children with autism often suffer from a highly sensitive nervous system and are easily over stimulated by bright lights, new textures, loud noises, strong tastes and smells. Yoga’s natural setting of dim lights, soft music, smooth mats, and “inside” voices creates a comforting environment largely protected from unknown or aggressive stimuli in which calming down becomes enjoyable. Yoga’s physical poses allow nervous energy to be released from the body in a controlled manner, also leading to a calming sensation. Less stimulation means less uncontrollable behavior, outbursts and repetitive nervous movements.

Yoga provides coping techniques to both kids and parents.

Whether teaching the child breathing techniques for self-calming, talking the class through a guided visualization the child can use when getting anxious, or sharing flashcards of the day’s poses with parents to use at home, yoga provides an awesome toolbox to parents and siblings. It is a transportable practice that both parents and kids can draw from for a lifetime and share a meaningful home activity.

Yoga facilitates self-awareness.

Yoga is particularly instrumental in helping kids with autism learn self-regulation. By becoming aware of their bodies and aware of their breathing, yoga provides them with the ability to cope when they start to feel anxious or upset. Many ‘Yoga for Autism’ classes teach yoga poses or breathing techniques specifically intended to help children contend with their escalating emotions. Since these children are visually oriented, yoga for autism children classes add a visual element so that the child has a colored picture of each pose near his or her mat. Often, classes incorporate other experiences known to benefit a child on the autism spectrum, such as massage/pressure points, music, dance, rhymes and stories.

Yoga engages the emotional brain.

We all know that yoga is far from purely physical, and this combination of movement, music, breath work and story telling activates the brain’s emotional region. This encourages children to develop awareness of their emotions and those of others, as well as keeps their attention in the class.

Yoga is orderly and consistent.

Ideally, the class will be scheduled at the same time and same day of the week, with the students’ mats in the same layout, in the same room, with the same instructor(s). This element of order is very important for a child and communicates stability – a state much preferred to being unexpected and thus out of control. Students may also enjoy learning yoga sequences, such as modified sun salutations, that are performed in the same order at every class. The class will have an opening and closing routine or practice – singing, tuning in, etc. – that further supports the students’ need for order.

Children with special needs definitely need extra care compared to other children and also they require medications, and particular adjustments to live normally as they possibly can. Parents who have a child with special needs are always looking for several tips to help their child to get the freedom to take part in more age-appropriate, as well as, family-involved activities. A good way to help these kids is to get them engaged in yoga.

While yoga has increased in popularity and medical recognition, it’s been carried out with great results by individuals and groups with special needs. Yoga has shown to be effective for kids with:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

High Anxiety

Autism

Down Syndrome

Cerebral Palsy

Yoga is a great way for children with special needs to diffuse any kind of stress they might be going through. These kids suffer a lot of stress due to the amount of pressure they inflict on themselves in a single day to fit in at their schools, to have a lot of fun like the other kids and also to get over their social fears. These children could be physically impaired, or they may have a mental disorder and each type of kids, which have some kind of condition can integrate one of the numerous types of yoga.

Teaching a kid on the proper way to breathe and also to concentrate more clearly is definitely a technique they are able to use for life. Increasing their mobility and motivating them to remain active is essential to the child, but mainly for children with special needs. It is because these children are left to just sit alone and play on their own, some even are in wheelchairs, and this will cause their physical activity levels to lower so much, in which they suffer mentally and physically.

All kids must be moving their bodies every single day, unless of course, they are actually sick. Teaching a child with special needs to find their inner peace and grant them a certain time daily that is only for them to unwind and relax by performing their yoga helps them learn how to calm down on their own much better, in order to come out from the routine a lot happier. They will be more flexible, keep a much healthy weight, as well as, manage to reduce their level of pain.

A lot of children with special needs are afflicted by pains and aches every day, but they’re not physically able to take part in other common types of sports or exercise. Yoga provides them with the same workout without injuring them or providing them with an exercise program that’s too much for them to cope with. It is actually the relaxation benefits that yoga offers for these kids, which make an absolute difference. They are able to gain a feeling of accomplishment by progressively shifting from basic yoga postures to more challenging ones in only weeks.