"Om A Little Teapot..."

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>"Ashok Chowgule"

>"Ashok Chowgule"

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>Fw: "Om A Little Teapot..." >Sat, 17 Mar 2001 14:23:39 +0530 > >

> >- >"Hindu Vivek Kendra"

>"AAAAshok Chowgule"

>17 March, 2001 12:07 PM >"Om A Little Teapot..." > > >Title: "Om

A Little Teapot..." >Author: Nadya Labi >Publication: Time >February 19,

2001 > >For stressed-out kids, yoga offers the road to inner peace. >For their

parents, any sort of peace is nice > > >If you could be any butterfly, which

butterfly would you be? >That's the existential question facing Camille

Faucheux, 3, as >she sits on her purple exercise mat. She assumes the butterfly

>pose--knees splayed, the soles of her feet touching. "Hold on >to your

butterfly wings," Jodi Komitor instructs her >Saturday-morning class of mothers

and toddlers in New York >City. Camille clutches her toes and prepares for

flight. >Komitor continues: "Lean back, open your butterfly wings and >whee!"

Her students flap their legs in the fantastical studio, >where paper flowers

seem to grow out of the bubblegum-pink >ceiling. "I'm flying to a flower,"

reports Camille. "A pink >one." > >Komitor's students at Next Generation Yoga

will become >sleeping doggies, lions and snakes before the 45-minute >session

is over. They will walk on their hands and feet with >their butts in the air,

balance on one leg and sit chanting, >"Om." Similar menageries are sprouting up

across the country. >With the zeal of the newly converted, baby boomers are

>introducing their children to yoga on the apparent theory that >balanced lives

begin with balanced children. And with their >easy flexibility and willing

imaginations, kids are proving >natural yogis. > >YogaKids, an organization in

Michigan City, Ind., that >certifies adults to teach yoga to children, expects

to >graduate 35 teachers this year, compared with only 25 in the >past three

years. YogaKids, a video tutorial created by that >group's founder, Marsha

Wenig, has sold 80,000 copies since >1996. And the shelves are filling with

books touting the >technique for kids of all ages, from Yogababy to I Can't

>Believe It's Yoga for Kids. > >The American Yoga Association can't quite

believe it either. >Alice Christensen, the association's president, scoffs that

>marketing yoga to kids is a distinctly American phenomenon, >and she is firmly

opposed to children under the age of 16 >doing asanas (yoga positions). "Yoga

exercise brings on >hormonal changes," she says. "Children should not practice

it >because it affects their growth system." There are no studies >supporting

that contention, but Christensen says there has not >been enough time to assess

yoga's long-term damage to young >bodies. Hogwash, counter instructors like

Marita >Gardner-Anopol, who teaches yoga at preschools and elementary >schools

in New Jersey. "Does ballet interfere with natural >changes in the body?

Skiing? Ice skating?" says >Gardner-Anopol. "Come on. Children are active from

the time >they are three." > >In fact, most children take yoga in addition to

other sports. >Solomon Powell, 15, says his yoga classes in Los >Angeles--which

include headstands, handstands and rigorous >standing poses--have improved his

skills in basketball. >Chandler Taslitz, 7, takes ballet and jazz dance as well

as >yoga. "When I get wound up and crazy it helps me to be quieter >and

relaxed," she says. Her friend Ellery Garland adds that >yoga has helped her

focus on her homework. > >Yoga enthusiasts contend that its meditational tools

can be >particularly helpful to kids with learning or behavioral >difficulties.

The breathing exercises, for example, are touted >as a natural relaxant for

children with attention-deficit >disorder, and the asanas are used by some

instructors to >strengthen the muscles of children with Down syndrome. Marlene

>Mikell, who teaches severely disabled children at a Chicago >public school,

asserts that yoga improves the self-esteem of >her students. "There is no

competition, no perfection, just >total self-expression," she says. "The

children can be an >eagle or a mountain or greet the sun." Kemesha Adkins, a

>sophomore at a public school for high-risk kids in West >Hollywood, fell

behind in her grades after leaving her >troubled home for foster care; she

found yoga helped her cope. >"I can let out all my anger through the different

poses," she >says. "Yesterday I went home crying. Then I started doing the

>exercises, and it calmed me down." > >Yoga allows kids a much needed time out.

Near the end of >Chandler's class in a Chicago suburb, eight students adopt

>shavasana (literally "corpse pose"). Covered in woven >blankets, they lie on

their backs with their eyes closed while >the CD Tao of Healing plays in the

background. "Envision a >cloud floating down next to you," says their teacher

Ilene >Sang. "Envision a place that brings you happiness. It might be >a zoo, a

garden or a beach. Go on a journey, and I'll tell you >when to come back."

Within 10 minutes, three students are >sound asleep. > > > > Get your FREE

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