Feeling a little burnt out on your yoga practice? How about a little inspiration for your practice from a few of the greats? Check out Krisnamacharya's totally zen moving Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)!
Parent-baby and parent-toddler yoga classes seem to be growing in popularity, but does it really help the children find their center? Shivani Vora from the Wall Street Journal reports. "A growing number of classes around the U.S. and DVD programs insist kids can reap all the benefits of yoga--but in a less-structured format. They say that yoga is calming for children, teaches them more awareness about their bodies and even helps with their development.
But Punam Kashyap, a senior developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Institute of Child Development at the Joseph Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, N.J., says there is very little evidence that the practice can have a positive effect on young children. "It's a theory, not a fact that yoga can calm babies," she says. "That said, as long as your child is having fun in a class, it's not going to harm them in any way."
As parents, we were curious if yoga would do anything to mellow out our small children. We tested three classes and a DVD for comparison. (Read the entire blog for the details of the "experiment.")
Our daughter paid attention for at least half of the DVD before her attention started to waver. She attempted a few of the poses and was fascinated by the animal and nature sounds like a hissing snake and barking like a dog. We aren't sure if it made her any calmer, but she did have a good time and now keeps asking to "do yoga" to her disc.
While the children didn't seem noticeably more chilled out in the end, yoga did amuse them and introduce them to a practice they can use to de-stress when they're older. For us, that makes yoga for kids a keeper."
What do you think about kids doing yoga? Are they old enough to reap the benefitsIn May 1975, the first issue of Yoga Journal--all 10 pages and 300 copies of it--was born. YJ is 35 years old this year, and we thought it only fitting to celebrate with yoga, of course! Our Facebook fans submitted their daring arm balances from all over the world, which you can view in our Arm Balance Extravaganza slideshow.
Founded in 1975 by members of the California Yoga Teachers Association (Rama Vernon, Ike and Judith Lasater, Rose Garfinkle, Jean Girardot, Janis Paulsen, and William Staniger), Yoga Journal was created to unite the growing yoga community and provide "material that combines the essence of classical yoga with the latest understanding of modern science."
Read the full story of YJ's beginnings here.
Keep an eye out for more on our Special 35th Anniversary Edition hitting newsstand this fall. Be the first to get sneak
