Children’s yoga class offers more than quiet poses

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Danny Monahan
  • 5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFPN) --  “Breathe in” and “breathe out” are typically what someone may expect to hear in a yoga class. What is unexpected are children ages 2 to 14 posing like cobras, monkeys and airplanes, and making noises like them.

This is exactly what happens during a children’s summer yoga class the youth center here.

“Yoga is a practice of different poses that work your strength, flexibility, endurance and relaxation,” said Courtney Campbell, aerobic program director and a class instructor.

“Yoga can benefit a young child for a lot of reasons,” she said. “It builds strength not only through the bulk, the muscle and the body, but it also teaches kids how to focus.”

Most children do not know anything about yoga, and this program gives them an opportunity to learn something different, she said. Children are always looking to find different ways to keep themselves busy, and this program is just a new alternative.

“With the child-obesity rate on the rise, parents are looking for a way to get their children active,” she said. “Yoga is (a) way to give them the exercise that they need.”

A young child having trouble balancing at first is not as disappointed as striking out on the baseball diamond, Ms. Campbell said.

“Yoga is also a noncompetitive exercise, and the kids can work at their own level,” she said.

One student is a 10-year-old boy with a form of dwarfism, and he needs to stretch everyday. Yoga helps him enjoy it more.

“He never enjoyed stretching very much, and it is something that he has to do every day,” his mother said.

Ms. Campbell said most of the children’s parents stay with them during the class because it is a good way for them to get involved with their children’s activities.

While yoga is nothing new, it is a good way to present a form of exercise to children that they would not be normally exposed to, she said.