CBeebies show gets young children into yoga
Samantha Nixon's Yoga Tigers class for toddlers at the Yeoman Of England, Wootton.
‘HAVE you heard of Waybuloo?” asked Northampton yoga teacher, Samantha Nixon.
Having no young children of my own, I wondered what this strange word could mean in relation to yoga; a new kind of posture perhaps, a chant or a philosophy?
Er, no. Those with toddlers will probably already have recognised the name of the successful CBeebies show, which apparently shows a people called The Piplings living in the paradise garden of Nara and encouraging children to take on activities such as yoga-like ‘yogo’ moves.
And, according to Samantha, the programme has definitely raised the profile of yoga among very young children.
Since September last year, Samantha has been running Yoga Tigers, a yoga-based exercise class for parents and toddlers aged between two and five.
Run every Monday at 9.30am in the function room of The Yeoman of England pub in Wootton, Samantha leads classes through a range of moves which she believes hold benefits for youngsters including the improvement of balance, coordination and natural flexibility as well as bonding opportunities for parents and children.
The mother-of-two said: “We start off by doing breathing exercises and we try to add an element of fun to it. The children are young and are at different developmental stages so we use whistles so they can hear their breath and we use mirrors so they can see their breath on the mirrors. Then we do affirmations, I get them to shout out things like ‘I’m happy’.
“Then we have some warm-up songs like nursery rhymes they all know and we do some postures.
“The kids are all naturally flexible and I see myself as encouraging their natural flexibility and aiding with balance and co-ordination. I try to make it fun for them.
“There is a time for relaxation so parents can bond with their children and it allows time for them to have a cuddle.”
The Yoga Tigers class is just one of the different baby and toddler yoga sessions currently being held in Northamptonshire.
Elsewhere in the county, even younger children are introduced to yoga during Sandy Sinclair-Wilde’s post-natal yoga sessions at the community centre in Grange Park.
A registered midwife and British Wheel of Yoga teacher, Sandy has about 20 years of yoga experience and she teaches at different locations, holding sessions ranging from ante-natal and post-natal yoga (for mums and babies) to baby massage and yoga for the elderly.
She said yoga for very young children has been popular for as long as she can remember.
She explained that her post-natal sessions attract mums with babies as young as six weeks and include opportunities to do yoga to babies, as well as massage, and there are yoga activities for parents to do while holding their children.
She said mums have to physically put the babies – watched closely by Sandy – into different postures and each has a “therapeutic side-effect.” She said that the yoga positions carried out by mums while holding their babies have great bonding effects too.
She commented: “By the mums exercising they are becoming good role models, but it is also fun.
“There are lots of moves, like we have something called the divine drop with makes the babies giggle and smile. It is a special time.
“When we are at home we are always thinking ‘I must get dinner on’ or whatever, but when you come out to a group like this it makes you connect.
“There is an exercise we do, the tiger in tree, where they hold their babies and swing them and as they come up the baby can see their faces and it is about them connecting.”
The sessions have also been welcomed as beneficial for the new mums themselves, according to Sandy.
She said: “A lot of women do suffer from post natal depression, they might not be aware of it or they can mask it beautifully with a smile. I have a room I can go into if women want to talk, I have had people in who have had post natal depression but who feel able to talk to me and cry and find a release and that in itself helps them.”
She continued: “Yoga for children has been going on for a long time now and yoga has been going or thousands of years. For me it is about body and spirit, it isn’t just physical.”
For more information on the time-tables for Sandy’s yoga classes, log onto www.sandyyoga.co.uk
To find out more about Yoga Tigers, log onto www.yogatigers.co.uk
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Vow to crack down on anti-social behaviour across Northampton’s eastern district
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.