KUNDALINI KIDS
It seems you’re never too young to clear your chakras, writes Shanthini Naidoo
IF you were to look up kids and yoga online, a frightening YouTube clip of a Russian woman swinging small children around her head, by their arms or feet, might come up. The babies wail. Their parents swear it fixes colic, restlessness and other bad behaviour. They were probably shocked into discipline by the instructor, Lena Fokina, who says her form of yoga makes children stronger and smarter.
Local yoga classes for kids, like those run by Johannesburg yogi and reflexologist Tara Buzgar, are not quite as extreme. The sprightly retired nurse may also have an East European surname, but there the similarity between her and Fokina ends.
Her home studio in Darrenwood is decorated with candles, rock crystals and a wall quote about love and life; the sweet children’s mantra by peace activist and singer Snatam Kaur, Feeling Good Today, plays in the background.
A vision of flowing white cloth and elaborate eyelashes, Buzgar, 60, has a serene but fierce energy when she talks about children and yoga. Statistics fly. “Did you know 71% of kids today are stressed? They get demerits for being late for school. The beauty of teaching children yoga, is that it is not competitive. It is magical and playful,” she says.
“All the while, we are practising kundalini yoga which is all about awareness, healing and energising. Five minutes into the class you will feel a shift in energy.”
There is certainly a shift in energy when four little girls bound in. It will be interesting to see whether the girls, aged four to eight, will cause havoc in this tranquil space.
Buzgar explains that her class is less about perfecting downward-facing dog and more about fun, practising poses while pretending to be elephants, sunflowers and snakes. And no swinging by limbs.
They start “rolling like a log”. “It stimulates the nervous system.”
The girls roll from one end of the room to the other, laughing when they land on top of each other.
Then they hop on mats like frogs and quack like ducks while waddling. “It is energising, stimulates the immune sys- tem and gives stamina.”
While children are naturally more flexible than adults, seated in a circle “like petals of a sunflower”, the girls struggle to straighten their hamstrings while touching their toes. Buzgar manages easily. “Tension, you see? They can’t do it even though they are so young.”
She teaches them deep breathing by making their tummies “pillows”. “Pretend there is a big birthday cake with magic candles. Blow them out,” and they practise hyperventilation breathing.
“Stretching snakes” are back extensions, oblique twists are “wishy-washy washing ma- chines”. The girls have a ball.
They finish by becoming “floppy like spaghetti”. “Lie down, you are on a soft cloud. When we close our eyes we can feel magical things in our body. Make your tummy pillow as big as you can. A magical door opens and anything that scares you and worries you flows out. Make your feet floppy and put a big smile in your heart. It is very important to be still every day. If you are very busy you must remember to close your eyes and be quiet.”
It is so relaxing that a mother, observing the class, lies down in a meditative state.
“We laugh a lot, which exercises the solar plexus. There are 72 000 nerve endings in the solar plexus, did you know? Children laugh 300 times a day, yet adults laugh three times a week. It facilitates the release of negative emotions.
“Children carry what parents expose them to. This is a peaceful time for them. They also learn to focus, which helps with the learning problems for which every other child is on medication these days,” Buzgar says, rolling huge blue eyes.
Suzie Manson, owner of the Yoga4Kids school, has been practising for more than
Children laugh 300 times a day, yet adults laugh three
times a week
a decade. She says the benefits of yoga are dramatic — starting as early as age three.
She says yoga can help with children who have too much or too little energy. “In today’s society children are over-stimulated by technology and struggle to balance school and all their extra-mural activities. Yoga can help children develop a stronger body and build their self-confidence while quieting their minds.”
Any parent knows that quiet, in any form, is a wonderful thing for children. But Manson believes yoga can also make them smarter.
“Yoga and mindfulness is amazing in harnessing the learning abilities. They learn to be present, in the moment, and absorb what they need to. I have matriculants who started off with me when they were babies. They learnt from a young age to move out of the busy mind to where their true wisdom lies.
“Most importantly, it is about having fun.”
Judging from the little girls in Buzgar’s class who wake up from their relaxation phase to skit around like butterflies, it is fun indeed. And, Lena Fokina, nobody gets swung in the air, and nobody cries.