Helping Kids Through Yoga

"I do yoga as a preparation for occupational therapy," [Eileen Dwyre] explains (along with her classes, she sees children privately at her home), "so we'll do some yoga, the breathing and the movements. Then I'll have them come and sit and draw or work on holding a piece of chalk, and their attention, their concentration, their ability to just be with me, is a lot better."

Another dream of Eileen's is to spend time in Ireland practicing occupational therapy and teaching yoga. She points out that while many people in Ireland are receptive to yoga as a method of relaxation, it is not as readily available as it is in the U.S. She herself is a second-generation Irish American. Her father's family is from Tipperary and her mother's is from Mayo. And Eileen has the deep red hair and hazel eyes to prove her ancestry.

When asked if she ever encounters any negative feedback from parents who think yoga is too "new-agey," she responds, "If something works, I don't think people care." And it obviously works. "What it does for kids' self-esteem and confidence is amazing," she declares. In fact she has had several experiences with parents who have become interested in yoga after seeing how it has helped their children.

Kids are natural yogis" Eileen Dwyre declares, and a visit to one of her classes at the Steppingstone School in Queens, New York proves her point. The Steppingstone School is a private, not-for-profit infant and preschool program for children with and without special needs. Eileen is a pediatric occupational therapist whose work focuses on the development of fine motor skills, with a new age approach.

Wednesday mornings find Eileen sitting in a circle of eight children with several therapists along to assist.

As with all yoga classes, this one starts with chanting, helping the children relax by forcing them to breathe deeply. Eileen takes this one step further, turning to a speech pathologist in the room for suggestions for some consonant/vowel combinations that some of the children need to work on. The children love it -- it's an excuse to make noise without having to worry about putting words to the sound and it becomes a form of self-expression.

Next to come are the postures. Named after animals: the cat, the cow, the downward-facing dog; or things found in nature: the tree pose, the mountain pose, they give the children a visual image to help them with the positions.

Watching these three- to five-year-olds arch their backs like angry cats, it becomes apparent that yoga benefits these children in a way it might not benefit many adults. It gives their imaginations a workout and allows them to become acquainted with their body as a means of creative expression.

The children participate to greater or lesser degrees. Some throw themselves into the chanting and poses with complete abandon while others need some coaxing. But if they are not actively participating, they are watching. Every child in the room is engaged by what is going on.

After a yoga session, teachers and therapists find that students are more relaxed and have a greater ability to focus on completing tasks.

"I do yoga as a preparation for occupational therapy," Eileen explains (along with her classes, she sees children privately at her home), "so we'll do some yoga, the breathing and the movements. Then I'll have them come and sit and draw or work on holding a piece of chalk, and their attention, their concentration, their ability to just be with me, is a lot better."

Eileen has been an occupational therapist for fourteen years, and has been doing yoga for ten. She began incorporating yoga into some of her occupational therapy and then learned about a certification course in Yoga for the Special Child. She completed the course last year and is eager to spread the word about the benefits of yoga, not only for children with special needs, but for all children.

"I think kids today are so distracted" she says. "They're just bombarded with all kinds of stuff. It's really a highly stimulating environment that kids are growing up in, and what are they learning? Where are they getting that something that's going to bring them into themselves?

"Ultimately I would like to teach kids how to meditate at a very early age because I honestly believe that kids get into a lot of trouble with drugs and alcohol because they're looking for some way to calm down."

One of her goals is to bring yoga into lower-income communities and to start programs for families, giving them a chance to do yoga together. She acknowledges that the stress of inadequate resources would make yoga a very low priority among these families.

"Yoga or relaxation would just be the absolute last thing on the list of things to do. But when I've worked with these families they really appreciated it. They think it's great."

Another dream of Eileen's is to spend time in Ireland practicing occupational therapy and teaching yoga. She points out that while many people in Ireland are receptive to yoga as a method of relaxation, it is not as readily available as it is in the U.S. She herself is a second-generation Irish American. Her father's family is from Tipperary and her mother's is from Mayo. And Eileen has the deep red hair and hazel eyes to prove her ancestry.

When asked if she ever encounters any negative feedback from parents who think yoga is too "new-agey," she responds, "If something works, I don't think people care." And it obviously works. "What it does for kids' self-esteem and confidence is amazing," she declares. In fact she has had several experiences with parents who have become interested in yoga after seeing how it has helped their children.

What becomes apparent in talking to Eileen is her infectious enthusiasm for her work and the intense creativity she brings to finding ways to help people achieve wholeness, both physically and emotionally. In discussing yoga, her eyes shine in earnest as she states, "I think when you learn something like this and you see how well it works, you just want to let people know. You want to get the word out, especially for special needs kids because a lot of things don't work and families need to know that this works. It's a viable solution."ds-dom.ru