Child’s play: (left to right) The Double V Pose, an asana to help kids relax and The Candle Pose

The children have vacations twice a year ? but does all that extra leisure mean more time for exercise? Childhood obesity is on the rise and parents need to do all they can to reverse the trend. For a time-pressured parent, juggling work, family and home life, exercise can seem a pressure rather than a pleasure. Children face a different challenge. From waving their arms to walking upright, children strive for activity and mobility. Yet too many children become obsessed with sedentary activities.

A young child is often less economical in his movements than an adult, but some forms of exercise can be more efficient and thus more favourable to building physical self-confidence. So far, fitness programmes and books have addressed adults only, with just the mandatory physical exercise classes in schools filling in the blanks.

Good Morning Sun: Yoga for Children with Fun-filled Stories (Brijbasi Art Press) is one of the few indigenous books targetted at kids. Put together by two women, Mini Thapar and Neesha Singh, the book uses innovative sketches and story formats to teach yoga to kids.

The authors are both mothers, actively involved with their children and with yoga. Thapar is a well-known yoga teacher in New Delhi and Singh, a former actress and model, has been practising yoga for almost 15 years.

Their experience in personal practice, teaching yoga to adults, and working with young children through story-telling and drama, subsequently evolved into yoga classes for children, and has since led to the writing of this book.

They both observed that while listening carefully to instructions and holding poses by counting breaths, children rapidly increase their attention span and are able to focus their mind. With consistent practice, there is also a dramatic and marked improvement in balance.

Here are some asanas given in the book:

The Double V Pose

Stand with your feet about one foot apart. Hold your hands tightly together behind you, keeping your arms straight. Now bend forward from your hips, bringing your arms way above your head. Hold the pose for a count of 10.

The Candle

This is the queen of all poses. Very young children will need help with this ? someone will have to support their legs. Start with lying on your back. Raise your legs together so that they come over your head and your bottom comes off the floor. Bend your elbows and hold your waist. Try to hold your legs and body straight up like a candle. Do not move your head. When you are ready to come out of this pose, roll out slowly and gently.

The Bow Pose

Also known as the rocking horse pose, this is an energising stretch for the front and back of your body. Start by lying on your tummy. Bend your knees and grasp your ankles from the outside. Inhale and push your feet away from you so that your chest lifts off the floor. Your arms are straight like the strings of a bow. You can be a rocking horse now: just push air into your tummy and you will rock back and forth!

It’s time to get going

Experts stress that fun physical activities are best, but there are many ways to get children moving. Let your child walk to school, the store or to a friend’s house.

Encourage them to take a physical education class at school. Sign your child up for a sports team or class. But recognise that some children are uncomfortable competing and would prefer activities that don’t require a lot of skill, such as bicycling, playing tag or flying a kite.

But before you ask your child to join you for a weekend jog in the park, bear in mind that children are not miniature adults. Their cardiovascular system, for instance, is less like that of an endurance athlete than a sprinter’s. Hence their natural form of play is short bursts of energy punctuating more languorous passages. Taking your child jogging, therefore, is as good a way as any of losing what enthusiasm he or she may have for getting fit.

So, instead, go to the park and play games such as tag, stick-in-the-mud, or lock and key. Let them take short breaks to play on the swings and slides or feed the ducks while you complete your jog.

Please remember

Yoga asanas are not to be practised on a full stomach. Wait for two hours after a meal and one hour after a snack.

Clothing should be comfortable to facilitate easy movement. Do not wear socks or shoes, as the feet should have a firm grip on the mat or floor.

If needed, use a mat or a folded blanket.

When practising the balancing poses, such as the tree, first stand on the right leg, then repeat the same pose standing on the left leg. In this way both legs will be strengthened.

Inhale and exhale through the nose unless otherwise specified.

Don’t force the body to do something that feels difficult. Nature has a way of warning you. If you push yourself too far you will feel pain. Have patience with the body. Practise slowly — a little bit each day.

Don’t give up easily if you find an exercise a little difficult. It takes practice and willpower to be good at anything.

Photo courtesy: Brijbasi Art Press