November 2008

Time Out for Therapeutic Yoga for Kids

By Annie Mahon

For 12-year-old Ian (not his real name), it had not been a good day. He had poured a glass of orange juice over his Nintendo DS when it didn’t work, but this was clearly not an effective solution. That same afternoon, when he arrived for his weekly session of therapeutic yoga, he vented his frustration by rolling on the floor and screaming that he hated himself.

His teacher, Karen Soltes, made efforts to calm him, which seemed to have the opposite effect. At a break in his screaming, Soltes asked Ian if she could tuck a blanket around him because the floor was hard. Over the next few minutes, she talked him through a simple guided meditation until he finally lapsed into a quiet, relaxed sleep. The next session he asked her if she could come and work at his school, as his teachers did not know how to handle it when he was upset. The therapeutic alliance was forged in that moment when Ian felt a sense of comfort and acceptance and Soltes knew she could help him.

Different Approaches for Different Kids

For Soltes, a licensed social worker, registered yoga teacher and yoga therapist, there is no such thing as a typical therapeutic yoga session. Nor is there a typical child with special needs.

“One reason I don’t base my approach with a child simply on the basis of his diagnosis is because it doesn’t tell me who he is,” Soltes says. For example, two children who are both on the autistic spectrum may present very differently and may respond to different interventions. They may have different strengths and respond differently to the same practices.”

For the 10-year-old with ADD who needs to run around a room for 10 minutes before settling down or for the autistic teenager who doesn’t know his own strength, many of the natural outlets to unwind and burn off energy, such as soccer, baseball or roughhousing with other kids, are not available. These children lack the physical, verbal and/or social skills necessary to interact easily with other children and engage in group activities, so it is difficult for them to gain the benefits other children might get from these games.

And yet these same children need outlets for their physical and emotional energies and time and space to relax just as much as, if not more than other kids. Although some special needs children may require drugs to reduce anxiety and improve their ability to concentrate, they also need additional safe, natural ways to help themselves regulate and manage their own responses. And since many of these children are already involved in numerous therapies, they especially need the opportunity to play and have fun. All of these benefits can be found in a good therapeutic yoga session.
Therapeutic yoga can be used to help children with a range of conditions, from anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression to Asperger’s syndrome, autism, developmental delays, insomnia, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, while therapeutic yoga can help with these conditions, it should not be considered an alternative treatment to traditional psychotherapy and medication. Rather, therapeutic yoga is intended to provide a complementary set of natural, drug-free tools for special needs children to regulate and manage their own symptoms.

Social and Motor Improvements

The benefits of therapeutic yoga include improved gross- and fine-motor skills, physical coordination, language, social skills and higher self-esteem. Learning specific breathing practices can help diminish anxiety while increasing focus, as can some relaxation and meditation practices. Developing strategies to regulate one’s own activity level and self-soothe are skills proven to be helpful in a child’s interactions with peers, as well as at home in their interactions with family members.

One criterion Soltes has is that the children must want to be there and are not just participating because the parents ask them to. “Once I have established that they want to be in class,” she says, “I talk to them to find out what is going on in their lives. Some kids, especially adolescents, don’t like to talk, but these same kids are often willing to talk while moving. Instead of play therapy with dolls, which I used to employ in my job as a child therapist, I’m using movement therapy to draw kids out of themselves. They have an opportunity to discuss any issues they are facing in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment. Talking while they are moving can feel less threatening or invasive than sitting across the room directly discussing their lives.”

In addition to working on language and social interactions, Soltes helps the children in her therapeutic yoga sessions work on their motor skills. Many of the children she sees have a poor brain-to-body connection, so getting the various parts of their bodies into position for yoga poses takes practice and planning. “For some kids, performing simple movements and getting the message from their brains to their bodies is like driving to New York from Washington, but going through California to get there,” she says. “Therapeutic yoga helps these kids strengthen their neural pathways so that over time they begin to respond more quickly. ”

Another therapeutic student of Soltes acted very impulsively. During his first session, his main goal was to put his leg behind his head, which he tried to do forcibly several times. What he really needed to learn was how to slow down, both in class and in his life outside the yoga studio. Soltes brought in articles to show him that there are stages to learning how to do difficult poses – that you can’t do them right away. As a result, he is beginning to understand the idea of how to sequence his actions in a more organized manner and to delay gratification by working toward his yoga goals week after week.

One of the many rewarding aspects of Soltes’s teaching is the fact that children with developmental issues often enjoy challenging yoga poses and do them well, sometimes mastering yoga poses that adults in advanced yoga classes struggle with. For kids like this who spend a lot of their lives being told what they can’t do, focusing on what they can do, for once, is immensely satisfying. As Soltes says, “The best part is that all these kids are so unique and so gifted in so many different ways that it’s wonderful to see them blossom and start to have fun.”

Annie Mahon is the founder of Budding Yogis and Circle Yoga in Chevy Chase, D.C.,
which offers mindful and therapeutic yoga programs for students at all ages and stages, including those with special needs. For more information, call 202-686-1104, e-mail info@buddingyogis.com or visit www.buddingyogis.com.

Benefits of Therapeutic Yoga for Kids With Special Needs

Physiological

• Increases strength, flexibility and stamina
• Releases physical tension
• Increases “feel-good” hormones – oxcytocin, prolactin and serotonin
• Regulates energy levels
• Helps children focus their attention
• Stimulates language development
• Provides opportunity for improving social skills
• Teaches kids how to calm themselves
• Provides opportunity for physical activity in safe, non-competitive setting

Psychological

• Provides a safe, natural method of anxiety/stress-reduction
• Balances left/right brain function leading to greater emotional stability and improved learning potential
• Helps children face challenges calmly
• Elevates mood and creates sense of well-being
• Develops greater self-awareness leading to improved regulation of thoughts and feelings
• Improves self-esteem

General

• Natural, drug-free
• Few, if any, side-effects
• Provides proactive, empowering set of tools for self-management of physical and psychological symptoms
• Fun!

Yoga Resources for Kids with Special Needs

Sumar, Sonia, Yoga for the Special Child
International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) • www.iayt.org
KEEN, Kids Enjoy Exercise Now • www.keengreaterdc.org
Integrated Movement Therapy (IMT), Samarya Center, Seattle • www.samaryacenter.org