Parent-baby and parent-toddler yoga classes seem to be growing in popularity, but does it really help the children find their center? Shivani Vora from the Wall Street Journal reports. “A growing number of classes around the U.S. and DVD programs insist kids
can reap all the benefits of yoga–but in a less-structured format.
They say that yoga is calming for children, teaches them more awareness
about their bodies and even helps with their development.

But Punam Kashyap, a senior developmental and behavioral pediatrician
at the Institute of Child Development at the Joseph Sanzari Children’s
Hospital in Hackensack, N.J., says there is very little evidence that
the practice can have a positive effect on young children. “It’s a
theory, not a fact that yoga can calm babies,” she says. “That said, as
long as your child is having fun in a class, it’s not going to harm them
in any way.”

As parents, we were
curious if yoga would do anything to mellow out our small children. We
tested three classes and a DVD for comparison. (Read the entire blog for the details of the “experiment.”)

Our daughter paid attention for at least half of the DVD before her
attention started to waver. She attempted a few of the poses and was
fascinated by the animal and nature sounds like a hissing snake and
barking like a dog. We aren’t sure if it made her any calmer, but she
did have a good time and now keeps asking to “do yoga” to her disc.

While the children didn’t seem
noticeably more chilled out in the end, yoga did amuse them and
introduce them to a practice they can use to de-stress when they’re
older. For us, that makes yoga for kids a keeper.”

What do you think about kids doing yoga? Are they old enough to reap the benefits?

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/