Yoga combines physical activity and breath work, with meditation and mindfulness, to improve strength, relaxation, focus and mood management.

With an ever-increasing rise in children being diagnosed with ADHD, yoga offers tools that can be used to help reduce hyperactive behaviour and anxiety, improve poor motor coordination and develop self-regulation.

 Yoga also creates a mind-body connection that many children with ADHD struggle with and is critical in helping them feel calm, centered and in control.

Here’s what yoga can do for your child:

1. Promote mindfulness and calmness

Children with ADHD often experience heightened stress levels and struggle to focus on activities. The routine of yoga can be calming especially when they practice the same postures and become confident at doing them. “To get into a yoga pose, children are forced to slow down and pay attention to what they are doing. This gives them time to focus their mind and tools to calm down when they are upset,” explains Beth. “Yoga cultivates feelings of self-control, and so helps to create an understanding of mind-body interaction. When children’s minds are calm and peaceful, their social interactions are more harmonious and how they react to different and sometimes difficult situations is more measured and considered.

Promote mindfulness and calmness: Tree Pose

This is a pose the requires focus as children stand balancing on one leg with their hands in prayer over their head. If balance is an issue, begin with the foot tucked into the standing foot’s ankle. Encourage children to focus on one spot.

Children should try to stand tall and strong for 3-5 deep breaths.

2. Regulating breathing

Understanding controlled breathing is important in helping children feel more in control of their brain and bodies. For ADHD children, this can often be the key to them being able to control impulsive and hyperactive behaviours. Learning how to take deep breaths offers them tools to reduce stress and anxiety.

Deep breathing also helps to lessen fidgeting and impulsive outbursts of energy that take away from a child’s focus. When we are stressed, our breath quickens in pace. Children who are able to understand their breathing patterns will be able to self-regulate when they are feeling anxious, and apply techniques to control themselves and stay calm.

One of the first things parents or teachers often instinctively say when a child is distressed and trying to tell them something is, “Take a deep breath, try to calm down so that you can now talk!” Deep breathing creates a sense of equanimity and well-being as it calms the nervous system. It feeds the body with more oxygen and positive energy thereby reducing irritability. “For children having a tantrum, understanding that inside of them lives their magical breath, can help tremendously to bring them back to a calmer state,” says Beth.

A simple deep breathing exercise:

If possible, use a Hoberman Sphere, so that the child’s breath can mimic the movement of the sphere’s flow. Children should take a deep and slow inhale breath as the sphere expands, and a slow exhale as it contracts slowly. Repeat 5 times. If a sphere is not available, have children bring their fingertips to lightly touch in front of their chest. On inhale, children should slowly expand the arms and fingers apart, mimicking a balloon being blown up. On exhale; children should bring their fingertips back to lightly touch (like the balloon slowly emptying).

– Beth Borowsky

Read More: The activity that can help your kids find their ‘calm’

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