Building our little ones through Yoga

In this week’s blog we are delighted to showcase Cami Barausse, owner of Yogi Bears based in Kloof, KZN. Cami has so much to share with us about the amazing benefits of Yoga for children that we have decided to spread this blog over 2 weeks.

My five-year-old daughter Hannah has been a “Yogi Bear” for the past five months, and she is loving it! We are already feeling the benefits that Cami speaks about:

“It is vital that children are given the tools from a young age to strengthen their minds and bodies, helping them to build up their self esteem and self awareness. Especially in today’s world which is dominated by the competitive nature of the media and the constant advancements of technology, children get very little time to download and process themselves and the world. This makes it very hard to find balance in the home environment, school and other activities.

Children are given few life skill tools to deal with emotional, social and physical challenges or conflicts that occur throughout life, giving rise to emotional imbalances. Today’s world is very much oriented around being the best, the strongest, and achieving the most. Yoga, which means “to unite” connects the whole self; mind, body and breath. Yoga teaches children that everybody has a different body and that different bodies can do different things but all bodies are the same. There is not one body better or worse than the next in yoga, we are all just discovering our bodies and learning from them in our own way.

Yoga is truly for everybody. Yoga helps introduce children to themselves, through their body, building self awareness, self confidence all the while quietening their minds. The best characteristic of yoga is that it is portable, no mat, special clothing or room is necessary, only the willing body.

Namaste: the light in me sees the light in you. Yoga teaches acceptance and tolerance of others. In practicing yoga, children learn early in life that all living beings are to be cherished and respected as they are, thus helping to create harmonious communities and a more peaceful world. All children are natural born yogis.

The combination of an unpolluted mind, innate sense of trust in others as well as an absence of inhibition allows children to receive the teachings of yoga and grow from them in inspiring ways. Leading them to yoga is our responsibility as, while they are discovering themselves, they will be teaching us as adults.”

Look out for the second part of this blog next week when Cami unpacks all the amazing benefits of yoga for children.

With Love

Liesel