In Sanskrit, Akhanda means indivisible, full, undivided, or complete. This is likely one of the very messages that tweens crave to listen to essentially the most. This text explores the advantages of sharing the holistic philosophy and educating model of Akhanda Yoga for tween women.
What Are Tweens?
Beloved creator J. R. R. Tolkien coined the time period “tween” in The Fellowship of the Ring in 1954, however he was aspiring to imply the irrational Hobbit age between the twenties and thirties. Since then the time period has come to explain a a lot completely different demographic.
The phrase is usually stated “Too previous for toys, too younger for boys.” That is the valuable time between ages eight and twelve when youngsters are in between childhood and the teenage years. They’re going via speedy adjustments in physiological, social, and emotional growth the place they’re in search of to outline themselves and their place on the planet.
Physiological, Social, and Emotional Growth
In the course of the tween years, youngsters expertise important bodily, emotional, and social adjustments. This era is characterised by the transition between childhood and adolescence, as tweens are not little youngsters however not fairly youngsters but.
Bodily, tweens undergo puberty and expertise important adjustments of their our bodies. These adjustments embrace development spurts, hormonal fluctuations, and adjustments in muscle and bone composition. Whereas their bones develop shortly, their muscle tissues have a tendency to stay tight, making flexibility a problem.
Emotionally, tweens start to develop their very own sense of self and search out info from mother and father, friends, academics, and media that may assist them additional outline themselves. It is a time of growing distinctive social wants and wishes, in addition to hopes and desires for the longer term. Nonetheless, the event of vanity may be fragile, significantly for ladies who are sometimes affected by peer stress and challenged to satisfy social expectations.
Socially, tweens may be unmercifully merciless to one another and generally isolate members of their group. They start to hunt strategies of self-expression via sports activities, music, artwork, and different actions that align with their pursuits. General, the tween years characterize a crucial interval of development and growth, as youngsters navigate the advanced and infrequently difficult journey from childhood to adolescence.
Yoga may help tweens preserve a wholesome physique and a develop a larger sense of vanity. Training yoga helps tweens develop the body-mind connection identified to enhance physique picture, promote higher posture and alignment, and alleviate stress. Yoga gives instruments to assist tweens take care of social pressures and the anxieties of transitioning from childhood to teen. When tweens study strategies for self-health, rest, and inside achievement, they will embrace life’s challenges with a way of wholeness. Yoga at an early age encourages vanity and physique consciousness with a bodily exercise that’s based mostly in noncompetitive compassion.
Yoga provides tweens a type of bodily train and teaches them to attach extra deeply with the inside self and with nature. Bodily, it enhances their flexibility, energy, coordination, and physique consciousness. Tight muscle tissues are an actual concern for tweens, resulting in complications and different common physique aches and pains. Yoga can alleviate a few of these well being points by rising flexibility, which additionally helps in stopping play-related or sport-related accidents.
Yoga fundamentals like partaking the navel lock (drawing the navel to the backbone) and cuing college students to elevate their hearts promotes higher posture. Tweens are starting to spend plenty of time hunched over carrying backpacks or sitting in entrance of computer systems, so selling correct posture is a good way to counter poor posture with alignment of the backbone. Power constructing can be an exquisite advantage of yoga, and particularly for tweens, because it provides them a chance to expertise what their our bodies can do, and builds confidence and steadiness. It provides tweens area to get in contact with their our bodies as completely imperfect, complete, and robust.
Focus, stability, a way of calmness, and general rest additionally improves from doing yoga. The large factor right here is stress aid via pranayamic respiratory. It could appear overseas to consider tweens going via stress, however every day stressors equivalent to being excluded at lunch, doing poorly on a check and even being late for college can take a toll on their our bodies and minds.Yyoga for tween women permits them to see that there are not any limitations, that we’re all one, that they’re related to every part and everybody. The yogic respiratory centres them, provides them a coping mechanism, and helps them discover a common general feeling of well-being.
The rhythmic, sluggish ujjai respiratory practised in yoga is an age previous approach that tells the thoughts to let go, and prompts the PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) which slows the guts and lowers blood stress. It promotes a great sleep and calms the nerves. Solar salutations or kaphalabhati breath each activate the SNS (sympathetic nervous system) and convey extra power, blood, and oxygen to the massive muscle tissues of the legs and arms. A balanced, holistic yoga apply prompts each the SNS and the PNS to deliver concord and stability to the valuable inside mild inside everybody, particularly valuable tweens who’re in search of to search out their place on the planet.
Taking this strategy of tool-providing one step additional, contemplate the advantages of centring a yoga class for tweens across the holistic Akhanda Yoga philosophy. It could encourage tweens to attach deeply inside themselves and nonetheless really feel equally related outwardly. The joyful, compassionate model of Ahkanda Yoga organically creates an atmosphere for tweens to really feel nurtured, liked, supported, and protected. Since Ahkanda Yoga is so various in its teachings and strategies, tweens would wish an age-appropriate style of the wealthy and various completely different kinds and strategies that embody a holistic understanding of yoga for tween women.
Growing an Akhanda Yoga class for Tween Ladies
The final word objective of an Akhanda Yoga class made for tweens would embrace and train the identical holistic ideas present in any Akhanda class, solely modified into an age acceptable strategy for ladies between the ages of eight and twelve.
The category would stability the alignment of the backbone via flexion (ahead bending), extension (again bending), lateral flexion (aspect bending), rotation (spinal twisting), and grounding and levitating actions (lengthening from tail to crown in reverse instructions).
There are such a lot of stunning, coronary heart opening, balancing, centring, difficult, nurturing, uplifting, and enjoyable postures to be present in yoga that ship spinal alignment merely via mild, aware apply. All of the stations of standing, crouching, sitting, laying on the stomach, laying on the again, arm balances, and inversions would must be included in an Akhanda Yoga class for tweens.
The stability between yang and yin, stirum and sukum, and steadiness and ease could be explored. Varied kinds of asana, pranayama, mantra, visualization, rest, and meditation could be launched and practiced. Animal-themed enjoyable asanas are nonetheless helpful in a tween class, simply as in a preschool or early elementary faculty aged class, so long as they’re additionally blended with poses that develop inside exploration. For instance, tweens would possibly nonetheless prefer to playfully “moo” in Cow pose, however may also love the quiet stillness and stability of Tree. Tweens are inherently artistic and imaginative, so asking them to visualise a vivid white mild shining down the crown of their heads and warming their total our bodies is an effective visualization approach. Asking the category to take part in a gaggle dialogue that centres on the chosen theme of the category afterwards can be a great way to tie all of it collectively.
Using concrete themes equivalent to “Love Your self”, “Do Not Hurt Your self or Others”, and “You’re Entire” all through the apply as a thread to information the sequencing and dialogue of the category could be useful, retaining in thoughts that tweens are usually not but fully in a position to mirror on summary themes like santosha (contentment) or ahimsa (non-harming). Primarily based on the general power and skills of the scholars, nonetheless, extra summary ideas could possibly be slowly launched.
Tweens have very restricted physique consciousness. They typically do not know what they appear like, or what their our bodies are doing throughout a pose. As pubescent our bodies develop and alter, there’s a larger danger for pulled muscle tissues and sprains if pushed to the restrict. Tweens will want protected checkpoint cueing, balanced with the liberty to wiggle and discover the asanas and even their very own refined prana. Right here is the place the magic of inside inquiry, inside expertise, and playfulness throughout the postures can begin to create a lifelong love and appreciation of their very own blissful, holistic yoga journey.
Namaste
By Larissa W, BScN
Larissa is a current graduate of Yoga Instructor Coaching at Prana Yoga Studio in Edmonton and is a BScN nurse. She additionally runs the Tween Lady Yoga program at Moon Hearth Yoga in St. Albert.
Originally posted 2023-05-02 16:27:00.