CHILDREN
Om
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april 2018yogajournal.com.auPHOTO: JYLIANA/ISTOCKPHOTO.COMDOES THE MINDcontrol the body or the
body control the mind? From a yoga
therapy perspective, the most effective
way to impact the mind is through the
breath and body. When dealing with
cognitive issues, we look to the
relationship between the gut and the
brain, knowing that by targeting the gut
and intestines, we can target the brain.
Interestingly, science is also looking to
this exact same link, as Dr Cryan noted
at his recent talk for the Integrative
Medicine Research Lecture Series at
NIH, “Research shows that altering
bacteria in the gut through specific diets
may help to treat stress-related and
neurodevelopmental disorders,
including autism and hyperactivity.”
Why this is so important is because
of what is happening across Australia.
According to Beyond Blue, around one
in seven children, between 0-12 years
old, will experience a mental health
condition during childhood,
approximately one in 35 Australians
aged 4-17 experience a depressive
disorder and given that half of all
mental health conditions in adulthood
begin before the age of 14, it is critical
that we start practices to prevent this in
early childhood.By Loraine Rushton
ADD and autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) are also on the rise, by a
staggering 25 percent in the last 30 years.
The Australian Medical Association
reports that one in 68 children are
impacted by ASD and four times as
many boys as girls. According to the
Social Care Foundation Australia,
“Almost 230,000 Australians have been
diagnosed with ASD,” which it believes,
“is a crazy large number for a disability
that was once considered rare.”
The question is, can diet have an
impact and how can yoga therapy
help? Nutrition does play a big role for
children with cognitive issues, because if
we can change their gut, we can impact
the brain. Master Oki, who brought
meridian-based yoga therapy to the
West, believed that nutrition is the basis
of all therapy for children up to the age
of seven. He explained that yoga gives
clear guidelines of nutrition. The
modern diet and its high concentration
of stimulating foods is not the path to
health. What leads to gut health is
following a whole food diet and that is
where we focus for cognitive problems.
Andzej Gospodarczyk of Ryoho
Therapy agrees, “Nutrition plays a big
role for children. With cognitiveMending the Mind with
YOGA
problems in children, change their gut.”
He further explains, “Change the
bacteria in your guts and you change
the structural integrity of your digestive
system, stabilise and nurture it in a
stable way.”
If food plays a role in over-
stimulating children and affects how
they act, it stands to reason that if we
feed children calm, non-stimulating,
nurturing food, this balancing effect will
flow on to their moods and behaviour.
Take this one step further and introduce
food that helps to rebuild gut flora and
then you get lasting change.
Nutrition is essential, but including
specific yoga therapy corrective exercises
and breathing techniques brings results
faster. When we work with children on
this wholistic level, we see profound
effects. Over the last 20 years, I have
seen children respond instantly to the
yoga exercises, becoming calm, settled
and focused. A special-needs teacher
once commented how surprised he was
that there were never any emotional
outbursts, temper tantrums or
behavioural problems during yoga. This
is not an isolated incident, hundreds of
children’s yoga teachers are experiencing
the same result in Australian classroomsA yoga therapy approach to impacting cognitive development