110 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
realistic, to abstract, and finally invented, provide different degrees
of environmental support. For example, a two-year-old child
could pretend to talk on the telephone with a toy that is realistic
looking and mirrors the size of the real object. The three-year-old
child could use an abstract object such as a block to substitute for
a telephone. At the highest level of decontextualization, the five-
year-old child could pretend to talk without any prop but rather on
an imaginary telephone invented in his mind. Over time, pretend
play occurs with decreasing environmental support (Westby
2000), which reflects increasing decontextualization. In yoga,
children primarily use their bodies in abstract ways to represent
many objects including transportation items and animals, which
are listed in Table 7.1 in the previous chapter on vocabulary and
linguistic concepts. For example, in practicing jellyfish pose, the
child lies supine on his back moving his arms and legs in a loose
and floppy manner to mirror long tentacles. The adult can add
language to the child’s movement by encouraging him to “float
and flow with no particular place to go” (Flynn 2013, p.156).
Around three years of age children become less dependent
on realistic, life-size props. Instead, they can use miniature props
and engage in object transformations (Westby 2000). A yoga
mat and replica toys such as stuffed animals can be used as abstract
representations that support yoga poses and breathing exercises.
As noted in Chapter 5, a soft toy such as a rubber duck placed on
the child’s abdomen can be used to visualize the movement of the
inhalation and exhalation phases of the breathing cycle as the toy
moves up and down. As another example, small props such as a
toy bird, squirrel, raccoon, or egg in a nest could be placed on the
child’s head to foster balance in tree pose.
In addition to defining the space for a child’s practice, a yoga
mat could serve as a prop that stands for various objects. It could
represent a surfboard for both the standing version of surfer pose,
which resembles warrior II, and for another variation of the pose in