56 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
Yoga and prelinguistic communication
Yoga can enhance prelinguistic communication for infants who
range in age from approximately six weeks to one year. Whether
led in a group class under the watchful eye of a skilled instructor or
conducted in the convenience of the home, yoga practices for this
age group allow mothers and other caregivers to bond more deeply
with their babies through various senses including the tactile,
visual, and auditory as well as through coordinated rhythm of the
breath cycle, which will be discussed in Chapter 5. For parents and
newborns, bonding, which refers to awareness of the relationship
between one’s self and another person, can take place through “a
shared steady gaze” (Garabedian 2004, p.41). Garabedian notes
that yoga facilitates caregivers’ responsiveness to “their child’s
intentions, needs, and desires” (Garabedian 2004, p.ix), factors
related to language development. In addition to facilitating
bonding and prelinguistic development, yoga exercises for infants
help foster neuromuscular development, digestion, circulation, and
sleep (Garabedian 2004; Larson and Howard 2002).
Eye gaze
Within a few short weeks following birth, at about seven weeks,
infants spend increased amounts of time gazing at the human
face because they find that several of its aspects are compelling
(Stern 1985). The curves of the cheeks and eyebrows, the angles
of the corners of the eyes, the contrast of the darkness of the
pupils with the lightness of the rest of the eyes, the symmetry
of the two sides of the face, and the motion of talking mouths
all fascinate infants. In essence, preintentional infants can appear
riveted by faces. Babies’ gaze at others, also called eye contact,
reflects their engagement with the adults in their environment.
In caregiver-baby yoga, the baby is always positioned comfortably
in close physical proximity to his caregiver. Sometimes the baby
lies next to or in front of the adult on a small blanket or towel.