Yoga for Motor Planning for Speech 83based on auditory, tactile, and proprioceptive feedback either prior
to or during execution (Duffy 2012; Van der Merwe 2009). This
sensory input is an important component of the motor control
and coordination for speech production.
Motor planning in yoga
Yoga provides opportunities to practice the motor planning,
programming, and execution of poses, breathing techniques,
and chanting. As noted in Chapter 3, children’s yoga classes
typically include various routines, such as beginning a class with
a sun salutation series of poses and concluding with a “Namaste”
chant. The consistency and repetition present in a yoga practice
are necessary for children to learn the motor sequences and store
them in memory so that they can be retrieved for subsequent use.
The practice of individual and sequenced yoga poses
presents opportunities for gross and fine motor planning and
programming. Gross motor planning involves the large muscles of
the torso, arms, and legs; fine motor planning uses small muscles
such as those of the fingers and toes. Children must organize
body movements to execute and transition both within a pose
and between poses. For example, flower is an individual pose that
requires several different movements. When children execute this
pose, they sit down, bend their knees, place their arms underneath
their legs, turn their palms face up, and balance on their buttocks,
as illustrated in Figure 6.1. For the transition from mountain to
chair, two different poses, children bend their knees then lift their
arms, as seen in Figure 6.2.