After completing my education in youth welfare work and social sciences in 1990, I went to work at a school for problem children in Amsterdam. While I was pregnant in 1992, I was inspired by yoga after being introduced to yoga for pregnancy. I continued with my study of yoga after my daughter was born. The idea of doing yoga for children formed when my daughter Nina, then five years
old, wanted to do yoga classes. Since there were no yoga classes for children where we lived, I decided to create a children’s yoga course myself. During this time, I learned how to combine yoga and playing. The games and drama projects that I had learned while studying welfare work were very useful.
When I saw the effect yoga had on children, I began the yoga center Jip & Jan in Almere, a town close to Amsterdam. Nina thought up the name for herself. She confused yin and yang with the children’s book characters Jip and Janneke (pronounced Yip and Yanneke). When she saw the yin-yang sign, she cried, “Look, Mama, Yip and Yan!” And I thought it was a nice name for the future yoga center. Through my younger daughter, Carmel, I discovered that yoga is also suitable for young children. She is also crazy about yoga and spontaneously takes up the dog posture and starts singing when the mantra of compassion, Om mani padme hum, is played.
I also give yoga lessons at the school for problem children in Amsterdam, where I still work. A constant stream of disturbing thoughts plagues the youngsters who attend this school. They think about the distressing things that have happened to them, extremely tiring things they cannot let go of in their minds.
The most important purpose of the yoga lesson is to help them become aware of these invasions. It is only when they see what is happening in their heads that they can begin to master their thoughts. During the lessons, I place a strong emphasis on discussing their experiences so that they gain more insight into their own situation. Yoga can be very therapeutic, but that is not the motivation for my lessons. Enjoyment is by far the most important element.
I have been teaching the children’s yoga course for almost five years. Many of the people who have followed the course tell me enthusiastically that they use elements of the children’s yoga method during their classes with adults. I frequently hear them say, “It is very liberating and much more fun than adult yoga,” and, “It brings out the child in me.”
Happy Reading The Yoga Adventure for Children e-book
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