NEW DELHI: Parents in Delhi are sending their children to yoga classes to help them improve their concentration in order to study better, resist the effects of pollution, build stamina, and overcome smartphone addiction. As a result, children aged three to 14 years are becoming a common sight at yoga centres in the city.
“I have been doing yoga for quite some time now. My daughter is going to be five. She was very weak and could not focus on her studies. It has been four months since she started going to yoga classes. She has taken to it well and her concentration has increased. Her marks and overall performance in school have also improved,” said the mother of Madhumita, a four-year-old yoga student in south Delhi.
Various studies have highlighted the harmful effects of smartphones and video games on children. Yoga trainers say that due to growing awareness, parents are opting for yoga as a healthy means of keeping children engaged.
“This is a choice parents are making for the holistic development and improved health of their children. The world is only offering artificial entertainment and life to growing young minds. Yoga is a platform that separates superficial things from natural things. It brings children closer to nature,”said Bhupinder Singh, a yoga instructor at Vrinda Nature Cure and Yoga Centre in Lajpat Nagar.
He said that there was a growing trend of children going to yoga classes. Experts believe that after the International Day of Yoga began to be observed in 2015 following an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, schools, health institutes and Indians, in general, started taking yoga more seriously.
“Day by day the intake of children for yoga is increasing. We have children in almost every batch. We are also conducting summer camps for children. There is a mix of music, dance and yoga for an entertaining as well as healthy exercise for the kids,” Singh added.
Children enjoy yoga more when it is combined with dance. While they like doing different asanas, some of the postures are not recommended by yoga trainers for children.
“I love to do yoga. My favourite asanas are tree pose and seesaw pose. My friends also like doing yoga,” said six-year-old Amara Qureshi.