Hello everybody,
Somebody said “Children are great imitators. So give them
something great to imitate”. Kids Fun in Cyprus would like to add … give them
yoga lessons! Why? Simply because in yoga it doesn't matter if the postures
aren’t perfect, but practice is your children’s time to feel alive, loved and
free. We loved the peace and tranquility that we found at Infinity Yoga Energy
Center in Limassol and most of all we liked the smiling, beautiful yoga teacher
Nathalie Kass-Danno that took her time to help us understand why we should
bring children to her lessons:
Izzy: Nathalie,
when was your first introduction to yoga and how did you start to teach yoga?
Nathalie Kass –
Danno: The philosophy of yoga is usually to start from the body asanas and
moving forward to body, mind and spirit.
My path was the opposite, because I was first introduced to
the spiritual aspect of yoga and meditation.
I started meditation and parapsychology at the age of 16,
and year after year my desire to learn more expanded.
I moved on, to the mind knowledge, reading more books and
meeting many teachers, to find peace, this is what I was looking for.
The path led me to yoga in 2001 but mostly self - taught and
self - practiced.
As I expanded, I started wishing to teach to others what I
had learned.
Izzy: Dear
Nathalie, the yoga world for many of us, is like a door that we never tried to
open. You decided to start yoga lessons for children after having a long adult
experience. Can you help us open this door and explain to us what yoga is and
how yoga could help our children?
N.KD: Yoga for me
is the realization and the surprising development of the body.
I still get fascinated every time my body expands, and I
accomplish a new asana without me even practicing that significant asana.
The body and the spirit is just ready for it and provides
the support.
I believe children learn from yoga the power of
self-knowledge and learn to respect their bodies and their limitations, as much
as their strengths points.
Kids also gain self-discipline through yoga, which is by
non-competitiveness.
They learn that they are not competing with anyone in the
class, they are unique and so is their ability, their gifts and their spirit.
They learn to respect each other, they learn to love and
share through games and asanas. The magic of a healing touch!
Izzy: Meditation
on the body itself, the precision and the balance of yoga postures - are they
going to make children mind more razor sharp and why?
N.KD: Yoga gives
balance, increases concentration, and makes us more intelligent.
Asanas and pranayama exercises (breathing techniques) help
to balance the right and left hemisphere of the brain. It mostly calms our
nervous system and provides us with more patience and stability.
Izzy: What's your
favorite pose and why? What types of poses will you teach and practice with the
children? What benefits will children gain by this practice?
N.KD: For
children my favorite asana is chakrasana the wheel pose, for it activates all 7
chakras in the body!
It is said that you are as old as the flexibility in your
spine.
Children are so open to this wonderful asana, so I enjoy
keeping that energy in their spine open and filled with prana (life force)
All the asanas will teach them about all the animals and how
to connect to nature, will make them an imaginary travel on different countries
of the world.
Izzy: What makes
a private studio different to a yoga class at the gym? How would you describe
your way of practice and teaching for kids?
N.KD: I would say
that I private studio is more intimate because the teacher is really there
creating what she or he wants. She / he is using their own energy, creating, and
giving from the heart of their own space.
Sometimes the gym space can only give the physical aspect of
yoga, and loses the spiritual part.
Izzy: The asanas
(or yoga postures) may be the first thing we think of in Cyprus when we hear
yoga, but that's only part of it. However, many of us still equate yoga solely
with the movement, and do not consider the spiritual aspect. How will you deal
with this at your yoga lessons for children?
N.KD: As yoga is
not only asana, especially in my case which I started first to learn about the
spirit and meditation, I wish to teach children to keep their innocence and their
enthusiasm for life as adults.
I believe it is easier teaching children that yoga is not
only asana, as they know better than us to connect with their higher self. This
was said to me during my first class, by a 4 year old girl;
I was explaining that Namaste means that "my little
light honors your little light, and that we all have small light inside our
hearts".
The little girl looked at me and said, Nathalie I have a big
big light in my heart, not a small one!
Izzy: Lots of
children have plenty of energy. Sometimes, parents find it difficult to
believe, that their child could be quietly participate to a yoga lesson. What
examples could you give us about children changes at your yoga classes? How
old, could be the children participating to your yoga classes?
N.KD:For kids at
our yoga lessons we go from a slow movement in to a very active state. We bring
kids energy levels up and then we take them down.
Kids listen and feel more than we know. When they feel love
they love to participate. The class is a combination of postures that will take
them from a quiet state to a very active giving them joy and raising their
involvement.
Making yoga could be playful but it is also educational.
Izzy: Thank you
very much for the opportunity you gave to our readers to find out more about
yoga classes for children and for the end could you share with us a little
story from your experience that changed your life?
N.KD:We need to
believe in our uniqueness and the light in our souls, trust the divine power
that everything leads us to our life goals and spreading the light to others.
There is no greater joy than seeing others achieve their
goals and see their eyes and faces light up in love!
Namaste
Lots of sunny days from Izzy the Cypriot lizard!
Infinity Yoga Energy Center Samadhi
Address: Panayoti
Tsaggari Str., No.119, 4042, Limassol
Schedule of lessons: Tuesday
17:00 – 17:45
Phone no: +357 99 696 481
Age groups:
Ages 4-8
Ages 8-12
Ages 12-16
Lessons Fees: 35
euro/ month 45 min - 1 session a week,
More than one child 24 euros/ month
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Infinity-Yoga-energy-center-121355771530502
Contact person:
Nathalie Kass-Danno
Yoga teacher & Kids yoga teacher, Alternative therapist
Rodney Yee: “Yoga has nothing to do with flexibility. It is
about opening the body wherever it goes and exploring the resistance. It has
nothing to do with putting your leg around your head! We may go into those
shapes with the body, but that is just to explore our mind and our body and our
breath. Where the foot actually goes is not really of much consequence.
Eventually, the different shapes you take have a chemical effect on the body.
The shapes have just as much to do with the breath and the neurological input
that you are putting into the body as they do with flexibility. If the nervous
system is telling the body to stand up, you are getting some of the same benefits
from that action as you would with going ahead and standing up. Scientists have
recently discovered that if you get people to just think about doing an
activity, several times a day, it has an effect on the body. So if people are
tight physically, it is all the more reason why they should explore opening the
body up. It does not matter if you ever get flexible or not--what matters is
that you are in your body exploring it. You are feeling it; you are changing
its shapes and personality. You are asking and demanding different things of
it.”
