BENEFITS OF YOGA - INSIDEOUTSIDE DANCE
Yoga is an age-old discipline developed and practiced in India and more recently introduced and popularized throughout the United States. Yoga, as it was originally practiced, included the physical discipline of breathing and body postures designed to strengthen and cleanse the body as part of a spiritual philosophy. Some still associate yoga with “religion”. However, this discussion will only focus on the physical practice and benefits of Yoga. Some of the original Indian language of Sanskrit is still used to name the postures and breathing exercises.
If you are looking for something therapeutic for your loved ones that can be fun, economical, and done in a group, consider yoga. Adaptive yoga for people with special needs is a way to incorporate the benefits of traditional yoga with the particular needs of that individual, regardless of their disability.
What is Adaptive Yoga?
Yoga uses breathing practices and body postures to strengthen muscles, improve balance, increase body awareness, allow greater range of joint motion, promote relaxation and emotional regulation. Adaptive yoga, like other adaptive sports or forms of recreation, uses props and modified practices to allow people with disabilities to experience the same benefits.
For example, a yoga prop such as a foam block, a soft cushion, or even a folded blanket can support the torso or other parts of the body during a stretch. Using a cloth bag filled with sand in a breathing exercise can provide both deep pressure for sensory calming as well as resistance for slack stomach muscles. A yoga strap or belt wrapped can be looped around the feet to help an individual extend or hold a stretch. The list of props is endless and many household items such as a bathrobe belt or a rolled up towel or blanket can be used in place of expensive accessories.
Other modifications include allowing them to work in a chair, wheelchair, or on a therapy table. Adaptive teachers can also teach partial postures or incorporate yoga movements into a game or song. Adaptations are endless and creativity is key to presenting yoga concepts and practices to those with less attention span, low muscle tone and body awareness, poorability to communicate or comprehend language, or limited physical ability.
Also, working in a group enables students more opportunity to experience something therapeutic in a social setting. In an adaptive yoga class, students practice social skills and follow the discipline of a formatted yoga practice. Class typically begins with a guided breathing practice, warm-up movements, posture practice, and concludes with deep relaxation. Further, in a yoga class, students are encouraged to work at their own level, even while working as a class on the same posture or sequence.
Adaptive yoga: Transforming Traditional Yoga to Meet the Needs of Challenged Individuals
Other types of therapies can be incorporated into the framework of yoga to benefit a variety of special needs. For example, the person with poor muscle tone, due to a neurological disorder, could benefit from strengthening core muscles of the trunk and building stamina. This can be achieved through a series of yoga postures in the same way as a physical therapist or exercise physiologist might prescribe. An adaptive yoga teacher might work as a trainer with a teen or a class of teenagers, building up to a number of “yoga push-ups”, “yoga lunges”, or breaths during a balance.
Spasticity, tightened or shortened muscles can be addressed through simple joint movements such as pointing and flexing the toes and ankles. In therapeutic yoga, these movements would be practiced slowly and incorporated with alternating inhales and exhales. For students with limited movement, a yoga teacher can use a more hands-on approach to help the student achieve greater range of motion. Similar to physical therapy, the yoga difference is in the combination of breathing and movement. Many standing postures incorporate ankle flexion combined with weight-bearing for more intense stretching. Coordinated breathing combined with these movements help students hold stretches for longer periods of time, and develop new patterns of sitting and standing.
Traditional yoga practice incorporates all parts of the physical body including the eyes. Vision exercises such as those used by developmental optometrists are a natural part of an adaptive yoga class. Brain Gym, a discipline of therapeutic movement designed to help with learning difficulties, also incorporates many eye exercises into practice. Again, in yoga, these physical movements, even those done with the eyes, are coordinated with breath.
Bilateral motor integration refers to the effective use of both sides of the body to complete a task. Many people with developmental disabilities lack coordination in this area. This affects balance as well as left-right spatial awareness. Bilateral practice is a natural part of many yoga postures. For example, lifting the right arm then the left and coordinating this pattern with the feet to the beat of a yoga chant can become a fun and challenging game of balance. Students can then be encouraged to hold the postures, gradually learning to balance independently on one foot or the other. These exercises can also be done in a chair or close to a wall or other support for students who are unable to stand or balance.
Balance is an important goal in any yoga practice. Many yoga postures and practices focus on balancing practice. Even if an individual is unable to balance well, practice can help improve compensation for a poorly functioning vestibular system, that part of the inner ear from which we get our sense of balance.
To help with proprioceptive ability, the neurological relay of information from the body to the brain, yoga postures promoteweight-bearing for the arms, legs and works on improving joint mobility. In more advanced postures, even the shoulders and the head bear some weight. A core component of all yoga postures and exercises is strengthening the muscles of the trunk, especially the abdominals. This helps those with poor posture due to low muscle tone. It can also help prevent fatigue, increase stamina, and promote calming in people with attentional problems. Other sensory and core-building activities may include the use of sandbags, hula hoops, therapy balls, and lavender-scented eye pillows for deep relaxation.
Vocalization is also incorporated as a form of yoga therapy. Individuals learn to modulate their voices and their tolerance of noise. They learn to notice how a loud or vigorous group activity can affect their own level of arousal. Vocalizing in a group also gives students with sensory issues an opportunity to appropriately address when noise is too much. We use recorded music (loud and soft), singing (when appropriate), screeching, growling, buzzing, as well as being very, very quiet.