YOGA AS THERAPY

A deeper look at how yoga can benefit children with disabilities

- Neha Das and Saswati Barman

Yoga has been practiced by people of all ages to help lead a healthy life since time immemorial. In present times, the significance of yoga has increased with the greater consciousness on leading a healthy lifestyle. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. Yoga resonates with this definition as it also aims at achieving a holistic development of physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our being.

Results have shown that yoga helps in increasing flexibility, strength and concentration of an individual. It also enhances coordination and reduces stress. These benefits thus make yoga an effective tool for holistic development of all children, including children with disabilities, for whom yoga can be an effective medium to supplement other therapies.

The Wellness Mantra

In her book ‘Yoga for the Special Child: A Therapeutic Approach for Infants and Children with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and Learning Disabilities’ Sonia Sumar explored the benefits of yoga for children with myriad forms of disabilities. A yoga practitioner, Sumar has been teaching yoga as a form of therapy for children with disabilities since 1972, when her younger daughter was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, immediately after birth. Today, even after the death of her daughter, Roberta, at the age of 15, she continues to teach yoga to children with disabilities. Sumar’s life and practice of yoga is a testament of the benefits of yoga for children with disabilities. However, the benefits of yoga for children with disabilities have not been documented, nor is the practice prevalent.