While many adults enjoy yoga for the relaxation, flexibility and focus it brings, it can also be an effective therapy for children with special needs.
Megan Coltoniak, therapy director at TLS, recently became “Childlight Yoga” certified. Childlight Yoga, founded in 2005, is an organization that provides evidence-informed yoga and mindfulness education to children, as well as training and support for thousands of educators, kids yoga teachers, and professionals worldwide.
Megan received her Childlight Yoga training and certification at State College Pennsylvania, and recently started teaching yoga classes to students at TLS’s Central and Newark locations.
Megan says anyone can do yoga, and since each child learns differently, children get something out of it whether they are actively participating or just observing. They are still there, hearing and seeing what is going on around them.
Yoga helps to improve focus and mood, and can be a quiet or an energetic activity depending on the yoga class participants. In Megan’s classes, there is dancing, movement, and posing to familiar songs. She also leads a discussion about how the students can use yoga poses in school, and create a sense of calmness with their breathing. For example, if a student feels he or she is escalating, yoga helps them to recognize this and choose a yoga pose that would help them get back to a functional place.
Yoga compliments the other therapies offered at TLS. Like music therapy, yoga uses rhythm, patterns, song and movement. Like occupational therapy, yoga helps with muscle control, bilateral coordination and core strength. And like speech therapy, yoga focuses on following directives and understanding through discussion and visualization. Megan said the students have fun and are active during her yoga class. But by the end, they feel calm and relaxed.
Large group yoga classes are offered free of charge on Monday mornings at Central, and Thursday mornings at Newark. TLS plans to offer large group yoga classes in the remaining TLS locations by next fall.
For questions or more information about the yoga program at TLS, email us at info@thelearningspectrum.com, or call us at 614-844-5433.