Why choose Yoga for children?
- Alpa Arora
- Mar 22, 2022
- 2 min read
Part 1
I was a poster child in high school.
Valedictorian ☑️
House Captain ☑️
Debate Champ ☑️
Theater Group ☑️
Volleyball Team ☑️
Basketball Team ☑️
Popular with both, students and teachers ☑️
Karate - Brown Belt ☑️
Bharatanatyam Dancer ☑️
I, then, got into the college of my dreams.
What happened in the next 3 months was totally unexpected for me and my family. As soon as I entered college (and I remember this distinctly), I was overwhelmed. It took the new environment just about 2-3 weeks to completely destroy my self-confidence and my self-worth. The rest of the semester was a disaster. I struggled every single day to wake up and go to college. I was lost. I was scared. I did not know how to navigate through these new emotions of an imposter syndrome that suddenly appeared in my being. In my head, I wasn’t cool anymore. I wasn’t smart anymore.
I withdrew. I didn’t participate in class nor in extra curricular activities. I didn’t engage with folks in my class nor with family & friends back home. I struggled with eating a decent meal. I couldn’t sleep unless I stared at the TV screen for hours and then collapsed with exhaustion.
In no time, I shriveled into a person that neither I nor my loved ones could recognize.
The next part of the story is not where I emerge as a hero. Not at all.
The next part of the story is where Yoga appears in my life and the mat becomes my most reliable & trustworthy companion since.
Part 2
After I failed my first semester exams, my mother decided to enroll me at a community center that offered free yoga sessions. At first, I couldn’t relate to the sessions. I struggled, for months, to keep up with the 60-minute classes. But I stuck with them. One, because of course my very Indian mum didn’t give me a choice. But also, because my teacher kept encouraging me to stick with them.
He saw me. He saw my struggles. And kept reminding me that Yoga and its wisdom would see me through.
And it did. It did see me through that phase. And more such trying times in my life. Including a cancer diagnosis.
Today, as a mom of 15 and 12 year old boys, my main focus is to impart to them that same wisdom.
My husband and I encourage them to be dream big. And, just like my well-meaning parents, we provide them with opportunities to learn new skills and to participate in various extracurricular activities. And, we will ensure that they get a professional education at a decent college.
But, with my life experience, I know that, although, these skills, experiences and learnings will enable them to create a comfortable materialistic external world around them, without the Yogic knowledge, my boys will not know how to build a joyful, content and calm world inside of them.
And, for me, that is a sign of a successful life; of a life well lived.
And therefore, I choose Yoga every single day. For me. And for them.
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