"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." - Plato
Teaching yoga to very young children is generally not advised, but I have a four year old student to whom yoga was recommended by her doctor; and teaching her has been the most harrowing and most enlightening experience of my life.
This child is sometimes so enthusiastic, that I have to keep up with her changing ideas. She gets tired of one thing very fast and moves on to another. This keeps me very alert, constantly on the lookout for changing moods.
She is also moody and sometimes just sticks her thumb in her mouth, lies down and refuses to move. No amount of coaxing or scolding can shake her. In fact, that only instigates her more. What I slowly learnt was that being her friend, rather than a teacher worked better for the both of us. A lot of flexibility and patience is required on the teacher's part.
No kid likes to be ordered around all the time. They need someone to listen to them and humour them. We need to give them a bit of free hand, let their creativity blossom, ask them to invent fun Asanas of their own. If they get carried away, enthusiastically bring the attention back to some aspect of yoga like it's a game.
My student's mother once told me, "She looks forward to your class because it is one class she feels is for herself." This really helped build my self-esteem. This girl was my first student. I had never dreamed of teaching children and wasn't sure I knew how. In the beginning, it was pretty rough. I didn't know how to keep things lively, to catch her attention. Scolding her, being strict would impact her very strongly as she is extremely sensitive to negativity. I did not want to hurt her, but how to continue like this? Many times, I didn't feel like going to class. I almost picked up the phone and cancelled it many times.
However, something in my heart told me to keep trying. Be creative, I told myself. "But I'm not creative, I'm very practical!" my mind argued. But I realized that was just an excuse. I thought of different ways to teach, did some research online, found interesting stories with morals, learnt new games. I started getting small gifts like channa, or almonds as a surprise and explained how and when to eat them, why they were good for health. These tiny surprises also excited her so much.
Today, I am confident that no matter what mood she would be in, whether crying, sleepy, angry, happy or distracted, I can spend some positive time with her and teach her something worthwhile.
I remind myself to always be interested and encouraging in whatever small thing she does and praise every small achievement. Positivity and enthusiasm always work better than scolding and putting them down for not behaving.
Because of my first student, I can now easily make friends with any kid I come across; and to tell you the truth, they are the best company to have- full of innocence, non-judgmental, enthusiastic, joyful and they have perfect concentration an observation.
Karma Yoga is all about concentration, constant improvement, creativity and joy in work. And so, I learnt Karma Yoga from a 4 year old and even today, I play, jump, crawl, chat, draw, stick, water plants and learn from my little teacher.
