The Parent Paper, November 2010
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Strike a Pose!
Yoga's many benefits for children
Unlike many other forms of activity for kids, yoga is non-competitive, stress-relieving and can be practiced and enjoyed from infancy through teen years and into adulthood.
The key at this young age, say yoga instructors, is to make the activity fun. At Home Yoga Experience in Mahwah, for example, instructor Allison Morgan sets a scene for her students, such as going to the zoo and finding animals. They may start with pretzel legs, sitting upright, then see a mouse and get into a "child's pose." If they come across a tree, everyone will get into a "tree pose." "So along the way they are doing yoga poses but in a very age appropriate, kid-friendly way," says Allison, who is also a pediatric occupational therapist.
The message, according to Gina Wisch, is that yoga is inclusive. "It's a union and everybody can do it because there is no right or wrong way. Looking at your expression of a tree compared to my expression of a tree, your foot may be on the floor and mine might be on my thigh, but we are both trees that make up a forest so they can't be wrong and that helps these kids realize that they are not alone.”
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New Jersey Life, March 2008
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A Family Affair
Gina Baltzer and Ben Wisch’s vision for Home Yoga, which opened a year ago, was as much about healing as exercise. The partners wanted the facility to cultivate awareness and compassion while acting as a refuge where people could renew themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Baltzer, Wisch, and six other teachers hold classes geared to beginners, children, teens, and men, as well as mixed groups. All classes, except the children’s, take place in a studio heated to 90 degrees to promote a cleansing sweat. Home’s social consciousness extends to its support of such programs as Pennies for Peace, which raises funds for Doctors Without Borders.
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