Abstract

THE SCIENCE, PRACTICE, AND FUTURE OF YOGA FOR CHILDREN: A REVIEW ARTICLE

Dr. Pranav Kamathe, Dr. Sachin Prakash Gwalani*, Dr. Pratik Kadu

Abstract

Background: In recent years yoga is more and more practiced by the children and adolescents in educational, community, and healthcare settings and studied for possible positive impact on physical, psychological, cognitive, and behavioural parameters. However, there is great variability in understanding, choosing, prescribing, and evaluating the practices. The relationship between traditional principles of yoga, pediatric practice, available guidelines and modern evidence-based knowledge is poorly combined. Aim of the study: This paper reviews the classical concepts of yoga related to contemporary pediatric practice, modern models of children's yoga programs, available recommendations, difficulties in prescribing and teaching yoga, and strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific evidence. Main Results: Classical books such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Shiva Samhita, and Gheranda Samhita describe yoga as multidimensional, sequential discipline consisting of behavioral, physical, respiratory, sensory, and mental yoga. However, they do not contain standardized pediatric protocols. Modern pediatric yoga programs differ greatly in their components, target age groups, duration, frequency, progression, supervision, and qualification of instructors. Institutional recommendations present only general directions on safe practice in accordance with age but lack a unified age classification, types of exercises, dosages, progression, contraindications, and required skills of practitioners. Scientific studies suggest the possibility of positive impact on stress, anxiety, psychological well-being, attention, self-regulation, flexibility, and balance, but there is no strong evidence for specific diseases. The methodological diversity, small sample size, absence of standard outcome measures, poor reports of adverse effects, and lack of dose-response evidence limit the definite conclusions. Conclusions: Yoga seems to be a promising complementary treatment in enhancing certain aspects of health and well-being in children. Future studies should address not only the question of overall effectiveness of yoga for children, but also the question of effectiveness of specific practices for specific children and their particular stages of development and outcomes.

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