YogaKids, a video tutorial created by that group's founder, Marsha Wenig, has sold 80,000 copies since 1996. The American Yoga Association can't quite believe it either. Children should not practice it because it affects their growth system. There are no studies supporting that contention, but Christensen says there has not been enough time to assess yoga's long-term damage to young bodies. Hogwash, counter instructors like Marita Gardner-Anopol, who teaches yoga at preschools and elementary schools in New Jersey.
Children are active from the time they are three.
In fact, most children take yoga in addition to other sports. Her friend Ellery Garland adds that yoga has helped her focus on her homework. Yoga enthusiasts contend that its meditational tools can be particularly helpful to kids with learning or behavioral difficulties. The breathing exercises, for example, are touted as a natural relaxant for children with attention-deficit disorder, and the asanas are used by some instructors to strengthen the muscles of children with Down syndrome. Marlene Mikell, who teaches severely disabled children at a Chicago public school, asserts that yoga improves the self-esteem of her students.