Yoga For Teens
The physiology and body’s chemistry changes immensely during an individual’s puberty or teen years. It is also at this time where the chakras starts to develop and becomes more and more active. However at this point, while change and development takes place in the body chemistry, chakras, and physiology, there are also imbalances that occur. Most often than not, it becomes evident or it results to mood swings and rebellion. This is why Yoga is very helpful to stabilize or maintain the three into a balanced state. Having a regular exercise of yoga will enable a healthy spirit and soul and in the process it also enhances both the mind and body.
Yoga is all about creating a balanced mind, body and spirit. The yoga philosophy believes that having a healthy spine establishes balance and is also a channel to having a sound mind. Yoga exercises are designed to invigorate the nerves running along the spine. The usual poses that effectively enhance the spine nerves includes the twists and upside-down positions.
To have a sound mind, body and spirit, one should be able to regularly and religiously perform yoga poses (standing, seated, standing, lying down on the back or stomach, and upside down). With this, each spine’s bony segment or vertebra slightly creates space from the ones above and below it. When there is enough space between vertebrae, it ‘plumps’ the disks in between. This allows a free-flowing energy to the brain and a clear passageway for the blood is created for a healthier circulation.
Most boys or young men are into weight training or sports to develop and strengthen their legs and arms. There are times though when flexibility of back, spine, arms and legs is often overlooked. Yoga poses can help correct imbalance and even more strengthen muscles by doing yoga stretching poses before and after the training or sports. At first, one may have difficulty in stretching but if you do it regularly then you will get used to it as your muscles become flexible.
For girls, a lot of things begin to develop when they start to step into the teen years. For one, the breasts begin to develop and the spine muscles are often strained or weakened. The reason for this is because there is more weight carried in the front of the torso. To be able to balance the weight in the front as well as to strengthen the back, shoulders and arms, one should perform yoga poses and exercises such as chest opening, upside-down, and forward/backward bending.
Getting into yoga is not only advantageous for the physical fitness of an individual but it is also healthy for the mind and spirit. This is a great avenue to divert teenagers from getting into drugs or other unhealthy activities. Diet changes, mood swings, stress, hormonal imbalance are just some of the things that a normal teenager may experience. However with yoga, they would be able to eliminate the aches, pain, and stress because it promotes body and mind unification. This principle increases awareness of one’s being and ability. Yoga poses will create a balance state of being making an individual physically fit, mentally mature and spiritually healthy hence nurturing peace and developing self-confidence drawing a more positive outlook in life.
