Little Yogis

"Dissolving the five Kleshas, or veils, brings forth the radiance of the Divine Self."

Yoga Sutras, 11.3

The other day I taught "Yoga Play," or toddler yoga.  My little yogis ranged in age from 2 through 5, although most of them were 2.  While slightly chaotic, it was a fun and beautiful practice. We danced and sang, learned some poses, bowed to one another and said "namaste," and even laid in savasana for a full minute and a half!  What was so beautiful about this though, was seeing their uncluttered, eager, and accepting minds absorb everything we did.  This is where is all begins.  A yoga mindset is a peaceful and loving one, and teaching that to children from the beginning is what will make the world a better place.

To an adult, practicing yoga can be sort of like learning a foreign language - only its the language we are truly made to speak so it has only become foreign to us. Children come into this world with no misperceptions, their inner light shinning brightly.  They come in knowing and understanding far more than we know as adults. As we begin to invest ourselves into the world around us, however, and as we are influenced by our life situation and the people in it, our vision becomes skewed.  The Kleshas, or veils, which represent themselves as our mental and emotional mindset, draw thicker and thicker over our eyes until we have become lost from our true selves and fully invested in the material world.  Our inner light fades, and we accept our thoughts, emotions, and past experiences as our identity.

As adults, lifting this veil is far more difficult depending on how much you have invested yourself into what you think is the truth. As we get older, our minds and bodies are more resistant to things that are new or different.  Yet what we must understand is that it is a matter of remembering what we already know, not learning something that is new.  With children, we have the opportunity to lift the veil before it has been drawn shut.  Keeping that inner light glowing and lit in our children, preventing the veil from blocking their spirit, will make the world a better place.

Namaste.