I will be giving a private lesson to an 8 year old girl who has asthma and her mother and father will possibly join us. The intention for trying yoga, according to the mother, is to help the daughter to relax. She was described as hyper and gets stressed out easily. The asthma was only mentioned as an afterthought, as it has not presented too significant of a problem. Are there any particular breathing techniques to address mild asthmatic conditions? As far as the relaxation component, I plan to teach her the wave breath, broken down into it’s three different stages as well as JFS. I’m thinking that she may also benefit from some more static postures. Much of this I won’t be able to know until I meet with her, but do you have any preliminary suggestions on how to approach this new student?
Thanks
I would focus on strong abdominal contractions during exhalation. Also use the intercostal breathing method described in my book. Both will help promote lung capacity and kapha balancing. At such an early age i would hesitate to do more. I find playing with yoga more helpful until they feel fine with your loving relationships. if so then shoulderstand is wonderful you can even hold the child in the position from the ankles. namaste