The deep breathing and relaxation techniques of yoga can help center anyone, but are particularly beneficial to those dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder.
Regular exercise is recommended as a way to help symptoms of ADD and ADHD. Exercising three to five times a week is suggested for staying fit and healthy, but for those with emotional and behavior disorders, regular exercise has a multitude of benefits Yoga provides numerous advantages to other "regular" forms of exercise, such as aerobic and weight training.
Benefits for ADD from Yoga Include:
- Helps to relax and de-stress
- Teaches how to quiet the mind
- Helps with focus
- Helps with depression and anxiety
- Promotes the connection between mind, body and spirit
- Increased strength and flexibility
- Improved respiration, energy, and vitality
- Balanced metabolism
- Cardio and circulatory health
- Pain relief
- Rejuvenation
- Improves athletic performance
- Helps promote a sense of the needs of others, as well
Some of the greatest benefits of yoga are the psychological ones. For people with Attention Deficit Disorder, yoga can help balance the production of neurotransmitters in the brain and reduce stress levels. Yoga combines physical activity with self-awareness and promotes a mind-body connection that many with the disorder lack.
According to Yoga Journal, the ability to concentrate emerges from restraining mental distractions in a process neurologists call "neural inhibition"- which coincides with the yoga practice and definition of concentration as "quieting the mind of its compulsions."
By reinforcing the mind-body connection, yoga helps people with attention problems control impulsivity and hyperactivity. The discipline also helps strengthen the need to fidget and helps release pent up “bubbling” energy that tends to be disruptive.
Meditation and yoga also helps calm busy minds, which is a relief when ADD stirs up the whirlwind of spinning thoughts.
The best type of yoga classes for ADD are those that focus on relaxation. The classes that are more “power” driven or centered on heavy strength training are not as beneficial to people with ADD. During a relaxation and meditation class, participants are guided into holding different postures, called “asanas.”
An asana is held for an extended period of time, and using intense focus, with as good a posture as possible, calm and deep breathing are practiced. Asanas promote stretching, strengthening, and balancing, and the deep breathing promotes relaxation and mental awareness.
Yoga can help people of all ages feel calm, centered, in control, and in touch with their bodies, but is extremely beneficial for those with Attention Deficit Disorder.
For more information for yoga for children with ADD, visit the yogajournal website.
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