Improve Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “school-based yoga cultivates competencies in mind-body awareness, self-regulation, and physical fitness. And classroom teachers benefit as well. Taken together, these competencies may lead to improvements in students’ behavior, mental state, health, and performance, as well as teacher resilience, […]
Improve Childhood Autism with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “yoga can be of significant benefit to children with ASD. In addition to benefits typically associated with yoga such as increased strength, balance, coordination and flexibility, benefits such as increased social-emotional skills, language and communication, body awareness, self-regulation, focus and concentration and […]
Improve Autism with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Children with autism have very different sensory experiences from other people, and these responses often cause their bodies to get stuck in fight, flight, or freeze modes that divert blood from the digestive organs to the skeletal muscles. This activity results in disrupted […]
Improve Stress and Trauma Effects on Children with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindfulness practice helps children connect with positive emotional and social experiences, often things that a traumatized brain struggles to do.” – Mindful Trauma comes in many forms, from abuse to warfare, from children to the elderly, from […]
Improve Perception, Mood, and Motor Performance in Children with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness is widely considered effective as a treatment for children and adolescents with aggression, ADHD, or anxiety.” – Lauren Cassani Davis Childhood is a miraculous period during which the child is dynamically absorbing information from every […]
Improve High Level Cognitive Function in Traumatized Adolescents with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “With the girls in India, I’ve found that they most enjoy Thai massage, partner yoga, and expansive, “outer- focused” yoga. I believe that they greatly benefit from receiving loving touch, and they love watching an adult yoga […]
Improve Type II Diabetes with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “a number of studies have revealed that yoga can reduce contributing factors and help patients cope with diabetic symptoms. Although regular exercise can help, yoga for diabetes provides unique benefits that can effectively restore the body to a state of natural health and […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “many people who practice yoga report a deep sense of relaxation, substantially increased flexibility and blood and oxygen supply after regular classes—regardless of aerobic exercise. In addition, some reports suggest that because yoga can decrease stress, it may be helpful in controlling glucose levels in people with […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “It may not be the typical way to start an English class, but Gonzalez’s students were familiar with these five-minute mindfulness exercises—from counting breaths and focusing on the sensations of breathing, to visualizing thoughts and feelings—that he uses to help train their attention, quiet their thoughts, and […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Regular yoga practice can help reduce the level of sugar in the blood, along with lowering blood pressure, keeping a weight check, reducing the symptoms and slowing the rate of progression of diabetes, as well as lessening the severity of further complications.” – Art of Living […]