How to help a stressed-out child with yoga

Stress is a common feeling we get when we feel under pressure, overwhelmed or unable to cope. Small amounts of stress can be good for us and motivate us to achieve goals like taking an exam or giving a speech. But too much of it, especially when it feels out of control, can negatively impact our mood, physical and mental well-being and relationships. It is not generally realized but a large proportion of the people under stress happen to be children. We do not realize it because we, as adults, are the major stress factors in a child's life. The closer is the kinship; the greater is the potential to cause stress, with the parents unwittingly becoming the greatest offenders! In the adult world, the children are unfortunately unrepresented and remain as voiceless citizens. Often, the child is too small even to understand or express itself, though it may be undergoing stressful conditions. Nature, however, is on the side of the children. Since children are biologically a 'learning machine', most conditions which otherwise would be deemed to be stressful are not perceived as stressful by the little body-systems which are still in the process of learning and growing, and therefore, are yet to arrive at threshold levels of intolerance.