Posted: 10/02/11
Yoga for the young ones at college
Nursery children are proving you’re never too young to enjoy exercise.
That’s because three and four-year-olds attending West Nottinghamshire College’s Butterflies Day Nursery have been enjoying weekly yoga and story-telling sessions courtesy of sports student Lynn Stevenson.
Lynn, 43, from Mansfield, is currently studying on the NVQ Level 3 in Physical Activity and Exercise (Personal Trainer) and has been offering the specially-adapted sessions to the children on Tuesday afternoons.
Lynn said: “During my studies I became aware there are lots of young people who don’t exercise and this can affect them in later life. I wanted to do something which introduced core exercise to young people and chose the children attending the college’s day nursery.
“A strong core can help in all kinds of ways by supporting the spine and ensuring good posture. I’ve introduced story-telling into the classes and the group have showed real enthusiasm and they’ve been looking forward to our weekly sessions.”
The pre-school group, who are children of college staff and students, have been enjoying hour-long yoga sessions with Lynn at the college’s Derby Road campus, and parents have given nursery manager Kelly Pickbourne positive feedback.
Kelly said: “We’ve never done this kind of activity with the children before but it’s been a great success and the parents are really pleased with their children’s progress. Lynn has made the sessions interesting by incorporating stories and animals into the exercises and she’s helping them to understand the importance of health and nutrition.”
Lynn is hoping to progress her studies to higher education level and also study further postural exercise courses.
She added: “I already do some work with mature groups at a local gym and I enjoy working with mature and really young people the best. I’m hoping to do some further work with children at local nurseries as the yoga with West Notts College’s nursery has proven to be very successful.”
