Yoga is a part of the TLC daily curriculum.  Yoga has been found to be an effective practice for children with Autism. 

Yoga:
a) Reduces stress and anxiety in children’s bodies
b) Increases balance and strength.
c) Helps children think abstractly and metaphorically, raising thinking to a more broad and conceptual level.  (Example: a child might think that trees must be brown with green leaves, but after learning tree pose they may then understand that they can “become a tree” through tree pose.)
d) Provides a safe and peaceful space (the yoga mat).
e) Teaches listening skills.  When a child does yoga, he is in one spot, but is yet directed to move so the attention is focused upon how to do the yoga pose.  The child listens to instructions regarding how he is supposed to move to achieve the pose.
f) Provides an opportunity to practice compliance skills, as the child listens and then complies with the teachers’ instructions.
g) Provides an opportunity to practice a group activity within a safe, unshared, and private (the mat) space.
h) Teaches effective, self-coping mechanisms.  The deep breathing practiced in yoga helps calm the yogi-child and can generalize as a method of self-calming when he finds himself in tense situations outside of doing yoga.
i) Helps a child face challenges.  The yogi-child learns perseverance in the face of defeat.  His body will likely not bend easily into a yoga pose perfectly but will after practice.

 The teacher:
The TLC yoga teacher is a certified Yoga teacher or will be a student/colleague of the TLC yoga teacher and thus trained by her to conduct the class.

   The equipment: 
Standard, appropriate sized yoga mats are provided for the children.
Soft, peaceful music is played through-out the practice