Yoga instructor Aras Baskauskas teams with Occupational Therapist Britt Collins, M.S. OTR/L. Aras takes the children through a yoga routine and Britt points out different suggestions regarding your child’s specific special needs. Yoga promotes mental and physical well-being, allowing kids to strengthen their bodies while simultaneously calming themselves. Occupational Therapy benefits children by helping focus energy into appropriate movement and function, organizing sensory systems and increasing body awareness and coordination skills.
Yoga allows children to grade the force of their movements because the slow movements into poses are not pushing their muscles to full extension. They’re able to increase muscle strength physically while cognitively becoming aware of where their body is in space.
Additional benefits of yoga may include improving gross and fine motor strength, breath support, concentration and even communication skills
** this DVD is for children who have the ability to stand, bend down and touch the ground, and can imitate and follow directions.
The children on this DVD each have an autism diagnoses and have not practiced yoga before. They did an amazing job and it was a pleasure to work with them!
Running Time approximately 45 Minutes.
CHAPTERS:
Yoga Routine
Organization of Behavior
Dance with Jen
Aras Baskauskas Interview
Story Time with Rachel Hunter
ABOUT ARAS AND BRITT:
Aras Baskauskas, Yoga Instructor - While you may know Aras as the winner of Survivor: Exile Island, you may not know he is a dedicated yogi who instructs classes at Santa Monica Power Yoga. Aras is also part of The Cheshire Project, a non-profit organization that brings together the creative arts with disabled and special needs children. Recently, Aras released his first Yoga DVD titled Yoga for Health and Wellness.
Britt Collins, M.S. OTR/L - Since graduating from Colorado State University with a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy, Britt has practiced in a variety of settings including Sensory Integration clinics, schools, homes, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing facilities. She has mainly focused her career as an OT on Sensory Integration and how this affects children with various special needs. She is a member of The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and currently works with the Legacy Health System in Pediatric Development and Rehab in Portland, Oregon. Her DVD OT for Children with Autism, Special Needs and Typical won an “Outstanding Product in 2008” award from I Parenting Media, a division of Disney.
