PVPF 2024

Interview With Aditi & Rama Chandrasekhar, author of “Growing with Yoga”, illustrated by Niveditha Subramaniam

It is important to distinguish between what we speak of as ‘yoga poses’ or asana and the larger subject of yoga.
on Apr 06, 2023

Aditi Chandrasekhar, a yoga practitioner and educator, teaches at Vinieyoga Academy. She loves introducing yoga movement to children through play and developed the text for this book. She is an independent writer-editor and sustainability researcher.

Niveditha Subramaniam is a children’s literature researcher and writer-illustrator who thinks in pictures and is naturally drawn to visually rich formats. She sees the picture book as the perfect medium to explore creative non-fiction.

Rama Chandrasekhar, a yoga therapist and chanting teacher, is involved in every aspect of yoga education – from curriculum and program development across specializations to teacher training at Vinieyoga Academy.

Frontlist: What inspired you to write a book on yoga for children?

Aditi: This book was inspired by my toddler – who has been twisting herself into seemingly yoga-like postures since she could move – and my mother, who has been our creative guide and motivating force. To give you some context, Niveditha and I have been close friends for 20 years now and have pretty much adopted each other’s families for our own. Both of us have been working in the area of content creation / development throughout our professional career, and we have naturally wanted to collaborate at many points in time. It was my mother and our co-author Rama who gave our project some direction when she suggested that we consider producing a visual book on yoga. Niveditha’s background in children’s publishing and my playtime with my then one-year-old gave us the opportunity to come up with something fun and informative for young children and their caregivers.

Frontlist: How did you come up with the idea of using animals as yoga poses in the book?

Aditi: Many traditional yoga asana derive their names from the world around us – from animals and trees to fantastical creatures and austere sages one from Indian ithihasa.

In my tradition, following Sri Krishnamacharya’s lineage of teachers, asana such as bhujangasana (bhujanga = serpent / cobra), kapotasana (kapota = pigeon), simhasana (simha = lion) and urdhvamukhasvanasana (svana = dog) are some asana that have animal names; we have featured a few of these in our book. There are other classical traditions of yoga that commonly use asana names such as marjariasana (marjari = cat) or bitilasana (bitila = cow) for their postures. We chose to extend this ‘animal’ theme visually through the book to make it engaging for children.

Frontlist: How significant is it for children to learn about yoga and its benefits? What age group is the book intended for, and why?

Aditi: It is important to distinguish between what we speak of as ‘yoga poses’ or asana and the larger subject of yoga. Asana or the physical practice of movement and postures is one segment of this holistic practice. Asana practice has three benefits aarogyam (health), angalagavam (flexibility) and angasthairyam (strengthen / firmness). For children and younger practitioners, in particular, starting asana practice when young allows them to develop and maintain these aspects of well-being over their years of practice.

This book is meant for children of all ages – and could work well for children ‘4 and over’ who might be able to directly engage with its pages. The big illustrated landscape is intended to engage visual learners and non-readers, while the flowing text with a simple rhyme scheme is meant to be accessible for early English readers. The informative text with the thumbnail visual towards the end of the book is meant for caregivers and educators who might want to lead children in practice while using the traditional names of the poses. Loose English translations of asana names often strips away more nuanced meanings or associations that we could develop as we grow with yoga, potentially leading to a complete erasure of original intent over time and space (given, the global popularity of this practice).

Frontlist: What makes this book different from other children's books on yoga? How did you choose the specific poses to include in the book?

Aditi: The postures in this book are descriptive rather than prescriptive. Each asana was chosen to benefit the growth of the child through its practice. We also wanted to allow room for children, parents and teachers to mix and match these poses for the purpose of play through yoga. We do not want to tether our young reader to a routine-like practice that needs to be followed in a specific order. When we do recommend prescriptive courses, it is often for older practitioners and is specifically customized to their needs and goals under the careful guidance of an observant teacher.

We have intentionally been playful and accurate in how we describe each pose. We chose poses that will allow children to be at ground level – either in a lying or seated posture. More technically, we chose postures that focus on opening the chest / heart region for improved breathing and ones that allowed for stretching. These postures can be done by themselves, or as a warm-up before / cool-down after other activities like study (sitting), swimming, biking, running, or any other form of play.

Frontlist: How does yoga positively impact a child's physical and mental well-being?

Aditi and Rama: There are several documented studies – both in the past as well as in contemporary research – about the benefits of yoga for an individual. Yoga positively and directly impacts the functioning of our body by supporting the skeletal, respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, muscular, endocrine, lymphatic (immune), nervous systems and more that help us in our daily activities as well as in our overall physical, mental and emotional well-being. Yoga is also said to benefit us more deeply at the cellular level. These same benefits are made available to an individual over a longer course of time if they start practice in their childhood and choose to continue with it as they grow.

Frontlist: How important do you think illustrations are in conveying the message of a children's book?

Niveditha: Illustrations play a pivotal role in unfolding narrative – children learn to ‘read’ pictures before they read words and the development of visual literacy can expand a child’s creative, critical and social imagination. Children look at and engage with characters through observing expressions, gestures and body language. Illustrations also allow children to absorb information about a particular environment through contextual clues that are present and expanded in the visuals but not explicitly stated in the text. Depending on the subject matter of the book, illustrations can complement or enhance the text. Some books demand simplicity and clarity, others require a more layered approach that can be unravelled by readers at their own pace. There are some books that have a single message and others that don’t – either way, illustrations are meant to convey more than a particular message; they are meant to evoke different worlds, capture experiences, and let children discover connections and explore a range of meanings and possibilities.

Frontlist: How does "Growing with Yoga" fit into a larger conversation about wellness and self-care for children?

Aditi: Considering that childhood is a time an individual ideally receives unconditional care, the book is intended for children to look through, play with and feel the poses in their own ways. It is fascinating to watch young children at play as they use all the tools and learnings to access, test, and expand the boundaries of their minds and bodies. For instance, when my little one copies the adhomukhasvanasana posture, she almost always lifts up one leg (an advanced variation of the posture) and then repeats the same on the other side. This is just how she repeatedly chooses to interpret that posture, despite not having received any particular instruction for it. We dearly want this book to be something that children and their caregivers use to bond, spending time together as the little ones explore and learn about what their bodies can do.

Frontlist: How can teachers incorporate "Growing with Yoga" into their curriculum and classroom routines?

Rama: We’d love for teachers to use this book in as many creative ways as they see fit for their students. For one, they could use ‘Growing with Yoga’ to encourage children to recognize and use their bodies to stretch, jump, bend and twist. They could also use the book to help children spell out English letters, to learn about lines and curves, or to connect the more complicated Samskritam nomenclature to names of animals and meanings in a language that is more familiar to them. For older children, educators can use the detailed section and illustrations to take a break from movement and have children learn about safe techniques to get into a posture.

Aditi: I have taught yoga within and outside school settings to toddlers (ages 2 to 5), young children (ages 6 to 10), and older ones (10 and above). Across ages, I’ve been able to engage with my audience in using this book as way to give them a visual reference or to prepare for poses. Younger toddlers (ages 2-3) love reading the same book again and again – and are delighted to be able to recognize postures, while they mostly want to dance to ‘Baby Shark’! As they get older and more confident in their ability to read, remember and repeat actions and words, children seem to enjoy a mix of visual stimulation, role playing and direct instructions for the classes – and in those cases, ‘Growing with Yoga’ could act as supportive learning material in all those ways along with other books and media related to movement that the teachers might be able to access.

Aditi and Niveditha: We have designed ‘Growing with Yoga’ in a way that children can flip through the book and start from any page they like. Each of our bodies work a little differently, and this is true for children as well, especially when they are still learning to gain independence in motion. The book allows movement to be free and learning, exploratory. Children and educators can read the book in a sequential order, or choose to move alphabetically through the poses. We have dedicated the last three pages to a more detailed guidance about each pose to give caregivers a snapshot of the contents, allowing them to create dance-like sequences, or explore poses that look similar (for instance, bhujangasana to urdhvamukhasvanasana) or contrary (for instance adhomukhasvana to urdhvamukhasvanasana). Some children seem to enjoy staying in poses, while others might be excited to try them all at once – either way, we hope they have fun exploring yoga and movement with our book.