Elaine Harris is a yoga teacher who founded The Yoga Shed in Co. Wicklow in 2014, which serves to offer accessible and affordable yoga to everybody. Elaine is highly trained to share yoga therapy with children with special needs and is also a certified pregnancy yoga teacher. She is passionate about spreading awareness about the benefits of therapeutic yoga for children with special needs and she has practiced yoga with many children with Down Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Cerebral Palsy, Learning Difficulties, physical disabilities and many other special needs.

Elaine’s new picture book Listen to the Sky takes readers, both children and adults, on a journey towards relaxation, with beautiful illustrations by Emily Veale. We had a chat with Elaine about the book, how yoga can help children with autism and special needs, and how autistic people can cope with stress and anxiety.

What is Listen to the Sky and who is it for?

“Listen to the Sky” is a unique limited edition hardback book taking children on a journey towards relaxation. I wrote the book based on my work as an Irish yoga teacher with experience teaching hundreds of children across Ireland, the UK and Australia. The book is beautifully illustrated by Emily Veale, a talented Irish artist, using delicate hand collages created from found and recycled materials. Emily and I have created the book in response to the demand for parents to have access to yoga and relaxation tools to use at home with their children and also in response to requests from teachers to create a sense of relaxation in the classroom. The book has been translated into Irish by Claire Dunne and Chris McDowell and in Irish the book is called “Éist leis an Spéir”. The guided relaxation is based on the ancient practise of yoga nidra or “yogic sleep” helping the child to become deeply relaxed by developing breath and body awareness and using meditative visualisations that help children to find inner peace and calm. The book can be used at any time of the day or night to help children to relax, connect with their inner self and find peaceful moments. The book has been designed and printed in Ireland and is published by The Yoga Shed and available to purchase online at theyogashed.ie or from selected stockists.

These days guided relaxation is very popular online through apps. How does it work as a book?

While apps can be very useful they usually involve a device (like a smartphone or tablet) giving off a blue light that can have a stimulating effect on the brain. It is so important to take breaks from technology and screen time and especially when considering the right conditions for relaxation, meditation or preparing for sleep. I think reading the physical book to a child can be such a special bonding time between a child and their parent/carer. The child can get comfortable in bed or on the couch with a blanket, eye pillow. Mum or Dad might use a scented candle like lavender or incense to help stimulate the relaxation response even more. You can set the scene and make a little relaxation ritual. They may be an energetic shift between the parent and child after the yoga nidra, both may feel calmer, more relaxed, and more connected to each other after the shared experience.

The book is based on yoga nidra or ‘yogic sleep’. Can you tell me about this?

Yoga Nidra is a practice of deep relaxation similar to the state just before we fall asleep. Deep relaxation can be seen as one of the most important parts of the yoga practice. It offers the chance for the parasympathetic nervous system to be turned on, stimulating the relaxation response, allowing the muscles and organs to relax, tension to release, healthy breathing patterns to be developed and time for the benefits of the asana practice to be absorbed wholly. The practice of Yoga Nidra can include a guided awareness of the body parts and observation of tension and gradual relaxation of each body part. Deep pressure or joint tractions (e.g. gentle pull of leg, toe, fingers etc.) may be used to aid relaxation depending on the individual child. A guided visualisation may be used describing different scenes, imagery and symbols. Sound may also be used to aid relaxation (the use of mantra or playing relaxing music). Yoga Nidra helps to access a different level of consciousness, relieve tension and anxiety and find a meditative sense of stillness and inner peace and connection. It is said that 30 mins of yoga nidra is the equivalent to 4 hours deep sleep.

How did the illustrations by Emily Veale influence you when writing the book?

I had written a rough draft of “Listen to the Sky” and asked Emily if she would be interested to illustrate the book. To begin with it was a slow process and it took a few months before Emily had created handmade collages using tiny fragments of materials and paper she had found and collected. Each image was painstakingly put together to create and the results were beautiful. She has a very unique style of illustration. Even though the draft text had inspired Emily’s creations, then the collages began to reciprocate and inspire the words. The images are meditative in and of themselves and they began to influence the imagery in the guided visualisation for children. I rewrote the text inspired by the images and then we began to work on the physical layout of the book helped along by graphic designer Lynda McDonald. We sat with Lynda and worked through every detail of how we wanted the book to look. Lynda scanned the original collage images and worked on the design and layout of every page offering the chance to make different changes every step of the way. The finished book is the result of a collaborative process where ideas evolved along the way.

How does yoga differ for children with special needs? Is it taught any differently?

The beauty of yoga is that is so accessible to everyone in that it can be adapted and modified to meet the needs of absolutely anyone regardless of age and ability. I have trained directly under Sonia Sumar and Jo Manuel, two of the most internationally renowned senior yoga teachers working with children with special needs. From these trainings I have been able to tailor individual and group yoga programs for children with a variety of special needs.

It is important to look at the particular child and what yoga can offer them in terms of working with their nervous system, improving their breathing, respiratory system, connection to their breath and their sense of body awareness, spatial awareness, balance, co-ordination, muscle tone, strength and flexibility, cognition, focus, concentration and the ability to process instructions. Depending on the needs of the child the yoga session will be structured to respond to how the child is presenting. It may be a case that the child is very energetic and might benefit from more grounding and earthing asana (yoga poses) or the child might present with low energy or be quite lethargic and we may need to do a more invigorating session. But in all cases we will work with the breath, helping the child to connect to their breath and to breath properly in and out through the nose if possible and work on correcting any reverse breathing practices or shallow breathing which can lead to tension, panic and anxiety. We will teach a range of breathing practices to help balance the nervous system.

We may use mantra or sound work which is so useful to help the child to connect inwardly, focus and also can have huge benefits in terms of expanding the breath capacity and developing speech. Then we would have a balanced asana sequence of the yoga poses which move the spine in many ways including backbends, forward bends, twists, lateral stretches, inversions and balances. The asanas have amazing physical benefits for the body but also improve cognition, spatial awareness motor planning, co-ordination and balance. As we move the body we are creating new neurological pathways and connections. The session will allow time for a period of relaxation at the end where the child can rest comfortably and find a sense of stillness. During the relaxation we might use calming music or a guided relaxation. Deep pressure or some basic massage techniques might also be useful to help the child to relax deeper.

What are the benefits of yoga for children with autism and special needs?

Yoga can have enormous benefits for everyone including children with autism and other special needs. Yoga is an ancient science that works on the whole system of the body to bring about a sense of relaxation, ease and comfort in the body and union with the mind and the spirit. Yoga is working to balance the nervous system helping us to switch from the sympathetic nervous or fight and flight mode to the parasympathetic nervous system also known as rest and digest. Many children with autism can have a heightened nervous system, the senses are heightened and sensitive and the nervous system can spend long periods of the day in the stress response which has a physical emotional and mental impact on that child. Encouraging the child to work with their breath will have a calming effect on the system and encourage more oxygen into the body and allow for the systems of the body to reset. The mantra or sound work can be very enjoyable for the children and help them to connect to themselves. It can improve the length of their breath and also can encourage speech development in non-verbal children. The use of the sound “om” can be used as a useful cue for children who have difficulty processing instructions to know when to move their bodies. As I mentioned the asana practice has huge benefits in terms of developing strength, flexibility and balance, organ function but moreover for children with autism it can improve their sense of body awareness, offer sensory feedback for the vestibular system, improve proprioception and spatial awareness, co-ordination issues and self-regulation. The whole yoga sequences leads to a period of relaxation for the child where all the benefits can be absorbed helping the child to enjoy some time to restore the nervous system and rest with the whole body relaxed.

Autistic children often have to cope with anxiety. What advice would you have for parents trying to help their child prevent and cope with anxiety?

I would suggest introducing the child to yoga and meditation. Helping them to understand their breath and giving them the tools of working with their breath to help them to find inner calm. The breath and meditation are amazing tools for restoring the natural balance of the nervous system and helping to slow the thoughts down and become aware of the thoughts that are causing the anxiety. Developing or correcting breathing patterns is so useful in preventing anxiety as often if a child is not breathing properly they will not be getting enough air into the body and this can make them feel panicky and trigger anxiety. Deep breaths into the belly, noticing the belly rise as you breath in and the belly fall as you breath out can help to calm an anxious mind. If parents can find a yoga teacher in their area who works with children or do some research on yoga, breathing and relaxation techniques.

Some of the children that I have worked with have had difficulty sleeping or insomnia which in turn can feed into the cycle of anxiety. A yoga nidra, such as “Listen to the Sky” can be useful before bed to help the mind to switch off and relax the body to prepare for sleep. These tools are also really useful for parents to use themselves to offer tools for self-care in replenishing themselves to have the strength, energy and patience to help their children. The book can also be used by the child on their own. They can read it alone and look through the pictures and practise guided visualisation themselves. Or they could practice with a friend taking turns to read it to each other. The book can be a tool that a child can take anywhere with them and use it whenever the need it. It can be used in the classroom to help all of the students to find a few peaceful moments in the day. Some teachers have picked a regular afternoon to use the book getting all of the children to lie on the floor and practice the visualisation. The illustrations and imagery in the book are meditative and so children might enjoy the visual aspect of the book something they may not get with an app. We have put a video recording of a reading of the book on Facebook so this can be used in situations where it may not possible to read the book, for example, if a parent is driving they could turn the audio on for the children in the car.

Do you have any advice for a person with autism coming home from work or school this evening after a stressful day?

My advice is to find whatever works to help you unwind after a stressful day. It might be yoga, meditation, a walk or a run in the fresh air, reading, hobbies or a bath. Taking a few short minutes to practice breath awareness or meditating on the breath can offer a chance to step back from the stressors of the day, observe your mind and allow a sense of relaxation to develop.

A breath awareness practice might look like this:

“Sit nice and comfortable with your spine tall
Close your eyes and allow your breath to gentle flow in through your nose and out through your nose
Notice any sounds that you can hear around you
What is the furthest away sound you can hear?
Notice your body and any sensations
See if you can relax and soften your body a little more
Become aware of your breath as you gently breathe in and out through the nose
Can you notice the rhythm of your breath?
How long is your inhale and how long is your exhale?
What is the speed of your breath? Are you breathing fast or slow?
Can you soften your belly now and begin to breathe into the belly
Notice how the belly rises as you breathe in and notice how the belly falls as you breathe out.
Take a few breaths in and out of the belly
Can you deepen your breath now
Maybe you can send the breath from the belly to the ribs?
Feel the ribs expand as you breathe in and the ribs draw in as your breath out
Notice the space in your ribs now
Take a few breaths like this
Maybe you can send the breath from the belly to the ribs all the way to the chest now
Feel the chest broaden and collar bones lift as you breathe in
Allow your exhale to start from the chest now, emptying the air from the chest, the ribs and the belly
Take a few breaths at your own pace
Notice how much deeper your breath has become
Notice any effect on your mind
Maybe your thoughts have slowed down
Slowly allow your breath to return to normal
Gently open your eyes again
Notice how you feel now after the practice.

Listen to the Sky is available to buy from the Yogashed’s website here. Its Irish translation, Éist leis an Spéir, is available to buy here.