Dubai: A programme called Art Excel course featuring yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises has helped vulnerable children overcome their trauma and manage their emotions.
Twelve kids aged between 8 and 13 have been participating in the Art Excel course of the International Association for Human Values and the Art of Living as part of children’s programmes of the Community Development Authority (CDA).
The children, some of whom had been abused or neglected in the past while others are suffering from medical conditions and diabetes, are registered with CDA’s Child Protection Centre in Al Barsha, where they constantly get free assistance.
“All of them are vulnerable children who, at a time, had been abused, and their lives are affected by the abuse,” Fatima Al Za’abi, Unit Head at the Youth and Children Services of CDA, told Gulf News on Saturday.
“Comparing their situation before and now, they are quieter and they can be controlled now more than before.”
Raksha Patel, facilitator at The Art of Living, said the children have been taught to do sun salutations, power breath, and the sound technique seven minutes every day before breakfast or dinner.
“Even these children you see today have stress. At such a young age they’re getting stressed because of the pressures from their studies or their family environment or people around them, and they see violence in different games, and other things,” Patel said.
“If your mind is calm and quiet, you are not throwing emotional garbage to the outside world.”
Fatima said that this is true for the kids as many of them have shown behavioural changes. Among them is 11-year-old A.A.S.
“I feel I can concentrate more in school now. I feel more relaxed and comfortable. I can sleep from 8pm till 6am now unlike before when I could only sleep from 3am to 6am,” A.A.S. told Gulf News.
Others who exhibited changes are nine-year-old identical twins Zain and Abdullah who have juvenile diabetes.
“When you have high sugar levels you feel not so OK but you feel like you want to always drink water and take insulin. I just feel that I am always tired,” he added.
Abdullah said he would sweat profusely and feels extremely thirsty when his blood sugar level is high. But since participating in the sessions, much has changed. “Before, there were days when they would wake up with a blood sugar reading of 350 but, lately, they have been waking up with just the normal 70/90 reading. This has happened twice,” their mother, Tasar, said.
“Before they would easily get tired. After two hours of yoga and magic breathing, they became more active.”
Type 1 diabetes does not have a cure, but there are ways to improve the patients’ quality of life and help manage their blood sugar levels and yoga and breathing exercises can help, Patel said.
Gulf News spoke to Dr Prakash Pania, a specialist endocrinologist at Aster Medical Centre, who said that the changes in Zain and Abdullah’s blood sugars could be the “honeymoon phase” of their bodies’ reaction to the new activity. But he warned that yoga and meditation shouldn’t be deemed as a cure for juvenile diabetes, which is a multi-factorial condition.
