Lord Swaminarayan during His forest expedition practiced Yoga, which He learnt from Gopal Yogi. Whenever Gopal Yogi was having problems whilst practicing yoga, Shree Nilkanth Varni, as He was known then would teach him.

Children today are under a lot of stress. Homework, pressure to compete with other children, endless after-school activities, over-scheduling - it all adds up.

Kids today are turning to Yoga to help them relax. Yoga is a way of life. It is allows a state of calmness in your mind and your body.

The basic idea of yoga is to unite the atma (individual, which means our soul) with the paramatma (Lord Swaminarayan) .

Yoga is a combination of meditation, postures and breathing:

• Meditation (dhyaan)
• Postures (asanas)
• Breathing (pranayams)

Yoga develops many wonderful qualities in children. Beside the obvious benefits of exercising the physical body and internal organs, it also helps in circulation of blood, removal of toxins (harmful materials in the body), balancing your hormones and making you healthy for your future life.

It also sharpens your ability to focus, giving you self-confidence, and helps you develop self-discipline.

Practiced regularly, Yoga helps children become aware of themselves from the inside out.

It will encourage your creativity to flow; your fears, anger, and sadness to release; your trust in the inner self to shine.

You will notice that in the Swaminarayan religion we already practice Yoga in some way or another. In Baal Mandir each month we will compare Yoga exercises and postures with Swaminarayan rituals where appropriate.

The first exercise is Padmasana Lotus pose. This pose is typically used during meditation. The pose creates a circle of energy as your feet are away from the ground this ensures that your energy does not escape to the earth and you retain it in your body during meditation. So why don't you try it.

Yoga postures are all named in Sanskrit and they all have an English translation. Every month we will highlight one posture in detail for you to practice.