It’s been a year ago that DesiYUP co-organized ‘Yoga Nidra’ for babies and toddlers. From initial idea to executing this concept into a live event with little ones as our target audience was quite an overwhelming experience.
When I scroll through the images and watch the after movie my heart fills with happiness. Babies laying calmly in the arms of their mommy or daddy. Curious toddlers exploring the concert place and trying to crawl up the stage. Kids dancing on electric mantra music. Mommy’s breast feeding their baby’s while humming a sacred hymn. And parents closing their eyes and relax for a moment, while their children silently eat their lunch.
Yoga Nidra 2020
This was the scenery one year ago during our Yoga Nidra concert. It was for the first time in The Netherlands that a concert was organized with international artists Aks & Lakshmi to come up with a concert that is baby & toddler friendly. And my mission for this year is to be more vocal about the benefits of music for children. After all, they are the future!
For example if a child is exposed to music from an early age it can enhance a child’s ability to decode sounds and words. Music is also great mood filter, you can easily calm down a child with a lullaby and music can help to develop a child’s vocabulary. If you just Google music & kids you find hundreds of science based evidence articles about the benefits of music and music intervention. Erasmus Medical Centre even has a foundation Muziek als Medicijn, ‘Music as Medicine’.
“By conducting systematic literature reviews and high-quality clinical research, the research group contributes to scientific knowledge on the functioning and applications of music with the aim of giving music its rightful place as a treatment in regular care.”
Coming back to Yoga Nidra….
Encouraging my Niece
My niece, who recently celebrated her 7th birthday, attended Yoga Nidra last year. It was her first introduction to mantra music in a theatre/church setting. The live experience of this intimate concert made an impact on her. A few months after Yoga Nidra she shyly told me that she likes to sing and play a music instrument. I’ve heard her sing songs that she learned at school, so I knew she is a gifted singer. I decided to gift her with vocal music classes as a birthday present. The founder of Rasique School and teacher at SKVR Prewien Pandohi-Mishre teaches the basics of Indian classical music, so I requested him to encourage my niece (online) to explore her love for music.
Weekly Online Music Class
Once a week my niece spends around 45 minutes online with her teacher. She is learning the Indian music notes ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa’ and is memorizing a devotional song, ‘Aum Jai Jagdish Hare’. Her mum told me that her sweet little girl is blossoming. She is humming at home and enthusiastically shares her musical developments with her grandma & grandpa. Her confidence is increasing week by week and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if she eventually participates in the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs television contest.
Imagine if more parents, from the South Asian community, would decide to bring their children to concerts like Yoga Nidra. I cannot wait to welcome little ones again in theaters. Hearing them laugh and seeing them dance is another level of happiness that you can witnessed as well.
