Viniyoga® for Children
with Philip Rigo, Belgium
Philip Rigo, Founder Mitra ASBL, Belgium
Philip Rigo, discovered yoga at 18 through his family and quickly became a teacher following the training of Frans Moors. He commenced his first Yoga Teacher Training in 2009, when he became a KHYF registered Yoga Teacher Trainer. He is also a graduate in Philosophy, and has a master's degree in Sanskrit (ULg 2015).
He travels each year many times to India, and elsewhere to continue his studies with his teacher Dr. Kausthub Desikachar. He is committed to teaching the many subtleties of Yoga in practices or in the explanation of traditional texts.
Since 2020, he stepped away from the Belgian Federation of Hebertism and Yoga (FBHY) to devote himself exclusively to the Viniyoga® tradition.
He is the Secretary-General and founding member of the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation International, an international association committed to transmitting Viniyoga worldwide.
He is also I am also a Yoga Therapist and a Vedic chanting teacher, and organizes spiritual trips to India. He lives in Liège with his wife Elodie and son Clément.
1) What brought you to Viniyoga in the first place?
When I was 18 years old, I made a lot of mistakes. My mother and I, we were having many arguments, but we agreed on one thing: I should live on my own, independently. I moved to Liège where I began my academic studies. Living alone was a bit more difficult than expected. I knew where I could get a little bit of money: to the Yoga class that my mother was giving in the city. I was indeed interested in Yoga, the fact that it came from my mom was quite difficult to digest for me.
However, the incentive of getting some money after the class was a great motivation for me. After the classes, my "friends" were not happy: they couldn’t control me anymore so easily! That’s how I began to study Yoga. These studies quickly became something very transformative for me and I committed to this path at this time. 22 years later, I have to thank my mom and all the friends and teachers who encouraged me in this path. That’s a great path!
2) How did your work of teaching Viniyoga to young children manifest? What frequency do you teach and which tools? What are the positive effects?
To pay for my travels in India, I decided to become a schoolteacher. This would give me some money along with some vacation to be able to study Yoga. At this time, serious studies were only possible in India. This work was a passion for me as well, I was really happy to teach as there are many teachers in my ancestors as well. Some days ago I received a phone called from a school student to whom I taught a little bit of Yoga in 2008 at school and she wanted to practice Yoga regularly! We shouldn’t underestimate the influence that we can have on one's own mind!
Recently I began to teach my son every day seriously about the traditional sūrya-namaskāra sequence following the advice of my teacher Dr. Kausthub Desikachar. The practice lasts from 10 to 25 minutes depending on various factors. I would never have imagined that my son who was 7 years old at this time could remember and practice such a complex sequence along with 12 different mantra-s. He is doing actually very well. Children are very Kapha in nature which implies that their memory is far greater than our memory. I began to teach him because he was having very big nightmares and was shouting, crying and moving a lot during the night. In the beginning of the teaching, he was not happy at all and I really had to oblige him to do his Yoga. I was also practicing with him (which is not so easy). The first month, he was crying so much during the practice, but after it, he looked somehow much lighter. We also have a small ritual together. At the end of the practice we chant together saha nāvavatu and we hug together. It is a great moment of happiness for both of us.
Now, he continues to practice, sometimes with me and sometimes with his mom. He cries less during the practice, but his sleep is so good. Sometimes when I do my puja, I hear a young voice chanting very strongly behind me: it is him who is catching up one sentence of doing saha nāvavatu. That’s very powerful to hear this. Apart from this, I don’t really teach a group of students. But I observe the students interacting with their children. Children are always welcome in my training at any age. Sometimes there are some families that come together for a private and it reveals a lot about the family dynamic. Children are nowadays one of the main pillars of the family. I consider the fact that teaching Yoga to their parents is having a very big impact on them as well.
3) What are the challenges of teaching Yoga to the children nowadays?
The challenge is very big in many dimensions. The first problem, I feel, is the lack of understanding on what Yoga is for children as well as for the Yoga Teacher. They project the Yoga for adults to the children and add some games so that the children are not too much bored. That is a profound abuse of what is Yoga. Children don’t really need relaxation on the ground, playing with cards with Yoga postures, etc. They need to expand their body and their mind by doing complex sequences that will increase their senses, their body, their memory, their mind and their energy in order to become a very strong and stable adult later. Only by being in touch with their body in such a way, their potential will slowly manifest into them and they will gain clarity in their life as well. This will drastically reduce the many mistakes that will come later when the time comes to choose a path of life.
However, teaching like this requires an enormous skill for the teacher in techniques like āsana and āsana sequence, a great way to motivate them and a lot of patience and imagination. I also strongly believe that it is the time where we should teach them some mantra-s. This last point is an obstacle as well as it is not easy to teach mantra to children if their parents are not really practicing Yoga!
Here I would like to share an example with you. Some month ago, one of my colleagues, Carole, asked me for some help to go to a special school to teach special children. We went there with the pure intention of teaching techniques for these children in order to connect with their body. This worked so well that the children were so energized and began to run here and there. In my view, it was great. The change was very palpable between the beginning of the class and the end of the class. They looked happy.
However, the teacher began to be very very unhappy!!! They began to shout at the children. One of them even slapped one child in the class in front of us !! It was so sad to see that we decided not to go there anymore. They also decided that we shouldn’t come anymore. They thought that with Yoga, children would be even more subdued! They taught that one hour of Yoga would make all of them sleepy so that the teacher could teach easily. Yes, in the long term, it would calm down the children. But here it put them in touch with their deep vitality and it was very beautiful to see. I guess that sometimes society is not ready to allow the child to be who they are. And Yoga is then abused with some little games that make the time go instead of really teaching āsana, energy, etc. I feel that we have to continue to educate the parents and one day, all this will become possible. At least in some bubble of authenticity.
4) What are the most important advices you offer to young children?
I would like to offer advice to the parents. Don’t be afraid of Yoga. And use Yoga as a way of expansion for you child not as one more way of control. If you can find a good teacher who is rooted in his tradition and who can give them āsana along with chanting, do it. If you find a teacher who won’t really teach Yoga but will make some kind of small game with them. That’s ok, but know it is not Yoga. Maybe it is better to inscribe them in a sport game instead.
Namaste!
Philip Rigo
Philip Rigo can be reached here - https://www.formationyogabruxelles.be/