"YogaBugs" aims for the skies

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Fenella Lindsell reckons she has struck a winning formula linking yoga poses to tales of astronauts, adventurers and animals to help combat obesity and improve the health and wellbeing of young children.

The concept is simple. Make yoga fun and take it into day care nurseries, parties, primary and junior schools for children from 30 months to 12 years.

With pose names like Dolphin, Eagle, Dragonfly, Crocodile, Elephant and Lion it is not hard to see how young children who are naturally supple and equally inquisitive catch on quickly.

"We didn't invent the names. That was done 5,000 years ago by the yoga masters," said Lindsell, a qualified yoga teacher. "Our trick was to link them together into stories that catch the childrens' imaginations."

"The children love it. Within minutes they are crowding round and getting fully involved. It is one of the most exciting experiences," she said in an interview.

Five years ago property developers had just forced Lindsell to close her health and yoga centre in South London and she was searching for a way to carry on her yoga for kids program.

This year the YogaBugs business she set up as a result with sister-in-law Lara Goodbody looks like turning over about 500,000 pounds ($1 million) and they are expanding their horizons from Britain to the rest of the world.

In between they have twice been offered large amounts of money -- 1.5 million pounds in one instance just 18 months ago -- to sell out but have swallowed hard, gritted their teeth and ploughed on.

"In hindsight losing the center was probably the best thing to have happened," Lindsell, 42, told Reuters in her busy office in Clapham, South London.

"It has been very hard work. But being offered all that money really drove home the point of how right it had been. It gave a huge boost to our confidence," she added.

INNER CALM

And it is not just exercise. Yoga is a mind and body technique that promotes healthy lifestyles -- crucial in an era of booming child obesity -- helps ease stress and encourages inner calm.

"We probably cover about 100 poses in YogaBugs, of which there might be as many as 30 in one story," Lindsell said.

"You can't focus your mind unless you can still your body. The children learn better, sleep better and interact better," she added.

Children, even those with learning difficulties, can benefit immensely from the greater relaxation and improved concentration that come with the technique, she said.