However, whether the range of need is mild, moderate or severe, we must never forget that special children are more like all the other children than they are unlike them, they are beautiful and precious.  Like other children, they feel joy and sadness and they share the same deep vital need to be loved and nurtured.  The families of special children need to feel accepted, respected and to have the support of a caring community just like any other family.

For the special needs child presenting behavioural, emotional and social issues, life is harder than for any other child.  There is always a certain amount of fear about the unknown, and as parents, we may have to go through a great deal of inner struggle before coming to accept and embrace our child’s special gifts.  Some parents may find it hard to become attuned and connected to a child displaying a behaviour that they cannot comprehend.  (Comprehend literally means “to join together with” and this is exactly what we find so hard to do).  However, the connection is there and Yoga for the Special Child is one of the most beautiful ways to bridge the gap between the world of the special child and our own.  Yoga can empower the special child in ways that defy the imagination.  

Certain things cannot be changed but the way we deal with them can.  When we begin to accept things as they are, we can start working not against them but with them, in a loving and compassionate way, and find true happiness.  What is important is to move forward from where we are, not looking at what might have been.  No one is suggesting that the journey will be an easy one for these children and their families though, but help is available and they can learn how to live a rich and fulfilling life.

It is impossible for any outsider to measure the constellation of acute and intense emotions that the families of these special children go through in their minds and in their hearts.   Only a special person can understand and respect another person’s child’s needs, and this is even truer for the special child.  Jo Manuel is one of those very special people.  She is a truly amazing teacher working in a patient, supportive, encouraging, positive, joyful, humanely compassionate and highly sensitive way to make a significant difference in the life of these children - often isolated from the outside world - and of their parents/carers.  Jo’s yoga is a yoga with no frills, it is the way yoga is meant to be, not just a glorified and empty self-gratifying ego-trip, but an altruistic yoga, a yoga from the heart whose concern is to bring the special uniqueness out of the children.  Jo’s approach is pragmatic and down-to-earth based on her observations and many years of yoga practice.  Her life’s vagaries have brought her where she is now.   Her heart’s wish has now been granted - to help the community and especially its special children by offering them the gift of yoga  

Jo has a natural empathy with these children; she seems to instinctively know their areas of vulnerability and sensibility as if she had the innate ability to see herself in them.  Jo knows how to emphasize the positive and let the negative patterns fade away by themselves.  She treats the children with great respect and great simplicity, never pushing them prematurely, always guiding them in a supportive and loving way. The reward of even the smallest breakthrough must be such an uplifting experience for her, well worth any effort to achieve it.  An indefatigable worker, Jo also possesses the humane qualities and the necessary mental and emotional stability that help her through the difficulties at hand.

Austin, the first boy invited for a yoga demonstration, has been coming to Jo for quite some time now.  He seemed at ease and responded willingly and readily to what Jo expected him to do.  I was amazed at the facility with which she had switched from the adult world to that of this special child and how easily she seemed to be accepted into his world, by bringing herself to his level.  Throughout the short sequence that followed, Jo never stopped communicating with the boy one way or another, one hand always supporting his back or his head, her eyes into his, while providing him with a constant flow of clear and simple verbal guidance.  Austin began by clapping his hands while chanting several “Hari Om”, and then stretched sideways with Jo’s assistance.  Austin was then shown how to take some nice deep breaths, breathing out forcibly through his nose while Jo held a tissue close to his face for him to see the air displacement. Throughout the whole sequence of postures, Jo reminded him of the connection with the breath and also invited him to stretch his back up whilst supporting it with her hand.  Lying down on his back with both legs straight and together, Austin then brought each knee up in turn to his face, greeting it with a cheerful “hello knee” and a kiss.  He also seemed to enjoy lifting into the bridge and breathing into it, followed by a few assisted spinal rolls.  Jo then showed him how to roll onto his side and then onto his tummy by demonstrating the movement herself.  She then guided him into lifting into an assisted cobra, relaxing into child’s pose, balancing into tree pose, and folding into seated forward bend, acknowledging and smiling to his feet and saying “hello my toes”.   
It was obvious to all of us that Austin derived a tremendous amount of pleasure and satisfaction from doing the yoga exercises and from being with Jo.  He appeared reasonably at ease about his body and connected to all its various parts good-heartedly.  It was fascinating to watch him enjoy being inverted upside down and to be a witness of his trust in his teacher.   Every now and then during the session, he seemed distracted by a yellow mat at the other end of the room which resembled his own one at home.  The postures seemed to have a positively calming effect on Austin.  Jo ended the session with a few minutes of relaxation.  Listening to his favourite music, Austin then lied down and remained absolutely still and relaxed for a few fleeting moments at a time, carried by the softness of the music and soothed by Jo’s hand on his solar plexus and the gentle foot massage he received from one of the therapists. The second boy who came for the demonstration was totally new to Jo.  He was quite nervous as he came into the studio, clutching his mother’s hand firmly into his and casting nervous looks about him.  To make the session less intimidating for him, Jo asked his mother to join in.  Jo made the boy sit cross-legged in front of her; his back turned to us and followed a similar sequence as with Austin.  

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